Obesity - Reagan, deregulation, Shareholder Capitalism, Tobacco companies

 PBS has a new show, Horizons, that discusses science, technology, health. The first show, January 15, 2026, available on the free PBS Horizons App, discussed the obesity in the country.  Some really important reasons for the explosion of obesity in the U.S. since the early '80s were made.  And, of course, that time marked the start of the obesity crisis in America.

First, Reagan deregulated the food industry.  Oh boy! The food industry could just focus on profits and market share without those pesky regulations.  

Second, Shareholder Capitalism became the operating principle of the Reagan deregulated capitalist world.  So, this means that the main objective was profits, increase of stock performance, and food quality and nourishment become secondary at best.

Third, with the collapse of demand for cigarettes, the Tobacco giants needed a new way to make enormous amounts of money, so they bought the food companies.  And what did the Tobacco giants do?  why they did the same things they did to sell cigarettes: they shaped the eating experience to increase food sales.  That is to say, they changed food from being nourishing to be eaten until one is full enough, to become food that creates hunger, food that creates cravings, food that satisfies briefly but demands another hit to stave off the cravings for the chemically altered drugs disguised as food.  

So, America became obese.  

What to do?  Eat real food, not processed food.  We have known this for decades, but it is a lifesaving strategy.  When you go to a supermarket only buy the food on the outer edges of the store - produce (fruits and vegetables) and meat.  Most of the make-believe food in the freezers and cans are addictive drugs stuffed into what looks like food.

And cook your food.  Not just warm up the hyper processes meals that are so convenient.

The show gave some credit to the government's MAHA efforts to have people eat real food but had less than enthusiasm for RFK Jrs new nutrition pyramid which can be summarized as eat lots of real food and mostly meat, which is different than Michael Pollan's advice to eat real food, not too much, mostly grains and produce.  

The tobacco giant's business modal is to addict people, make people ill and kill them early. You've got to keep those shareholders happy, doncha know? 

Trump is Hoover 2.0?

Herbert Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression, for good reason, and he destroyed the Republican Party for two generations.  FDR replaced him in 1932 and there wasn't a Republican president again until Reagan in 1980.  I know, Eisenhower was president in 1952 but it was never clear which party he would choose until he declared, so he was just a U.S. president without the baggage of the Republican Party, and indeed he accepted much of the FDR Federalization of the government.

Trump is destroying the U.S. economy, the U.S. dollar, the U.S. rule of law, the U.S. alliances, the U.S. world leadership, and U.S. goodness.  It will take at least two generations to undo the damage done by him, and Stephen Miller, and Russel Vought, and Pete Hegseth, and RFK Jr, and Tulsi Gabbard, and and and and ....

Trump and MAGA ended their pretenses long ago and have come out in bold public declarations that they are proudly white supremacist, Christian theocratic, plutocratic billionaire elitist, child rapist, above the law zealots.  And they think all they have to do to stay in power is to turn the U.S. into to a terrified police state run by the violent force of brutal, immune masked and highly armed thugs.

Bullshit.  Although it is deeply saddening to me to see that about 35 -40% of Americans are hard core MAGA cult racists and thugs, the great strength of America is synergy - the whole of multiple races and personalities and cultures and values is greater that the sum of its parts.  The synergy of the whole of America is much more powerful than the domination of one small part of America - white Christian theocratic men.  

Trump will fail.  MAGA will fail.  We are not Germany of the 1930s or Italy of the 1920s nor Hungary or Russia today. The Soul and Spirit of America is waking up, looking around, and saying What the Hell?  

They are following their training

Polite commentators are saying that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and US Customs and Border Protection are "making mistakes" because they are "poorly trained".  They say they are not properly trained in police practices of crowd control, de-escalation, constitutional protections and limits, probable cause, etc.  

Nonsense.

They have been fully trained, and they are following their training.  You have to understand what they are trained to do, and what they are doing, on purpose.  They are trained to escalate, not de-escalate. They are trained to incite the crowds, not calm the crowds.  They are not there to "enforce" immigration laws or deport the "worst of the worst".  That is the cover story.

What are they trained to do?  What are they doing?  They are creating a MAGA Gestapo to terrorize the country.  Attacking and throwing men women and children to the ground and brutalizing them. Doing it for the cameras to show on MAGA Cult media to excite their cult to relish the violence (and call it "law and order").  To excite their cult to be violent. 

They are being violent to incite a violent response so the Pedo in Chief can declare Martial Law, or at least put masked US Gestapo menacing thugs and poling places in brown and black communities, and try to cheat the mid term elections which he knows he will loose in a landslide, be impeached and convicted, and face criminal trials.

What they are doing is getting the country used to violent masked, fully armored, using military weapons racists roaming the streets, smashing glass, breaking down doors, pulling people from cars and homes and workplaces.  

They are the KKK of today. They are the Nazis of today.  They are the Gestapo of today.  And we are supposed to be afraid, very afraid, turn away, keep our heads down, don't make trouble, don't see, pretend it's not happening.

Just like the Germans did in the '30s and the Italians did in the '20s and '30s.

But this is America in the 2020's.  We look, we see, we witness, we record, we say no.  We don't submit in advance. We don't submit at all.

We know the game plan. We say no.

 

Russian Honey Trap

 Accusations that Trump, Epstein, maybe others, raped and then murdered young teenage girls and boys has to be the most horrible of the charges revealed in the Epstein files. I hope local police properly search properties mentioned to have buried bodies.

Of course there are multiple charges of rape of young teen girls and boys. And Trump and Epstein are the most often documented names in the files. But there are many powerful names, including the execrable Elon Musk and habitual sex addict, Bill Clinton. 

But, to me, the most important charge is that the Epstein system of debauchery was a giant Russian KGB “honey trap” - that is, it lured weak, sexually deviant and obsessive men into sex acts that were despicable, or at least scandalous, and recorded them or documented them, and then blackmailed powerful political and business and influential men to obey Russia, or else. 

And so, Russia conquered America by trapping one of the weakest and most deviant Americans, Donald J Trump, and had an astonishing stroke of planning and luck when he became president of the U.S. 

So, it has long been obvious that Putin controls Trump, Putin demands that Trump destroy NATO, Putin demands that Trump destroy American alliances and military and economic ties, and sink the Pax Americana that inspired democracy and thwarted Soviet and then Russian imperial conquest since WWII. 

The more specifics that we see the more disturbed and depressed I become. Trump’s deviance and mental illnesses has been obvious from the start to even the mildest scrutiny over the last ten years. What is so hard to live with are the millions of our neighbors who refused to see the obvious, or saw it and didn’t care, or saw it and celebrated a kindred spirit of debauchery, greed, bigotry, and corruption. 

77 million people voted for this criminal in 2024, and who he was was not a mystery. He campaigns on his sins.  Say it out loud, he’s a monster and he’s proud. 

And murder

 And here is the accusation of murder:

Is this a false story plant to discredit scrutiny of Epstein crimes?  

Digital rape of children

 The latest release of the Epstein files gives us this depraved account:

We know that Trump bragged of “…grabbing them by the pussy…” and then “…they let you do it…” if you’re a celebrity. 

And we know that Trump was found guilty of digitally raping E Jean Carrol as a grown woman in a New York department store. 

So this story sticks because it is consistent with his known behavior. 

Sickening man, and all named here. When does MAGA get sick to its stomach and impeach the Pedo in Chief?

The way out

America has a unifying American narrative. It is the same as always - All People are Created Equal.  

MAGA, Trump, White Christian Nationalists, Nazis, KKK, etc... all of them say what the Confederacy said in 1860 - white Men, and Men only, are superior to all other people.

But the Divinely inspired dream of Thomas Jefferson of equality had the power to form a nation, end slavery, empower the Civil Rights movement, lead the post WWII world toward democratic freedoms, and now will overthrow the Trump MAGA cult of white supremacy today.  

The country needs to know what is right and what is wrong.  What's right? all people are created equal.  What's wrong? white men are superior to all other humans.

The philosopher, Mortimer Adler, in his book "We Hold These Truths" answered the question - what do you mean all people are created equal? His answer? we are all equally human.  Created by God and loved equally by God and, as Jefferson wrote, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights - the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is the solid rock upon which the United States of America was built.  White male supremacy was and is the rigid but fragile thin ice that the Confederacy was built on, and it cracked and collapsed. As will Trump and MAGA and White Christian Nationalism.  

America, the dream of America, will rise up and prevail anew.

The KKK rides again

 Please remember that the KKK and other southerners killed people in the south during the civil rights movement. Then they wore hoods. Now they wear masks. Today they killed Alex Pretti, a ICU nurse for a VA hospital who was defending a woman that border control fascists had pushed to the ground, in cold blood in the street.  This after cold blooded shooting Nicole Good in the side of the head through her side window as her car was inching past him  

And they are being led by the president of the United States of America who approves of it all, and who makes it happen, and who wants killings so he can declare Martial Law and call off the mid term elections. Because whatever is in the Epstein Files must be so depraved that he would die in prison. This is about more than raping 13 year old girls and boys.

Do not take the bait. Don’t be violent. The only way Trump survives the midterm elections is if he can declare martial law and outlaw the elections.

This seriously ill deranged person has no bottom. He will always go lower than anyone can imagine.

Where is Congress? Where is the Supreme Court?

I wept today. Not the first time.

"Friends... it's time to take the signs down"

 In Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum where over 2000 of the world's political and economic leaders gather, Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, gave a speech that marks the end of the old American led world.  He not only named the madness and threats to the world by America's mentally ill president, but he clearly said what the world must do to protect itself and end the madness.  This is not new to Europe.  Europe has seen fascist and cruel authoritarians many times over the last century, from Mussolini and Hitler to the Soviets and Putin and Trump today.  

Make no mistake.  America has become a threat to the free world.  We are the enemy.  

Here is a key passage from Carney's speech:

"In 1978, the Czech dissident Václav Havel, later president, wrote an essay called The Power of the Powerless. And in it, he asked a simple question: How did the communist system sustain itself?

And his answer began with a greengrocer. Every morning, this shopkeeper places a sign in his window: "Workers of the world, unite!" He doesn't believe it. No one does. But he places the sign anyway to avoid trouble, to signal compliance, to get along. And because every shopkeeper on every street does the same, the system persists.

Not through violence alone, but through the participation of ordinary people in rituals they privately know to be false.

Havel called this "living within a lie." The system's power comes not from its truth but from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true. And its fragility comes from the same source: when even one person stops performing — when the greengrocer removes his sign — the illusion begins to crack.

Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down."

We in America must also "take our signs down."  We cannot just pretend that because masked men are not breaking down our doors that America has not changed.  America is over, or so say the MAGA cult, the Theocratic Zealots, the white supremacist insecure overgrown boys trying to be men by being scary. 

But the Soul and Spirit of America will not be broken by this latest assault by masculine insecurity and fear.  These people are not strong, even though they are violent, they are frightened and confused and panicking trying to stop the evolution of the human mind to an ever greater manifestation of the divinely inspired dream of America that All People are Created Equal.  

Trump and MAGA will not stand.

Trump and MAGA crippling America

 Donald Trump’s ridiculous obsession with conquering Greenland will completely destroy America’s involvement with NATO. And it will continue his ongoing project of destroying American power in the world. And ending 80 years of Pax-Americana that has guided the world since the end of World War II. 

To Donald Trump‘s mind all he is doing is making himself enormously rich. Anthony Scaramucci, briefly in Trump 1 administration, says that the people he knows inside the Trump administration report that Trump is dedicated to making $15 billion in this presidency. That he made $5 billion in his first presidency and wants a total of $20 billion - unconstitutional violation of the Emoluments Clause. 

The only thing that counts to Donald J Trump is what benefits Donald J Trump.

I remain convinced that this is more than simple, shortsighted greed on the part of Donald Trump. I remain convinced that he is under the control of Putin’s Russia. And one of Putin’s biggest goals is to destroy NATO.

But I think a funny thing is happening. I think NATO is sending military forces to Greenland to guard Greenland against an American invasion. Also, Canada is turning his back on trade with America and opening up to trade with China. Also, Europe is turning us back on trade with America and looking to other countries for its economic future.

And just for the heck of it Trump is attacking the value of the American dollar by threatening the independence of the Federal Reserve.  Since America is a debtor nation, China, Japan and other nations can just sell off U.S. Treasuries because of lack of trust in American responsibility, and we slide into a Depression. 

Donald Trump and his MAGAcult are so convinced of the Almighty Power of America that they think the rest of the world is subservient to and must obey any and all greedy, whimsical proclamations of the mighty Trump regime. Total nonsense. It is no longer the 1980s. 

The world has grown up. Donald Trump has not. MAGA has not.

How in the world will the rest of the world ever be able to trust, trade with, share intelligence information with, and rely on America in the future?  Donald Trump will die. MAGA will lose power. But I know, and the world knows, that at least 40% of Americans are unteachably ignorant, arrogant, cruel, and stupid.

Trump’ March towards the cliff continues. 

We get to see it and say No…

Donald Trump and MAGA have killed America of old, or so they think. I have a deep faith in the dream and goodness of the United States of America. We are based upon the brilliant truth that all people are created equal. MAGA, and the Confederacy before them, and Jim Crow too, are convinced of the false belief that white men are superior to everybody else. That’s what the Nazis thought. They were wrong. They lost. MAGA is going to lose.

We are in a final episode of southern slave owner, southern white supremacist, southern patriarchal authoritarian men trying to dominate the world around them. They do so out of fear. Fear that they are not as important as they were told they were from the cradle.  It’s not just southern men, of course. It’s northern men as well. Western men, Eastern men, authoritarian out of balance, chauvinistic men throughout this country are consumed with fear of loss of status and power. But their dominance is coming to an end.

All that is changing is the truth that all people are created equal. That means all people are equally human. And the Synergy of all of us is infinitely more powerful than the domination of a small sliver of our country.

That has always been America’s magic sauce.

Soon Trump’s destruction will be undeniable and he will join Republican Herbert Hoover as the most toxic political brands in American history. 

When did MAGA decide it wanted to be an imperial war machine?

Lots of MAGA thought they were voting for America First, no forever wars, but what they got was America the Imperialist war machine - Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, where else will the demented Orange Pedo in Chief target next?... Oops.

They thought they were going to get the end of the Russian war in Ukraine... Oops.

They thought they were going to get lower prices... Oops.

It was always clear that MAGA were naive, gullible, easily manipulated and lied to sheep. And so here we are, a confused MAGA wondering what the hell is going on.  

What's going on is they believed the most corrupt, greedy, insecure, cruel psychopath ever to posture as a Republican.  He's a vicious dumbass and his MAGA base are cruel, obedient dupes.  

Well at least they get to terrorize and prosecute their hated liberal "enemies", and that is what they are getting so I guess they are gleefully satisfied there.  How much fun it must be for them to watch their manly, manly, manly MASKED ICE thugs shoot mothers in fleeing cars... Oh boy!  What fun...

Time for Republicans to walk away from these psychopaths.

Damn.

Why he has to see it

 Why does the mentally challenged president need to see his name on so many things?  Trump hotels, Trump Towers, Trump Golf Courses, Trump the Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Ice, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Sneakers, Trump Vitamins, Trump University, Trump Coin, Trump Kennedy Center…

And even more frightening, why does he want to change the world map? Gulf of America, Greenland, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico?

I think it is because of his lack of legitimate, internally based self esteem and his desperate need to be told that he is valuable, and his need to see proof outside of himself, so he compulsively puts his name on everything he can think of. 

You can’t get self esteem from outside yourself, you always need more and more, and the need becomes insatiable.  The only self esteem that you actually feel is that which you own because you have slowly built internal qualities that you know and esteem - esteem yourself, esteem your own goodness.  These are to be honest, to be responsible as an adult, to have integrity which is spontaneous honesty and responsibility, to trust yourself rather than manipulate or bully or con others to provide for you, and to not consciously hurt others. If your self esteem is built on your own carefully developed character you don’t need outside proof of your value. 

Trump, obviously, has none of these qualities. He is endlessly dishonest, endlessly blaming and irresponsible, has absolutely no integrity and cannot be trusted by any rational person, and only manipulates and bullies and cheats and cons everyone around him, and he consciously hurts people. He has no internal qualities to stand on. There is no center. He can’t stand on the foundation of his own goodness.  Indeed the deepest but unacknowledged parts of him knows that he is not good. So, he can’t really have real self esteem. So, he needs to look out and name things so everyone will see and admire him. Well, I guess some do admire him. But what are they admiring, really?

The bottom rung of Dante’s hell are desperate and pathetic people who cry out “Please, don’t forget me”.  And I think in the end, that is all our president is begging of us all - please don’t forget him. 

It is very sad for this needy little person that he is trapped in a world where he cannot esteem himself based upon his own goodness. Who tries to be important and remembered by bullying, dominating, and killing people. And by putting his name on everything he can think of. 

And here we are, a country and as world being deeply damaged by this person’s illness. 

Why was his gun drawn?

 An out of control ICE agent shot and killed a 38 year old woman in Minneapolis who was trying to drive away from two threatening ICE agents. Our disgusting president claimed she deserved to be killed because she was trying to run over the agent.  But video clearly shows she was turning the car and he jumped in front of her then killed her.

Here’s my question.  Why the hell was his gun out and pointing at her head in the first place?  How was she some kind of threat to him?  Was she armed?  No. She was not a threat. 

He was a threat. And he killed her. And our president says “good”.

This is MAGA’s America. Crap. 

Does Donald Trump know that Stephen Miller is the real president?

Is Stephen Miller the real president?  It is clear that he is in charge of the racist effort to deport all brown people out of the country, and now we see him directing the takeover of Greenland.  We see the Orange dementia patient laboring to read U.S. policy with hesitation and mispronunciations words obviously written by "others" - Miller?

From the New York Times... "Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, asserted on Monday that Greenland rightfully belonged to the United States and that the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish territory if it wanted.

“Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,”"

????? "... BELONGS TO THE UNITED STATES..." ?????

Who's going to tell the Pedo in Chief that he is just a figurehead and the real brains behind the cruelty is Stephen Miller?  

Oil? Who cares?

 Our demented president just invaded Venezuela, captured its president, Maduro, and promised a Kangaroo Court conviction as a narco-terrorist.  Damn.

I have been "praying for" the Venezuelans to overthrow the Maduro murderous tyranny.  But not by America becoming Russia and invading the country.  

Why?  The cover story is drugs, but for Trump it's just about the oil.  What the hell do I care, or why should the people in Boise or Peoria care, if American oil companies make money in Venezuela?  Trump thinks seizing the oil for his oil company billionaires is a wonderful thing.  Who gives a shit?  The Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, Petroleos de Venezuela, is the major oil company now.  And they are incompetent bumblers who are run by the autocrat's inexperienced cronies, so the output has fallen dramatically. Also in Venezuela are the American Chevron and the French Total.  Who cares?  

I guess the Corruption in Chief cares.  It makes him feel like a powerful warlord rather than a cringing, fearful pedophile trying to escape prosecution.  And I guess he gets a few billion dollars in thanks from Chevron.  Yippee... We are all so happy for him...

So, America takes another step into becoming like Russia.  Just invade a country for their resources.  But again, I don't see how America benefits by Chevron or Exxon taking over the Venezuelan oil.  Chevron benefits. And Trump gets his bribe money.  

So... Trump benefits. And the only issue that ever is of any importance in a Trump presidency is how does Trump benefit?

Also, I guess we are supposed to stop focusing on Epstein Epstein Epstein.  But that is really not going to go away.

So now, isn't this a green flag to China to invade Taiwan?  Isn't this a formal approval of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and then the Balkan countries, and then the eastern European countries?

The Trump transition of America from the inspiration and defender of democracies around the world takes another nauseating step into its new role as a Russia-China like imperialist expansionist greed state.

Damn.

Uprising in Iran

The Iranians are taking to the streets in open revolt against the theocratic Islamic dictatorship initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.  Nearly a half century of crushing tyranny by religious zealots.

From TimesNow:

"The main trigger right now is the Iranian rial's dramatic fall. Since the short but devastating war with Israel in June, the currency has lost about 60 percent of its value, as per a report from the Associated Press." 

Iran's current theocratic dictator is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and it looks like all he knows is violence in response.  I have been hoping that the Iranian people would overthrow these toxic, dangerous religious zealots for decades now, and perhaps it will finally happen.

But this also tells Americans something important.  Although I have been horrified by the fascistic destruction of the American Constitution and democratic guard rails designed to prevent the rule of a wanabe king, what really upsets Americans is the economy and their personal lives - not that many seem to share my horror at the incipient fascism.  

But, as Iran shows, what brings a movement to overthrow a tyranny is when the people cannot afford to live.  When their lives become too painful to continue to accept.  

I don't see America rising up in the streets to overthrow the MAGA/Oligarchic/Theocratic tyranny being attempted to be installed to end our Constitutional Democratic Republic. But I do see American voters rising up and throwing out the astonishingly incompetent, ideologically blinded, corrupt MAGAs out of office in 2026. Making life too expensive to live will be seen more and more as the terrible economic policies of Trump and MAGA become more and more obvious.

One can have reason for hope.