Here’s the text of the Emoluments Clause:
“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.“
⁃ US Constitution, Article 1, Section 9.
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Elon Musk seems to believe that we – humans – particularly the subset known as Americans – and the smaller subset known as Elon Musk – can and should create a colony of one million people on Mars.
And why not? Raised on the Technocratic wet dreams of his grandfather and perhaps the science fiction of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein, Musk knows, or rather believes, that there is nothing that man generally and men who are engineers specifically can not do or invent; that there is no problem that we can not solve, including terraforming Mars. After all, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Scotty terraformed planet Genesis – quickly – on Star Trek.
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Writing in the NY Times, here, Tom Freidman says “This Israeli Government [Netanyahu’s] is not a good ally of the United States.” But is the Trump administration, is this United States, a reliable ally to Israel? or any country?
Netanyahu and the Israelis, and everyone on the planet, can see what Trump has done regarding Ukraine. They see him threatening Canada, a NATO ally, and Greenland, part of Denmark, another NATO ally. They hear what he is saying. They know the United States can not be trusted.
They see Trump accepting the gift of a 747 worth $400 Million from Qatar. They see that he can be bought.
They hear him saying “I don’t know” on “Meet the Press,” here, on national – on global – television, when asked if he has an obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and they are all gobsmacked, flabbergasted, and in the Kremlin, smiling.
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The “Car Assembler” calls the other guy a “Moron” … “Dumber than a sack of bricks.”
In Italy, Saturday, April 5, Elon Musk called for a “Free Trade Zone” between the EU and the USA. “At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” the tech billionaire told Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s right-wing League Party.” (See USA Today and NBC News.)
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On 25 May, 2023, Vogtle 3 came online. On 1 May, 2024, Vogtle 4 came online, US Energy Information Administration, here. The total cost was estimated “close to $35 Billion, $14.4 per watt for the 2.43 GW reactors, AP News, here.
On 24 January, 2025 the NJ Board of Public Utilities, NJ BPU, here, announced that during Phil Murphy’s tenure as Governor, we have:
At the National Summit of the Israeli American Council, Donald Trump said “the Jewish people” would have a “lot to do with it” if he loses the presidential election. This event, described here, was organized to combat anti-Semitism.
Continue readingNew York, NY, 7/28/24. Updated, 8/30/24, 9/21/24. Allan Lichtman, whose model successfully predicted 9 out of the last 10 elections, has made a preliminary projection that Kamala Harris will win the Presidential election in November, 2024.
I agree with his assessment. However, I think there are a few things that he misses in his preliminary analysis. First: The polls. According to Fox News, Harris has a higher favorability rating in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
“Favoribility” is not votes – neither are polls. However, the national polls, reported by TheHill.com, as of 7/28/24, show Harris closing but slightly behind the twice-impeached failed insurrectionist with 34 Felony convictions.
Update: according to The Hill, as of 8/30/24, Harris leads Trump, 52.6 to 47.4. This matches the NY Times, 49 to 46. According to the NY Times, here, as of Sept. 21, 2024, Harris leads by 2 points nationally, and leads in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Nevada. According to TheHill.com, as of Thursday, Sept. 19, Harris and Trump were deadlocked nationally while Harris was up 4 points in Pennsylvania. (here). So the Polls are close.
Then, there’s Allen Lichtman.
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Yesterday, February 10, 2024 was four months since Hamas invaded Israel.
The Gaza Metro, according to CNN, 10/28/23. 500 km, 311 miles of tunnels. Where is the outrage that $Billions of Aid that was supposed to go to schools, clothing, homes, hospitals, food, etc. was diverted – stolen – and used for tunnels and weapons?
If you want to help the people of Gaza then help them get rid of Hamas. Of course, they need to want this help.
And, rescue the Israelis and others held hostage by Hamas and Islamic Jihad (and Iran).
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February 10, 2024 was four months since Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza, killing 1200 people, raping and brutalizing women, beheading babies, kidnapping 240 people. We know that Hamas tortured some, probably all of the hostages they freed. We know that they killed some of the hostages; we don’t know how many.
HAMAS IS ATTEMPTING GENOCIDE.
This picture, an Israeli Jew praying, holding a Torah scroll in his hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is believed to have been the trigger, the provocation, but not the cause.
“For Hamas, Israel’s mere existence is a provocation,” – Avi Shavit.
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In 1953 President Eisenhower nominated Charles Wilson to be his Secretary of Defense. Wilson, then the President of General Motors, had overseen GM’s war production during World War II. During his confirmation hearings he was asked if he could make a decision that was bad for GM. His response is remembered as a classic example of arrogance – “What’s good for GM is good for America.”
However, that’s not exactly what he said.
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Ukrainian forces are pushing Russian forces east, in retreat. Ukrainians are motivated to fight for their homes, their families, their lives. Russians with educations are motivated to flee Russia. Russian soldiers are motivated to fight by amount of stuff they can steal, the women and girls they can rape, the people they can execute, including their commanders.
Continue readingThe NY Post‘s bottom of the page headline, “Florida Man Makes Announcement. Page 26” didn’t make it clear, but Donald Trump, announced on November 15, 2022 that he is running for President in 2024.
The fact that the Post wrote “Florida Man” not “Donald Trump,” “President Trump,” etc., speaks volumes. The twice-impeached 45th President of the United States, twice lost the popular vote, said COVID-19 is a hoax, suggested that people drink bleach to cure them of COVID, suggested that people take a drug used to treat intestinal parasites to cure COVID, tried to bribe Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, refused – and still refuses – to admit defeat and accept the results of the 2020 election, stole Top Secret documents related to US national security, and launched an insurrection to hold power.
Question 1 is what’s the worst that could happen.
Question 2 is what is likely to happen.
Continue readingPutin says Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine is going according to plan …
You can read a man like a book. His eyes, his smile, his body language reveal his character. How does he respond to adversity? Does he panic and blame others? Does he seek and listen to counsel and take action? Does he have a sense of humor? Can he take a joke?
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Looking objectively, Russia has failed to achieve Putin’s “strategic” goals.
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