Heard Wednesday night on CBS Evening News that if only one hen is found to have avian flu the whole flock must be euthanized and it would take eight months for replacement chicks to mature to egg-laying status. So, don’t expect the egg shortage with its resulting price escalation to go away soon.
Unless … Dr. Trump brushes off his non-existent biology/medical degrees and decrees amnesty for chickens sentenced to death if only one sister is tainted. After all, you can trust his medical judgment. Recall Trump’s enthusiasm for swigging hydroxychloroquine and other pseudo remedies to combat Covid 19.
According to CBS, “since the current strain of bird flu, H5N1, reached the United States in 2022, over 148 million birds have been ordered euthanized.” Here’s a look at how the bird flu has affected one family’s poultry business—https://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-bird-flu-ravages-poultry-industry-the-damage-spreads/.
Drug Cartels Are Terrorists: I wonder how long after drug cartels are designated as terrorist organizations will they be targeted by American military strikes? Trump has already attacked terrorists in Somalia.
Cartels are based in Mexico, Colombia and other countries south of our border (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/us/politics/state-dept-terrorist-designation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare).
Don’t expect Trump to honor Mexican or Colombian sovereignty. With or without local government agreement, expect missile or air force attacks on suspected cartel strongholds. Ground troops would not be employed.
Hostage Release: Vladimir Putin couldn’t be happier. His useful idiot has returned to the White House.
In exchange for releasing Americans innocent-but-found-guilty-in-Russian-courts on trumped up charges, Putin has secured the release of a Russian cybercrime kingpin. More importantly, he has suckered Trump into negotiating with him the future of Ukraine, with little if any interference from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have signaled Ukraine would have to cede territory to Russia and not be a candidate for inclusion in NATO. It’s a win-win for Putin. With such a deal Trump is setting a precedent for a U.S. Big Power takeover of the Panama Canal, Greenland, and the Gaza Strip.
Teach Your Children Well: As any Israeli, or student of the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict, would tell you if asked, rapprochement between the two sides will be a loooong time coming as long as Arab schools continue to teach Jews are bogeymen. Without a sea change in curriculum there will be no hope for lasting coexistence, much less peace.
Closer to home, we in America are about to embark on an educational journey backward to a time when our ancestors could do no wrong. They could kill native people and their cultures with impunity and take their land. Blacks could be enslaved, for after all, their lives here would be better than in “uncivilized” Africa. And when they were freed, it was okay to keep them in squalor, for, again, they lacked the intelligence necessary for a civilized citizenry.
Under Trump, education curricula and library literature will be wiped clean of any inference that America is anything less than God’s Manifest Destiny gift to humanity. That is, gifted to straight white men and, perhaps, straight white women.
Charging Ahead: Elon Musk is about to get a payback windfall for the $250 million he spent to support Trump’s election. The State Department has plans to spend $400 million on Musk’s armored Tesla vehicles (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/us/politics/trump-tesla-musk-cybertruck.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wk4.bQB1.yzF5URbn-dKX&smid=url-share).
Aside from the obvious conflict of interest, the purchase is quizzical because Trump is negative on electric vehicles. Is he ok with spending taxpayer dollars on a fleet of electric cars? Are there enough recharging stations worldwide that accommodate Teslas?
Breaking News: The State Dept. has suspended the plan to buy the armored Teslas.
