Aging Capriciously

After hearing the latest news today about the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump could fire just about any government employee he wanted to without cause, my spouse Karen suggested “Why don’t we just crown him king.”  “That’s a GOOD idea I replied.”  The courts have already said that he is immune from prosecution for any wrongdoing while in office.  In New York, he was told ten times during his trial that he was in danger of being charged with “Contempt of Court”, but it never happened.  The chicken shit judge was afraid to do anything. 

Our Congress bends over backwards to support anything Trump wants including a “Great Big Beautiful Bill” that will kick many people off Medicare benefits.  Punish people too disabled to find work and give tax breaks to the top ten percent of Americans.  Only two-House Republicans voted against the bill and that was probably because they were afraid it would increase the deficit.  Either that or they feared violence by Trump and his supporters.  Trump has Senators afraid to disagree with him.  Senator Lisa Murkowski admitted that she is terrified of retaliation from President Trump and his supporters.  No doubt that feeling is shared among many in the House and Senate. 

Almost every major economist in the USA said this new tax bill would increase the deficit but that did not deter Congress from giving money to their benefactors.  They pushed more money into the military-industrial-complex and the Border Patrol and took it away from the lower income earners.  I heard a Republican on NPR this morning say that the big waste is in entitlement programs including Education, Social Security and Healthcare.  No one calls our bloated military budget an “entitlement” program for major corporations, nor do they call our growing Border Patrol an entitlement program. 

I would sooner fund welfare recipients than drones or smart bombs that are programmed to stalk and kill other human beings.  Please don’t call me a pacifist or disloyal.  Unlike Trump, I volunteered for military service in September of 1964 and served until October of 1968.  I volunteered three times for Vietnam.  If any true crisis emerged, I would not hesitate to defend our country.  However, a military budget that ranks as the number one in the world and is equal to the next ten budgets combined is absurd.  I also have little or no use for creating a border wall and border security to deny privileges written in the US Constitution.  Once upon a time, there was no wall, no border patrol, no security checks, no internment camps and things worked out fine. 

We are now creating a Space Force and high-powered lasers so that we can place them on the moon and Mars.  Do you know why?  I bet you can guess.  Here is a hint.  It has to do with some billionaires who are making fortunes with their space programs. 

I asked ChatGPT the following question:  Did either Musk, Bezos or Zuckerberg serve in the military?  Here is the answer that I received to my inquiry:

Elon Musk

Elon Musk did not serve in the military.  He left South Africa at the age of 17, partly to avoid mandatory conscription under the apartheid regime.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos has never served in the military.  His background is rooted in academics and business.

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg has no military service record.  There have been no credible reports or evidence suggesting any military involvement.  His focus has been on technology and business since his early years .

I hope you are not surprised by these results.  Uber-Rich people including most politicians seem to find the idea of joining the military very repugnant.  Fighting and dying is for poor people or people so unconnected that they are eventually sucked into the Army or Marines where they can be sent to the front lines and when dead or disabled awarded with an array of medals.

I again asked ChatGPT a question.  “Is there any data related to the socio-economic status of soldiers who died or were wounded in combat during the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars versus soldiers who were not?”  Here is a summary of the reply that I received:

Comparative Summary

Conflict	Recruitment System	SES Profile of Troops	Casualties & SES
Vietnam War	Draft + volunteers	Lower to working class	Disproportionately lower SES, especially early in war
Gulf Wars	All-volunteer	Lower to middle class	Middle/lower-middle class more represented in casualties

SES stands for Socio Economic Status.  Most of the studies on my question found that the poor, the less educated, and people from geographically disadvantaged rural areas had more deaths and injuries.

“A study published in the American Journal of Public Health includes a figure illustrating the relationship between state per capita income and Vietnam War combat casualties.  The analysis indicates that states with lower per capita incomes experienced higher casualty rates, highlighting a socio-economic disparity in war fatalities.” — PubMed

I point out the above data to illustrate the growing gap between the rulers in this country and the ruled. The golden rule could never be more firmly implanted than it is today.  “He or she who has the gold makes the rules.”  The rulers eat, drink and live in palatial mansions that most of us cannot even imagine.  The rulers live on boats bigger than our schools.  They eat at restaurants that would not allow someone of my income level to be near the food except maybe to pick up the trash.  Most people I know would be happy to have take home bags from these places.  

Just for the record, our (Spouse and I) combined income puts us in the 45th percentile, meaning our income is slightly below the national median, but higher than about 45% of U.S. households.  Thus, we are not poor, but we are pretty far from being rich considering that 55 percent of American families have higher incomes than we do.  Just for fun, I calculated how much Jeff Bezos makes per year and obtained the following result which includes his salaries, profits and earnings growth.

Based on his net worth growth, Jeff Bezos earns $9.6 billion a year—or $798,333,333 a month.  To break this down even further, that’s $26,611,111 a day, $1,108,796 an hour, $18,480 a minute—and $308 a second.  In comparison, both Karen and I make $7.62 per hour or “$183 dollars per day.   Bezos makes almost twice as much in one second as I make in a day. 

But getting back to the rich a-holes who are destroying our American Democracy, why continue the charade?  Stephen Miller or J.D. Vance can nominate Trump for King, and I will second the motion.  Think of the happiness this would bring to the billionaires who support Trump.  Think of the joy amongst his followers who never believed in democracy in the first place.  Think of the sycophants who can now stop kissing his ass and can simply run rampant over the rest of us.  At least two of them have floated a bill to include Trump at Mount Rushmore.

The Supreme Court can crown Trump “The Most Beautiful King” who ever lived by a six to three majority.  The Senate leadership has already given up the idea that checks and balances should limit the power of the President.  Why say we have a president?  If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.  Anyone who can say Fuck You to the Supreme Court, Kiss My ASS to the Congress and put FEAR into the hearts of academics, lawyers and government officials with his threats of Vengeance and Retribution is not a president.  By any measure I can think of they are a violent, narcissistic Dictator. 

King George move over for King Trump.