Posted inDonald Trump Humor

Canadian Resistance Army releases super-funny videos mocking Trump’s attacks on Canada

I'm a proud member of the Canadian Resistance Army, foreign legion division, since I live in Oregon. At least I will be once my official hoodie arrives. Then I'll join the ranks of beavers, moose, bears, wolverines and other creatures who are defending Canada against Trump's stupid threats against our neighbor to the north. I learned about the Canadian Resistance Army yesterday, when my wife showed me their newest video about how Lake Ontario will never change its name despite Trump's pathetic attempt to call it Lake America. Loved it! I was thrilled to discover another recent video of the…
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Posted inDonald Trump International issues

Trump’s legacy, such as it is, will be massively tarnished by his climate change denialism

It's virtually certain that Trump will go down in history as one of the worst American presidents. Probably the worst'est of them all. His first term was horrible. His second term is an even scarier horror show of incompetence, immorality, incoherence, and incessant lying. But other than that, he does seem fairly capable of remodeling White House bathrooms. There will be a lot of competition for Trump's greatest failure. Tariffs, Iran war, inflation, election interference, killing of innocent protesters, decimating science programs, attacking journalists -- to name but a few of Trump's least favorite hits. I suspect that one issue…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Why Trump’s vote by mail executive order is both unconstitutional and a horrible idea

Trump thinks he's a king. Thankfully, he's just a lousy president. Kings can issue edicts that their subjects must obey. Presidents can't. Especially when an edict is unconstitutional. Like Trump's newest fantasy -- that through an executive order he issued in March 2026, the postal service won't deliver a ballot unless the voter is on a list generated by the federal government of people who are eligible to vote in federal elections. The Supreme Court likely will decide whether this scheme is constitutional. That should take about ten seconds. All the justices need to do is remind themselves of what…
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Posted inInternational issues National politics

Democratic Socialists of America — bad. Social democracies like Sweden and Denmark — good.

I have no idea why any reasonable citizen of our country would want to be a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Take a look at their program. It isn't a holdover from some bygone day. It was developed between April and June 2026, just a few months ago. It's full of crazy ideas. Like... end capitalism draft a new Constitution abolish the presidency and supreme court do away with the Defense Department create a democratic socialist republic Unfortunately, the most extreme positions of the Democratic Socialists of America give Trump and other Republicans a broad brush to paint DSA…
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Posted inData centers National politics

Data centers are uniting the country. In opposition to data centers.

The United States is so politically divided, it's wonderful that Democrats, Republicans, and independents have come together on one important national issue: dislike of data centers. This image illustrated a Comment by Benjamin Wallace-Wells in The New Yorker's "The Talk of the Town" feature in the August 17, 2026 issue: Reading the Data. The digital version is titled, A.I. is Now a Major Election Issue. With the sub-heading, As Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s newly elected Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, put it, “People really effing hate data centers.” I'll share a PDF file if that link doesn't work for non-subscribers. A.I.…
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Posted inArtificial intelligence Data centers

If you care about the future of AI, watch this astonishing video of a Yuval Noah Harari interview

Today a friend emailed me a link to a You Tube video where Yuval Noah Harari talks about AI in an amazing fashion that only a historian with his breadth of knowledge about how the past of humanity intersects with the future of artificial intelligence could pull off. This graphic provides an overview. I watched the video earlier this evening, forsaking tonight's usual television diet of recorded Sunday political talk shows, because I'm a huge fan of Harari -- having read three of his books, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011), Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2015),…
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Posted inData centers

There’s a middle way on AI and data centers between anything goes and everything stops

Though I'm not a Buddhist, I like the notion of a Middle Way -- which traditionally avoids the extremes of asceticism and sensual indulgence. After all, most things in life seem well suited to moderation, a Goldilocks approach to life. Goldilocks went inside. First she tasted the porridge of the great, huge bear, and that was far too hot for her. And then she tasted the porridge of the middle bear, and that was too cold for her. And then she went to the porridge of the little, small wee bear, and tasted that. And that was neither too hot…
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Posted inDonald Trump

More idiocy from Trump as he issues new childhood vaccine recommendations based on his feelings

Sometimes I see Trump saying something ridiculous and I get angry. Other times I'm amused. And frequently, like today, I'm embarrassed to be a citizen of a country that elected an incompetent idiot as president. Watching CNN on my iPhone as I was exercising on an elliptical machine at our fitness club, I saw clips of Trump announcing his executive order regarding childhood vaccines. A Politico story, "Trump redoubles effort to shrink recommended vaccines ahead of midterm elections," says: President Donald Trump on Monday reignited his effort to overhaul the government’s vaccine recommendations with an executive order directing federal agencies…
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Posted in2026 election City Council

Support Mai Vang’s write-in campaign for Ward 6 city councilor

Mai Vang was treated badly by city officials when they made a screwy decision that despite Betsy Vega failing to meet the residency requirement to be a Ward 6 city councilor, Vega's narrow victory in the May election over incumbent Mai Vang should stand. I described why this decision was so unfair to Vang in "City officials ignored Salem charter in wrongly qualifying Betsy Vega as Ward 6 city councilor." Basically, the city charter says "a councilor shall have resided in the ward the councilor represents during the 12 months immediately before being elected or appointed to the office." But…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

With public opinion mostly against a Salem data center, it’s time to shed more light and less heat on the project

My approach to politics, and to life itself, is reflected in a basic principle of Tai Chi -- which I've practiced for about twenty years. Yang follows yin; yin follows yang. So two yang moves in succession is a Tai Chi no-no. Expressed in plain English, the notion is that when strength meets strength, a battle ensues. Which doesn't mean that conflict should be avoided. It means that a forceful attack shouldn't be met with an equally forceful counterattack, but with a redirecting of the opponent's energy, a softness that deflects hardness, allowing for a more favorable outcome than, as…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Who’s to blame for Salem data center debacle? Time to point fingers.

Last Thursday I spoke with a KATU reporter about the news that Governor Kotek had blocked the sale of property owned by the state that was going to be used by a data center proposed to be built in south Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center. Referring to the massive turnout at last Monday's City Council meeting of people who were almost entirely opposed to the data center, I said: This is democracy in action. People came out. Loud, angry, sometimes impolite. It got the city’s attention. And it looks like it got Governor Kotek’s attention. When I heard that Kotek…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Here’s some of what I told the KATU reporter about the Salem data center that didn’t make it into her story

Having done quite a few interviews with local television news reporters over the years, I've learned that I should feel fortunate if a few seconds of my much longer brilliant observations on some subject make it into the televised story. After all, they only have a few minutes to tell the entire story, and I'm just a small part of that much bigger picture. So one of the last things I said to Jennifer Singh, the KATU (Portland) reporter who interviewed me yesterday about a major new development in the Salem data center saga, was something like, I really enjoyed…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Salem data center’s three-year property tax abatement seems suspicious

Verrus, the corporation wanting to build a 75 acre, $5.1 billion data center at the Mill Creek Corporate Center in Salem, has already received a three-year property tax abatement. Meaning, if the data center is built, for three years neither the City of Salem nor other taxing districts would receive any property tax revenue from the project. However, there's a special meeting of the Salem City Council next Monday, August 3, where a moratorium on data centers will be discussed. If this applies to the Verrus project, the property tax abatement may be a moot point. Still, I want to…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Opposition to Salem data center is justified, but shouldn’t be wild-eyed crazy

Kudos to the Salem Reporter for providing live updates on the City Council meeting underway at the moment (9;30 pm), having started at 6 pm with a packed house, drawn by an agenda item about the five billion dollar Verrus data center planned for the Mill Creek Corporate Center. The council president, Linda Nishioka, said they expected five hours of public testimony. Most of it will be in opposition to the data center. Which is to be expected, since nationally about 70% of Americans are against them, with Republicans, Democrats, and independents all on the same page on this issue.…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Trump gives boring speech at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

I can't stand Trump. But usually my anger at his antics keeps me interested in what he's saying. Last night was different. His hour long speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was so boring, it should be sold as a sleep aid. Thankfully, I'd recorded it on CSPAN. So after twenty minutes or so of watching this Lesson in How to Make Your Audience Wish They Were Watching Paint Dry Instead of You, I started pressing the 30 second advance on my remote in a vain attempt to find some genuine humor or even just some fresh insults. Didn't work.…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

How to comment on the Salem data center proposal (and make your comment count)

We all want to be heard, listened to, taken seriously. But when it comes to commenting on a development project that falls under land use, zoning, and similar sorts of rules, some usual tendencies should be kept in check. Like getting too emotional. And being too general. Both of which I'm prone to, as most of us are. I understand why so many people oppose the Oakline at Mill Creek data center planned to be built in the Mill Creek Corporate Center. Often this stems from a hatred of AI, artificial intelligence, and from horror stories regarding data centers elsewhere…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Salem data center encountering same resistance as data centers elsewhere

It's a tough time for a corporation seeking to build an AI data center anywhere in the United States. Resistance is stiffening. So it's no wonder that Oakline at Mill Creek, the data center Verrus is proposing to build here in Salem, is trying to project a warm and fuzzy image. This is a tongue-in-cheek editing (by an AI, naturally)  someone sent me of the Verrus mockup of what the data center would look like. The deer peacefully grazing on the grass in front of the building is a nice touch. How noisy could the data center be if deer…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

I urge Salem City Council to rule on Betsy Vega’s qualification to be a Ward 6 city councilor

Here's my open letter, which will become an open email, to the nine members of Salem's City Council. My subject is whether Betsy Vega meets the requirements in the city charter to be a city councilor. *************************************************************** Dear Mayor Hoy and councilors Paul Tigan, Linda Nishioka, Shane Matthews, Deanna Gwyn, Irvin Brown, Mai Vang, Vanessa Nordyke, and Micki Varney: As you're aware, the City of Salem has issued a statement regarding Betsy Vega's eligibility to be on the November 2026 General Election ballot after she was certified as the winner of the Ward 6 city council race in the May…
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Posted inCity of Salem Data centers Environment

Data center proposed for Salem has both potential benefits and problems

Like most things in life of this sort, a data center proposed to be built on 75 acres in Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center is more complex than avid proponents and opponents are willing to admit. Depending on who is speaking for or against the project, Oakline at Mill Creek would either be a boon to Salem's economy and tax base, or a giveaway to a giant corporation that will wreak havoc on its neighborhood and the environment. (Caption under image above says Digital rendering shown for illustrative purposes only – subject to change.) According to a Salem Reporter story…
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Posted inDonald Trump International issues

Trump is tolling the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran from tolling the Strait of Hormuz

I just checked. Sadly, The Onion satirical news site doesn't seem to have a story yet about Trump announcing today that he plans to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a 20% toll after the United States takes control of the Strait, because Trump is upset that Iran has been seeking to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a smaller toll when they had control of the Strait. This absurdity would be funny if it wasn't so deadly serious. After all, Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said just a few weeks ago: No country is…
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