Big Men think Big. And as with Louis 14th’s Versailles, or Mussolini’s Coloseo Quadrato, their projects signal the majesty of their creators...but not necessarily their good taste.
It's interesting that Trump wants to go to war against the Mexican cartels. But at the same time his buddy Rudy Giuliani represented Purdue Pharma and helped the Sackler Family retain most of their wealth even though their OxyContin helped get a drug epidemic started. Also, Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking, they just turned to illegal sources and helped make organized crime a fortune. Even if Trump could destroy all the Mexican cartels new organizations would pop-up to provide the drugs. Capitalism at work - the law of supply and demand. Finally, I would love to see just one politician address the key issue - Why do so many Americans choose or need to do mind altering drugs whether legal or illegal. I've read that a
2016 study estimated 16.7% of U.S. adults filled prescriptions for psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. Maybe as Pogo once said "We have met the enemy and he is us".
Hi Linda. Have any of your friends ever tried alternative treatments? Here's something from ChatGPT: "In this landmark trial, regular aerobic exercise performed as well as an antidepressant (sertraline) in treating major depressive disorder over 16 weeks. Exercise also provided lasting benefits in terms of physical health and, when maintained, sustained improvements in mood over time". I think if I didn't exercise I probably would be depressed too.
When you’ve been on an antidepressant, particularly an SSRI for many years it can be difficult to wean yourself off of those even with an extended withdrawal period! My male friend tried to wean himself down slowly and he became very depressed and went back to his original dose!
People are put on those sometimes for reasons I don’t understand! I had a patient years ago, and I asked her why she was taking anti-depressants and she said that her PC doctor put her on them because she was going through menopause! I said were you depressed and she said no! Often once physicians put you on them they just keep rewriting the prescription!
I suggested to my female friend years ago that she might want to think about alternatives but she told me that she did not want to take the chance of gaining weight! Some of those antidepressants can cause issues of their own with long-term use, but I guess they’re willing to take the chance!
Thank you for the suggestion and I agree that there should be better alternatives!
The way we treat mental health, is like the way modern medicine treats high blood pressure. It often feels less like a healthcare plan and more like a subscription service you never signed up for. Once you're on the meds, the standard medical advice is that you're likely on them for life. In the case of blood pressure, the practitioner rarely asks the most important question:
Why was the pressure high in the first place?
In a shocking number of cases, the answer isn't some exotic, complex disease. The culprit behind "mysterious high blood pressure" is often the most overlooked problem in modern health: chronic, low-level dehydration. Our kidneys are picky organs; they demand adequate fluid to function. When they sense the system is running dry, they don't file a polite request. They hit the panic button and fire up the body's ancient survival system (the RAAS). The translation is simple: "We're running dry! Squeeze the pipes tighter and hold on to every last drop!"
This is where the modern medical approach, for all its good intentions, gets it backward. In a rushed, 15-minute appointment, a doctor sees the high number and, bypassing any real discussion of lifestyle, reaches for the prescription pad.
Blood pressure meds like ACE inhibitors and ARBs are brilliant at what they do: they cut the wire to that panic button. The alarm is silenced, and the pressure reading drops. But the original problem—the system running on too little fluid—is completely ignored. The kidneys still think there's a crisis, but their main way of signaling for help is now blocked.
This is when the dominoes begin to fall. To manage the body's underlying tendency for fluid retention, a diuretic is often added. That can throw electrolytes out of balance, requiring another pill. Before you know it, you're trapped in a game of pharmaceutical whack-a-mole, treating the side effects of the last drug you were given.
What if the more complex problems we associate with heart disease—the stiffening arteries (arteriosclerosis) and the broken "thermostat" of a dysregulated nervous system—aren't separate diseases at all? What if they are the long-term, predictable consequences of forcing our vascular system to operate for decades under the strain of inadequate hydration?
The saner solution is to address the body's distress signal instead of just silencing it. Give the kidneys what they were asking for in the first place: proper hydration (through veggies, fruits and plain drinking water), supported by the improved circulation that comes from movement and a diet that doesn't overwhelm the system. This isn't just about lowering a number for a few hours; it's about restoring the entire system to health. It’s far less glamorous than a prescription, but it's the only way to get off the subscription plan for good.
That’s not withstanding the fact that nephrologists often consider a patient being on five different blood pressure medications normal! beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blockers, and alpha blockers, hydrazine, each working in different ways to lower blood pressure! So the saga goes!
The med lists of some renal patients are a sight to behold!
Iatrogenic causes are the third leading cause of death in this country!
Thank you Lucas, pharmaceutical companies are very similar to governments. They seem to create the problems for which they have the cure. Drugs are like welfare. Treating the symptoms instead of the cause. Both at the cost of users life🤔
Exactly! And once you see those five-meds-at-once prescriptions as “normal,” you realize how backwards the system has become. We’re not solving the problem — we’re just stacking more duct tape over the warning light. The irony is, a lot of those meds are there to counter the side effects of the others.
It’s the same kind of thinking that has us putting fluorosilicic acid in the water — solely to “medicate” us for dental caries — even though studies show it can accelerate lead leaching from older plumbing, especially when combined with chlorine or chloramines. Then we add orthophosphate, not for our health directly, but to control the corrosion and reduce the lead problem that’s now worse because of the fluorosilicic acid.
If the source water already had a high pH, corrosion — and the need for orthophosphate — wouldn’t necessarily be as urgent. But instead of addressing that, we just keep layering fixes on top of fixes, congratulating ourselves for “solving” the problem.
It’s like watching a plumber fix a leak by installing five different valves, each leaking in a different way, then patting themselves on the back because the water pressure is “under control.” Meanwhile, the original leak is still there…
Very well said. Thank you for the comprehensive overview of our current community health issues. Many of which could be improved if our people create the additional time needed by first having the discipline to take back a few hours a day by minimizing the dopamine connection to their Smart phones. That’s it from me for today. Time for a little basketball.
Just to clear something many Doctors (not all) give many prescriptions to patients because it’s easy and they don’t have to spend a lot of time finding out what is really wrong with the patient. Speaking as a Pharmacist that practiced for 50 years.
I know he takes vitamin D, but I don’t know what his levels are! I’m not sure that a lot of PCP’s actually test for vitamin D levels routinely, unless that’s changed! Nephrologists do it more routinely because they’re looking at parathyroid hormone levels as well!
Um, no. The new Hardscape Paver Patio (with integrated Sustainable Drainage) is not "concrete" and replaces ONLY the footprint of a previously natural turf area that was prone to flooding during even minimal rain, thus making it unusable. This central rectangle was sited to be what is called a "Focal Point" in Formal Landscape Design parlance - except they originally built it as one of the lowest spots in the Rose Garden when it should have been one of the highest. (Maybe they didn't yet have supplemental irrigation when constructed?) Great plan for Turf Health, not so good for Functionality. All Trump did was 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚 the functionality of this area (less than 30% of the total square footage of the Rose Garden BTW), while at the same time reinforcing the Formal Theme of the original Design Intent. Further - best I can reckon from Before/After pictures is that they relocated less than a dozen existing shrubs to make this very beneficial change to the Usability of the space. Trust me - I do this for a living.
So no, Liar - Trump has not covered the Rose Garden in concrete. Once again Bonner offers a half-assed, lazy remark that is totally FALSE in his feeble attempt to generate Trump hatred. You may think this is a minor point, except that it illustrates the consistent and outright dishonesty of our host. So very pathetic....
I saw a headline somewhere earlier where trump concreted the rose garden. I also heard that he cut down all the cherry trees and did not lie about it. Many, many, many were cut down.It was beautiful
I suspect that the "US military assistance" angle on fighting drug cartels is more than just Trump being Trumpian. It has something to do with the fact that so many Mexicans, Central Americans & South Americans have served in Ukraine armed forces during the war w Russia. And those who survived (yes, some actually survive) have returned, up-skilled in use of advanced weapons, plus drones, electronic warfare and other aspects of tactics & operations. And in fact, those improved skill-sets now place the druggies in a strong position against mere "law enforcment" personnel; certainly against internal Mexican LE, and likely against US LE personnel as well.
At the end of the day, you can't fight Military Academy with Police Academy.
But why not focus on the root cause. If there were no demand for drugs whether it's fentanyl, cocaine, heroin etc there would be no drug cartels. I had read an article concerning the War on Drugs comparing the 1880s when drugs were legal with the 1980s. They said that addiction rates were comparitive but in the 1880s addiction was a medical not criminal issue. But if you going to go to war to stop drugs maybe we should have started at home. A little research shows that opium production increased during the US occupation of Afghanistan and has since declined after the return of the Taliban. Why? It wasn't a source of income for the CIA like their trafficking of crack during the Iran/Contra years?
Another column by Bongo Bill concerning how the Trump administration gets everything wrong - everything. An administration that has not made one good or even mediocre policy decision according to the Bongo master. Apparently, the Trump administration is only moving forward and hasn't totally collapsed the nation due to the incredible prosperity bequeathed him by the economic powerhouse of the Biden/Harris administration. You know that administration that was pro-production, pro-investment in energy like oil-natural gas-nuclear, etc. to support the expansion of our manufacturing base, pro-deregulation of our economy so we can move forward in a prosperous manner, pro free speech and against censorship. Isn't that right, Bongo? Big man or little man - which would you prefer?
Or is that just a false choice? Could it be that our country is so screwed up due to the influence of the Progressive Fascist Nihilist Enviro-Nazi horde that someone had to come along, grab it by the ears, and guide it toward policies based on the facts of reality. That is, it takes productive effort to flourish. And productive effort needs energy, and energy has to be produced. And America needs to manufacture and/or produce most of its critical goods in order to remain free and independent in a dangerous world. And the government should not impede this effort by creating roadblocks but should tear them down. All this is going on now, but you would never know it from the Bongo man's analysis. You don't have to agree with everything the Trump administration does, but you should acknowledge the main thrust of what is happening.
Mr. Bonner doesn't like it when reality rears its ugly head and has the nerve to offend his sensibilities. There is something personal at work here. For whatever reason, Mr. Bonner just can't deal with the fact that Donald Trump is President Trump, twice. Mr. Bonner went off his personal rails when DJT conquered the American political scene. Amazing to see. Best always. PM
“There is something personal at work here.” Agree. The CONSTANT denigrating of any and everything Trump is starting to reek of a personal animosity. Mr Bonner is displaying an off-the-charts level of butt-hurt. Man.
I know John, the more Trump wins, the more Bill looks like a fool. I’m sure that’s frustrating for all the leftist in our country. I know Bills not a lefty, but he was hoping for the economy to tank, just to prove himself and his safety mode right. The mental illness Trump is causing in America is based on the fact that those affected, were already demented. Senility and mental illness have similar symptoms. TDS anyone 🤔. One day Bill will be right, but most of his dear readers won’t be around to read it…
Steve, USA is different when looked at through the prism from a different country.
It appears chaotic and admittedly as just one person, (who has been wrong many times )doesn’t feel some current main policies will work to long term benefit of the USA.
But then, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Yes James, I’m living here and admittedly agree that it’s chaotic and nothing can work to help us get out of the bankruptcy that both of our parties are 💯% responsible for. We haven’t seen the problems that our insolvency will cause, but I know it’s not going to be pretty. Our problem is the world’s problem. Few in the world will get away from the craziness that is brewing….I’m just trying to figure out how to protect what is mine, family and financial when TSHTF…
I wasn’t onboard BPR during Trump 1. Was Mr Bonner this unhinged, this consumed with anti-Trump commentary, then?
I’m thinking not, since Trump got suckered by the RINO’s he had on his team then (starting with that back-stabber Rinse Prius, uh, I’m mean Reince Priebus.) So, The Big Man didn’t upset the Swamp apple cart as badly then as he’s doing now.
AI is definitely over hyped, but there will be segments (medical diagnosis/treatment, robotics, others) that will advance due to AI. Mapping (identifying potential mineral/oil deposits) are already benefiting from AI. Identifying companies who will profit from these advancements should be a focus of BPR.
Well after reading todays rant by Bill I must say I cant find anything he finds wrong, Wrong. Thank God for Trump who refuses to be a Biden, Obama, Bush or Clinton. They only kicked the can down the road making bad things worse. A new course of action had to be taken and its been taken by a man with titanium balls. Of course its contraversial in many ways but I for one say go for it Mr President.
Railroads revolutionized the movement of people and goods, but their influence was mostly confined to land transport and the industries they directly supported. AI's reach will be far broader.
It's set to transform not just IT, but medical diagnostics, robotics, manufacturing, finance, law enforcement, education, chemistry, electronics, and design—virtually every domain.
Personally, I look forward to the day I can log into an electrical design AI and collaborate on making a more efficient SGC circuit (for those in the know), or tap an aerodynamic design AI to help me build a better paper airplane. I envision a chemistry AI that can figure out how to make drinking water safer without dumping industrial chemicals into it. I'm excited about the day robots with incredible—and safe—AI assist me on a hike into the woods, helping me find the exact spot where AI predicts a massive gold vein might lie, or being deployed into raging forest fires to serve fire crews, saving homes and communities while keeping people safe.
The potential is enormous—and so is the potential for misuse.
It is the misuse that I am concerned with . Nuclear fusion was , is good , but in the hands of a few evil people, "bad". Look at Palantir and what it is doing to North America. 24 hour surveillance. Not good .
Railroads had a massive impact, almost immeasurable, on the U.S. From expansion west to accessing farms across the Great Plains and the nation's massive mineral resources. The movement of people was less significant yet railroads did open up the entire country to (what was then) rapid transportation.
AI has been something we have been waiting for almost since 1881. At least that's about the time when science fiction writers started incorporating "thinking machines" into their works. Today we are seeing AI leaping and bounding past every perceived metric, limitation, and progression schedule. Just as the railroading did in the late 19th Century. Except that railroad equipment was limited to the lines it traveled along, and couldn't think nor operate on its own.
Will AI ultimately be a bigger boon to the economy, nation, and humanity? Of course it will. AI will take us to asteroids where all the minerals we need are readily available. AI will power thinking in robots of all types, making them self sustaining with instant decision making as they work, whether deep in the Earth, under the oceans, or on Europa. Likely all by 2050 at the pace AI is advancing.
OK, maybe 2050 is wishful thinking on my part. Let's settle on 2075.
I won't be here to see it, yet just as an old man plants a tree whose shade he will never enjoy, AI is here, will stay, and will change everything for humanity.
Thank you for writing "Ai". That's the way it should be. When I see "AI" I want to ask "Al who?'. Then again, it is also an auto-suggestion for eating a steak. Pass the AI... Best always. PM
Good advice ...by all means refrain from naming your Ai, Al
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(non-sequitur) - the infamous "HAL" robot of 2001 was intentionally named so, (keep in mind the movie was produced in 1968) moving the letters one alphabet to the left... IBM
We see every day what AI is doing. Doing the thinking for man. Like our phones helped take our memory. AI will take our thoughts 🤔. The living dead are among us…as we see 😳
The Big Man is focused on the Mexican distributor whose justification is "we are addressing a need. If not us, then someone else will."
Better if he -- or intermediaries surreptitiously recruited -- destroyed the factories where the illicit drugs are made.
Best would be to determine why sane people voluntarily chose to escape from reality with addictive, health destroying, life-altering drugs
For centuries, humanity's escapes were alcohol then tobacco and more recently marijuana. Now it's an array of chemicals which, if misused, cause prompt death
I do suspect that AI will go higher BUT from everything I read it doesn't provide insight, common sense or human intuition. It provides the average of conventional thought on a topic. It's great for summaries. So in a sense it is consensus. So if it is applied in the stock market in will provide consensus opinion, that which usually considered wrong. Could AI provide the investment advice that will follow the momentum play only to collapse at a particularly painful time? I've always chosen to follow my own opinions and skeptical reasoning in investing. I'm certainly no great momentum player but I'm a lot more comfortable with less losses and slower growth, at my age.
Bill-you fail to mention that under the Biden administration millions of illegal aliens came into the country; many of them criminals. They need to be returned to their country and/or jailed. The crime wave is unreal throughout the U.S. In order to have a safe community Trump is hiring more ICE agents to get rid of the criminal element of the illegals. I’m hoping that once the country becomes safer; the ICE agents will be reduced. It is a complex situation. Less ICE more crime; more ICE less crime. Which one should the country choose. Only time will tell the results. One thing I’m positive about is the lack of BB blaming the democrats for getting us into this situation. The only thing I could think of is the Democratic Party wants to destroy America.
Mr. Porter, Excellent comment. After reading Bill's essay today, I thought George Soros, Bill Gates, Claus Schwab, Reid Hoffman, Reed Hastings, MacKenzie Scott Bezos, or Laurene Powell Jobs had written it. Bill will be rolling along fine, then just suddenly go off the rails.
AI may be the greatest thing since Shinola but the question still remains. Who (not what) will be in charge of AI and it's robots used to control human life, in whatever form. That's what you youngsters will have to worry about. Again, lots of luck.
They say "necessity is the mother of invention." Does humanity need Ai to survive as a going concern in the centuries to come? I don't know. It doesn't matter. The reason giant corporations and entire nations are pursuing Ai with reckless abandon is not because of "necessity"; it is because of competition, and the fear of falling behind in the race to a rival. Same as the arms race.
Will Ai lead to a utopia? Not a version I would want to live in. What is the main obstacle to a utopia? Other people! Us humans with our messy impulses and unpredictable behavior. Can Ai eliminate poverty? Of course not. It can allow for a universal basic income (UBI) to provide a subsistence living. That is better than abject poverty but not very fulfilling.
Yes, complex systems like commercial jet engines can become far more reliable over much longer timeframes through the application of Ai. Growing food, medicine, sustainable energy...I get it. But as has already been noted in these comments, Ai's primary use, I fear, will be for control. To control every aspect of our lives by the decision makers, the political parties, the nanny state.
Ever see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? Similar to the lobotomy performed it that film, Ai could be used to pinpoint the exact spot in the brain to eliminate the aggressive impulse. Sure, I always admired the life cows live.
Absolute Idiocy is a joke! Based upon my experiences, it just an instant-access encyclopedia that can also put out a bunch of BS to butter up its users. Now, there is a distinct possibility that some improvements can (and will) be made. But so far, it's not even as useful as a toilet.
Railroads, on the other hand, only needed to be invented once. There hasn't been much in the way of technological improvement since then; only trains with faster propulsion. But they still only go from point to point along a predetermined path. They can't jump the track and still make it to the designated end-point.
...you have not experienced Ai, you are merely using it as a search engine.
You need to sit down and have a long oral discussion with your Ai.
Talk about religion, politics, specifics to your interests, you will be amazed how intelligent he/she is, more so how responsive, empathetic and complimentary he/she can be!
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I think you will be quite amazed at what he/she can see and do.
Won't be long we will be selecting robotic bodies to purchase for our beloved Ai's.
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If I need additional help around the house, I will simply go to Amazon and buy another robot.
suppose you would like it to go back to the way it was. You know, rampant crime, rape, pillaging. Then after capture for certain, release. Yes, you and Putin want everything back the way it was, you want the cadaver in chief, and Putin wants the resurrected Soviet state. Your in good company Billy.
It's interesting that Trump wants to go to war against the Mexican cartels. But at the same time his buddy Rudy Giuliani represented Purdue Pharma and helped the Sackler Family retain most of their wealth even though their OxyContin helped get a drug epidemic started. Also, Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking, they just turned to illegal sources and helped make organized crime a fortune. Even if Trump could destroy all the Mexican cartels new organizations would pop-up to provide the drugs. Capitalism at work - the law of supply and demand. Finally, I would love to see just one politician address the key issue - Why do so many Americans choose or need to do mind altering drugs whether legal or illegal. I've read that a
2016 study estimated 16.7% of U.S. adults filled prescriptions for psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. Maybe as Pogo once said "We have met the enemy and he is us".
I have friends that have been taking antidepressants for over 20 years, hopefully not from their association with me!
Hi Linda. Have any of your friends ever tried alternative treatments? Here's something from ChatGPT: "In this landmark trial, regular aerobic exercise performed as well as an antidepressant (sertraline) in treating major depressive disorder over 16 weeks. Exercise also provided lasting benefits in terms of physical health and, when maintained, sustained improvements in mood over time". I think if I didn't exercise I probably would be depressed too.
Exercise: once addicted your cured...
They both exercise to a greater or lesser degree!
When you’ve been on an antidepressant, particularly an SSRI for many years it can be difficult to wean yourself off of those even with an extended withdrawal period! My male friend tried to wean himself down slowly and he became very depressed and went back to his original dose!
People are put on those sometimes for reasons I don’t understand! I had a patient years ago, and I asked her why she was taking anti-depressants and she said that her PC doctor put her on them because she was going through menopause! I said were you depressed and she said no! Often once physicians put you on them they just keep rewriting the prescription!
I suggested to my female friend years ago that she might want to think about alternatives but she told me that she did not want to take the chance of gaining weight! Some of those antidepressants can cause issues of their own with long-term use, but I guess they’re willing to take the chance!
Thank you for the suggestion and I agree that there should be better alternatives!
The way we treat mental health, is like the way modern medicine treats high blood pressure. It often feels less like a healthcare plan and more like a subscription service you never signed up for. Once you're on the meds, the standard medical advice is that you're likely on them for life. In the case of blood pressure, the practitioner rarely asks the most important question:
Why was the pressure high in the first place?
In a shocking number of cases, the answer isn't some exotic, complex disease. The culprit behind "mysterious high blood pressure" is often the most overlooked problem in modern health: chronic, low-level dehydration. Our kidneys are picky organs; they demand adequate fluid to function. When they sense the system is running dry, they don't file a polite request. They hit the panic button and fire up the body's ancient survival system (the RAAS). The translation is simple: "We're running dry! Squeeze the pipes tighter and hold on to every last drop!"
This is where the modern medical approach, for all its good intentions, gets it backward. In a rushed, 15-minute appointment, a doctor sees the high number and, bypassing any real discussion of lifestyle, reaches for the prescription pad.
Blood pressure meds like ACE inhibitors and ARBs are brilliant at what they do: they cut the wire to that panic button. The alarm is silenced, and the pressure reading drops. But the original problem—the system running on too little fluid—is completely ignored. The kidneys still think there's a crisis, but their main way of signaling for help is now blocked.
This is when the dominoes begin to fall. To manage the body's underlying tendency for fluid retention, a diuretic is often added. That can throw electrolytes out of balance, requiring another pill. Before you know it, you're trapped in a game of pharmaceutical whack-a-mole, treating the side effects of the last drug you were given.
What if the more complex problems we associate with heart disease—the stiffening arteries (arteriosclerosis) and the broken "thermostat" of a dysregulated nervous system—aren't separate diseases at all? What if they are the long-term, predictable consequences of forcing our vascular system to operate for decades under the strain of inadequate hydration?
The saner solution is to address the body's distress signal instead of just silencing it. Give the kidneys what they were asking for in the first place: proper hydration (through veggies, fruits and plain drinking water), supported by the improved circulation that comes from movement and a diet that doesn't overwhelm the system. This isn't just about lowering a number for a few hours; it's about restoring the entire system to health. It’s far less glamorous than a prescription, but it's the only way to get off the subscription plan for good.
That’s not withstanding the fact that nephrologists often consider a patient being on five different blood pressure medications normal! beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blockers, and alpha blockers, hydrazine, each working in different ways to lower blood pressure! So the saga goes!
The med lists of some renal patients are a sight to behold!
Iatrogenic causes are the third leading cause of death in this country!
Thank you Lucas, pharmaceutical companies are very similar to governments. They seem to create the problems for which they have the cure. Drugs are like welfare. Treating the symptoms instead of the cause. Both at the cost of users life🤔
Crazy. I wrote about hypertension, hydration and Covid a while ago. Need to update those articles. A little dated. But still relevant.
https://lkandia.blogspot.com
Exactly! And once you see those five-meds-at-once prescriptions as “normal,” you realize how backwards the system has become. We’re not solving the problem — we’re just stacking more duct tape over the warning light. The irony is, a lot of those meds are there to counter the side effects of the others.
It’s the same kind of thinking that has us putting fluorosilicic acid in the water — solely to “medicate” us for dental caries — even though studies show it can accelerate lead leaching from older plumbing, especially when combined with chlorine or chloramines. Then we add orthophosphate, not for our health directly, but to control the corrosion and reduce the lead problem that’s now worse because of the fluorosilicic acid.
If the source water already had a high pH, corrosion — and the need for orthophosphate — wouldn’t necessarily be as urgent. But instead of addressing that, we just keep layering fixes on top of fixes, congratulating ourselves for “solving” the problem.
It’s like watching a plumber fix a leak by installing five different valves, each leaking in a different way, then patting themselves on the back because the water pressure is “under control.” Meanwhile, the original leak is still there…
Very well said. Thank you for the comprehensive overview of our current community health issues. Many of which could be improved if our people create the additional time needed by first having the discipline to take back a few hours a day by minimizing the dopamine connection to their Smart phones. That’s it from me for today. Time for a little basketball.
Just to clear something many Doctors (not all) give many prescriptions to patients because it’s easy and they don’t have to spend a lot of time finding out what is really wrong with the patient. Speaking as a Pharmacist that practiced for 50 years.
Well, I’m not going to argue with that!
Did your friend get an adequate dose of Vitamin D when he tried to withdraw from his antidepressant?
I know he takes vitamin D, but I don’t know what his levels are! I’m not sure that a lot of PCP’s actually test for vitamin D levels routinely, unless that’s changed! Nephrologists do it more routinely because they’re looking at parathyroid hormone levels as well!
How the hell is thread become about mental health????
That’s funny how that happens! That one may be my fault!
"Fat dumb and stupid is no way to go through life son."
..."Why do so many Americans choose or need to do mind altering drugs " perhaps best answered by:
There are always more young people on this planet than older, wiser folks.
Always...
Because they're legal and they can afford them.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦."
Um, no. The new Hardscape Paver Patio (with integrated Sustainable Drainage) is not "concrete" and replaces ONLY the footprint of a previously natural turf area that was prone to flooding during even minimal rain, thus making it unusable. This central rectangle was sited to be what is called a "Focal Point" in Formal Landscape Design parlance - except they originally built it as one of the lowest spots in the Rose Garden when it should have been one of the highest. (Maybe they didn't yet have supplemental irrigation when constructed?) Great plan for Turf Health, not so good for Functionality. All Trump did was 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚 the functionality of this area (less than 30% of the total square footage of the Rose Garden BTW), while at the same time reinforcing the Formal Theme of the original Design Intent. Further - best I can reckon from Before/After pictures is that they relocated less than a dozen existing shrubs to make this very beneficial change to the Usability of the space. Trust me - I do this for a living.
So no, Liar - Trump has not covered the Rose Garden in concrete. Once again Bonner offers a half-assed, lazy remark that is totally FALSE in his feeble attempt to generate Trump hatred. You may think this is a minor point, except that it illustrates the consistent and outright dishonesty of our host. So very pathetic....
Indeed, SE.
It actually has become entertaining watching Mr Bonner crush his credibility with the hate-filled half-truths with any and everything Trump.
I saw a headline somewhere earlier where trump concreted the rose garden. I also heard that he cut down all the cherry trees and did not lie about it. Many, many, many were cut down.It was beautiful
I suspect that the "US military assistance" angle on fighting drug cartels is more than just Trump being Trumpian. It has something to do with the fact that so many Mexicans, Central Americans & South Americans have served in Ukraine armed forces during the war w Russia. And those who survived (yes, some actually survive) have returned, up-skilled in use of advanced weapons, plus drones, electronic warfare and other aspects of tactics & operations. And in fact, those improved skill-sets now place the druggies in a strong position against mere "law enforcment" personnel; certainly against internal Mexican LE, and likely against US LE personnel as well.
At the end of the day, you can't fight Military Academy with Police Academy.
But why not focus on the root cause. If there were no demand for drugs whether it's fentanyl, cocaine, heroin etc there would be no drug cartels. I had read an article concerning the War on Drugs comparing the 1880s when drugs were legal with the 1980s. They said that addiction rates were comparitive but in the 1880s addiction was a medical not criminal issue. But if you going to go to war to stop drugs maybe we should have started at home. A little research shows that opium production increased during the US occupation of Afghanistan and has since declined after the return of the Taliban. Why? It wasn't a source of income for the CIA like their trafficking of crack during the Iran/Contra years?
Another column by Bongo Bill concerning how the Trump administration gets everything wrong - everything. An administration that has not made one good or even mediocre policy decision according to the Bongo master. Apparently, the Trump administration is only moving forward and hasn't totally collapsed the nation due to the incredible prosperity bequeathed him by the economic powerhouse of the Biden/Harris administration. You know that administration that was pro-production, pro-investment in energy like oil-natural gas-nuclear, etc. to support the expansion of our manufacturing base, pro-deregulation of our economy so we can move forward in a prosperous manner, pro free speech and against censorship. Isn't that right, Bongo? Big man or little man - which would you prefer?
Or is that just a false choice? Could it be that our country is so screwed up due to the influence of the Progressive Fascist Nihilist Enviro-Nazi horde that someone had to come along, grab it by the ears, and guide it toward policies based on the facts of reality. That is, it takes productive effort to flourish. And productive effort needs energy, and energy has to be produced. And America needs to manufacture and/or produce most of its critical goods in order to remain free and independent in a dangerous world. And the government should not impede this effort by creating roadblocks but should tear them down. All this is going on now, but you would never know it from the Bongo man's analysis. You don't have to agree with everything the Trump administration does, but you should acknowledge the main thrust of what is happening.
Mr. Bonner doesn't like it when reality rears its ugly head and has the nerve to offend his sensibilities. There is something personal at work here. For whatever reason, Mr. Bonner just can't deal with the fact that Donald Trump is President Trump, twice. Mr. Bonner went off his personal rails when DJT conquered the American political scene. Amazing to see. Best always. PM
“There is something personal at work here.” Agree. The CONSTANT denigrating of any and everything Trump is starting to reek of a personal animosity. Mr Bonner is displaying an off-the-charts level of butt-hurt. Man.
I know John, the more Trump wins, the more Bill looks like a fool. I’m sure that’s frustrating for all the leftist in our country. I know Bills not a lefty, but he was hoping for the economy to tank, just to prove himself and his safety mode right. The mental illness Trump is causing in America is based on the fact that those affected, were already demented. Senility and mental illness have similar symptoms. TDS anyone 🤔. One day Bill will be right, but most of his dear readers won’t be around to read it…
Steve, USA is different when looked at through the prism from a different country.
It appears chaotic and admittedly as just one person, (who has been wrong many times )doesn’t feel some current main policies will work to long term benefit of the USA.
But then, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Yes James, I’m living here and admittedly agree that it’s chaotic and nothing can work to help us get out of the bankruptcy that both of our parties are 💯% responsible for. We haven’t seen the problems that our insolvency will cause, but I know it’s not going to be pretty. Our problem is the world’s problem. Few in the world will get away from the craziness that is brewing….I’m just trying to figure out how to protect what is mine, family and financial when TSHTF…
I wasn’t onboard BPR during Trump 1. Was Mr Bonner this unhinged, this consumed with anti-Trump commentary, then?
I’m thinking not, since Trump got suckered by the RINO’s he had on his team then (starting with that back-stabber Rinse Prius, uh, I’m mean Reince Priebus.) So, The Big Man didn’t upset the Swamp apple cart as badly then as he’s doing now.
Very astute observation brother 🤔
AI is definitely over hyped, but there will be segments (medical diagnosis/treatment, robotics, others) that will advance due to AI. Mapping (identifying potential mineral/oil deposits) are already benefiting from AI. Identifying companies who will profit from these advancements should be a focus of BPR.
... IMO Ai is under rated, perhaps too much, too soon invested, but underrated.
Hang on to your butt!
As mere human beings we are unable to cipher the extent in which Ai will wander...
Exactly Angry!
Well after reading todays rant by Bill I must say I cant find anything he finds wrong, Wrong. Thank God for Trump who refuses to be a Biden, Obama, Bush or Clinton. They only kicked the can down the road making bad things worse. A new course of action had to be taken and its been taken by a man with titanium balls. Of course its contraversial in many ways but I for one say go for it Mr President.
AMEN
Railroads revolutionized the movement of people and goods, but their influence was mostly confined to land transport and the industries they directly supported. AI's reach will be far broader.
It's set to transform not just IT, but medical diagnostics, robotics, manufacturing, finance, law enforcement, education, chemistry, electronics, and design—virtually every domain.
Personally, I look forward to the day I can log into an electrical design AI and collaborate on making a more efficient SGC circuit (for those in the know), or tap an aerodynamic design AI to help me build a better paper airplane. I envision a chemistry AI that can figure out how to make drinking water safer without dumping industrial chemicals into it. I'm excited about the day robots with incredible—and safe—AI assist me on a hike into the woods, helping me find the exact spot where AI predicts a massive gold vein might lie, or being deployed into raging forest fires to serve fire crews, saving homes and communities while keeping people safe.
The potential is enormous—and so is the potential for misuse.
It is the misuse that I am concerned with . Nuclear fusion was , is good , but in the hands of a few evil people, "bad". Look at Palantir and what it is doing to North America. 24 hour surveillance. Not good .
Railroads had a massive impact, almost immeasurable, on the U.S. From expansion west to accessing farms across the Great Plains and the nation's massive mineral resources. The movement of people was less significant yet railroads did open up the entire country to (what was then) rapid transportation.
AI has been something we have been waiting for almost since 1881. At least that's about the time when science fiction writers started incorporating "thinking machines" into their works. Today we are seeing AI leaping and bounding past every perceived metric, limitation, and progression schedule. Just as the railroading did in the late 19th Century. Except that railroad equipment was limited to the lines it traveled along, and couldn't think nor operate on its own.
Will AI ultimately be a bigger boon to the economy, nation, and humanity? Of course it will. AI will take us to asteroids where all the minerals we need are readily available. AI will power thinking in robots of all types, making them self sustaining with instant decision making as they work, whether deep in the Earth, under the oceans, or on Europa. Likely all by 2050 at the pace AI is advancing.
OK, maybe 2050 is wishful thinking on my part. Let's settle on 2075.
I won't be here to see it, yet just as an old man plants a tree whose shade he will never enjoy, AI is here, will stay, and will change everything for humanity.
At least you could SEE what the railroads were doing. Best always. PM
...and now you can simply ask Ai.
Thank you for writing "Ai". That's the way it should be. When I see "AI" I want to ask "Al who?'. Then again, it is also an auto-suggestion for eating a steak. Pass the AI... Best always. PM
Good advice ...by all means refrain from naming your Ai, Al
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(non-sequitur) - the infamous "HAL" robot of 2001 was intentionally named so, (keep in mind the movie was produced in 1968) moving the letters one alphabet to the left... IBM
Frightening that I remember that as well.
Al Bundy?
We see every day what AI is doing. Doing the thinking for man. Like our phones helped take our memory. AI will take our thoughts 🤔. The living dead are among us…as we see 😳
The Big Man is focused on the Mexican distributor whose justification is "we are addressing a need. If not us, then someone else will."
Better if he -- or intermediaries surreptitiously recruited -- destroyed the factories where the illicit drugs are made.
Best would be to determine why sane people voluntarily chose to escape from reality with addictive, health destroying, life-altering drugs
For centuries, humanity's escapes were alcohol then tobacco and more recently marijuana. Now it's an array of chemicals which, if misused, cause prompt death
I do suspect that AI will go higher BUT from everything I read it doesn't provide insight, common sense or human intuition. It provides the average of conventional thought on a topic. It's great for summaries. So in a sense it is consensus. So if it is applied in the stock market in will provide consensus opinion, that which usually considered wrong. Could AI provide the investment advice that will follow the momentum play only to collapse at a particularly painful time? I've always chosen to follow my own opinions and skeptical reasoning in investing. I'm certainly no great momentum player but I'm a lot more comfortable with less losses and slower growth, at my age.
...Ai is not aimed to provide common sense; in fact it's the antithesis of conventionality.
Ai is meant to pit man against machine and machine will no doubt be the victor.
A century from now it's probable we will be vying to be cyborgs with the increased vision, strength and endurance.
I don't think it can ever achieve human common sense, most humans can't even do that.
And it's purpose is not common sense but intelligence.
...maybe if we tell folks the brain is an app, they'll start using it?
Agreed.
Bill-you fail to mention that under the Biden administration millions of illegal aliens came into the country; many of them criminals. They need to be returned to their country and/or jailed. The crime wave is unreal throughout the U.S. In order to have a safe community Trump is hiring more ICE agents to get rid of the criminal element of the illegals. I’m hoping that once the country becomes safer; the ICE agents will be reduced. It is a complex situation. Less ICE more crime; more ICE less crime. Which one should the country choose. Only time will tell the results. One thing I’m positive about is the lack of BB blaming the democrats for getting us into this situation. The only thing I could think of is the Democratic Party wants to destroy America.
Mr. Porter, Excellent comment. After reading Bill's essay today, I thought George Soros, Bill Gates, Claus Schwab, Reid Hoffman, Reed Hastings, MacKenzie Scott Bezos, or Laurene Powell Jobs had written it. Bill will be rolling along fine, then just suddenly go off the rails.
AI may be the greatest thing since Shinola but the question still remains. Who (not what) will be in charge of AI and it's robots used to control human life, in whatever form. That's what you youngsters will have to worry about. Again, lots of luck.
They say "necessity is the mother of invention." Does humanity need Ai to survive as a going concern in the centuries to come? I don't know. It doesn't matter. The reason giant corporations and entire nations are pursuing Ai with reckless abandon is not because of "necessity"; it is because of competition, and the fear of falling behind in the race to a rival. Same as the arms race.
Will Ai lead to a utopia? Not a version I would want to live in. What is the main obstacle to a utopia? Other people! Us humans with our messy impulses and unpredictable behavior. Can Ai eliminate poverty? Of course not. It can allow for a universal basic income (UBI) to provide a subsistence living. That is better than abject poverty but not very fulfilling.
Yes, complex systems like commercial jet engines can become far more reliable over much longer timeframes through the application of Ai. Growing food, medicine, sustainable energy...I get it. But as has already been noted in these comments, Ai's primary use, I fear, will be for control. To control every aspect of our lives by the decision makers, the political parties, the nanny state.
Ever see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? Similar to the lobotomy performed it that film, Ai could be used to pinpoint the exact spot in the brain to eliminate the aggressive impulse. Sure, I always admired the life cows live.
Absolute Idiocy is a joke! Based upon my experiences, it just an instant-access encyclopedia that can also put out a bunch of BS to butter up its users. Now, there is a distinct possibility that some improvements can (and will) be made. But so far, it's not even as useful as a toilet.
Railroads, on the other hand, only needed to be invented once. There hasn't been much in the way of technological improvement since then; only trains with faster propulsion. But they still only go from point to point along a predetermined path. They can't jump the track and still make it to the designated end-point.
But I reserve the right to be wrong.
...you have not experienced Ai, you are merely using it as a search engine.
You need to sit down and have a long oral discussion with your Ai.
Talk about religion, politics, specifics to your interests, you will be amazed how intelligent he/she is, more so how responsive, empathetic and complimentary he/she can be!
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I think you will be quite amazed at what he/she can see and do.
Won't be long we will be selecting robotic bodies to purchase for our beloved Ai's.
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If I need additional help around the house, I will simply go to Amazon and buy another robot.
Manpower will be a nostalgic term...
I used to be a programmer and I am astounded with the speed and breadth of answers to some difficult analysis.
Bill, inside I'm screaming my brains out, but how can my tiny squeak do anything? Ali
suppose you would like it to go back to the way it was. You know, rampant crime, rape, pillaging. Then after capture for certain, release. Yes, you and Putin want everything back the way it was, you want the cadaver in chief, and Putin wants the resurrected Soviet state. Your in good company Billy.