Rick Kinnaird

Thursday, May 7, 2026

I was thinking about Rocky Horror when Dr. Frankenfurter says, “I didn’t build him for you.”

That’s kind of my reasoning for writing these screeds. They are for me to vent and allow some toxicity to escape, and in so doing I hope to cleanse myself of said bad juju. And hopefully, someone gets something out of them too. 

I haven’t written much recently because it’s the same old garbage, recycled – updated and spewed out again. Now with AI! great.

However, there are times when the unbelievable stupidity, incompetence, cruelty, and lack of: morals, etiquette, social graces, sense of civilization becomes overwhelming and I have to, once again, wipe the slime off.

It’s hard to know where to start, but let’s start with Marco Rubio. I saw a clip where he was asked by a Congresswoman about money that was allocated to help women around the world with child birthing and such. (I think that was it.) His answer? Yeah. We’re not going to do that. We are looking at other ways to spend that money.

Then there’s Stephen Miller. When the shooter appeared at the Hilton there were two pictures of him and his wife. One showed his wife in front of Miller and it appeared that he was using her as a shield. The other showed him beside her and the comment was – see he’s protecting her and helping her get out. This as opposed to Robert Kennedy who was hustled out of the room and his wife was left to fend for herself.

I have two comments about the above: Miller is reproducing? OMG! And remember when the guy fainted in the Oval Office and RFK Jr ran, literally ran, the other way? So it comes as no surprise that he would leave his wife in a moment of crisis. 

But to both women: what were you thinking marrying that man????

And then I have to wonder, does Trump have anytime to actually do the work of the people? Well, okay, let’s admit he has no idea what that means and I doubt he has time because everyday it’s a new grift, or a new naming thing, or a new assault on our democracy.

Now he’s getting Palm Beach Airport named after himself with a side hustle of selling merch there.

His sons are in a drone company that is set to get a giant contract in the bloated war bill.

His son-in-law is over somewhere supposedly talking about a peace plan, but I’m betting there will be some big payoff for him. (BTW You do know that when BB (Netanyahu) comes to the U.S he visits Jared’s dad. One time (maybe more) he has slept in Jared’s bed and Jared slept in the basement.)

Then there’s the East Wing and the rubble that they dumped on a public golf course in D.C. Now Donnie is eying that and two other courses in D.C. What is he going to do – declare it a mess because of all the rubble on it and say he needs to take it over so he can clean it up?

I was also thinking of the three pillars of assault he has waged on our government: Musk and DOGE, Robert Kennedy and DHS, himself and international affairs.

Of course, there is a bigger game going on. The guy you founded the Heritage Foundation has said his objective is to get rid of The New Deal. The Supreme Court is tearing up as much of the Constitution and normalcy as we know it. Did you see the Daily Show with Sherrilynn Ifill explaining to Jon Stewart how the Supreme Court has dismantled the Voting Rights Act? And guess who as a law clerk worked hard to defeat it back when it was first proposed? John Roberts.

See the interview here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCse1FFEKLM

Then there’s the beyond cringeworthy moment in the White House when Trump is with kids. He demonstrates a lack of understanding that is – well – remarkable?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX-ibycAqBK/

It was to sign reviving the Kennedy National Fitness Program (totally redone I’m sure to The Trump …)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX-ibycAqBK/

and then they went out on The White House lawn where he demonstrated his fitness by missing three putts and giving up. I guess he was tuckered out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWqf6_Sumbw

But why should we seem surprised? Did you see him cut Camilla off and then manhandle her to another place?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auz7MWCqWfs

It is beyond whatever you want to call it.

BTW The picture of DJT with a big brown stain down the back of his golf pants is fake. (Just in case anyone thought I was disparaging to the President!)

Anything else?

Oh right – the passport picture. You don’t have to get the passport with his face in it. That’s “a special commemorative edition”. You can still get the regular passport. 

Okay, are we done?

We are so done.

Later.

Sunday, April 19, 2026

I flipped on theTV for a few seconds and saw the end of His Kind of Woman.

A1951 movie staring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russel, Vincent Price, and Raymond Burr. Howard Huges was the big boss. The film ran way over budget because Hughes kept making changes and demanding odd things. This I learned from the host after the movie ended. He wrapped up by saying, “Which asks the question, ‘How does someone so erratic, so delusional, so incompetent become the boss?”

Yes, I wonder.

Thursday, April 16, 2026

I was struck by comments about Victor Orban and his economic plans, if you can call them that.

The Heritage Foundation praised them. Various Republicans and right wing groups said that Orban’s economic plans were their model, as did folks on Fox.

I don’t know what they saw in his plans. He destroyed the everyday economy of Hungary. It is stagnant and we are one tenth of a point better in the U.S. of A. 

It reminded me of that Prime Minister in England, a conservative, who put forward an economic plan that was hailed by the same or similar group of folks that like Orban’s economic plans. She lasted five weeks, I think. The shortest time of any Prime Minister. Her economic plan was the main reason. It was a disaster. Right on it’s face. Yet, the same right-wingers and Fox praised it.

Why, I keep asking myself, are these people thinking that these very destructive ideas a good idea? I don’t know.

I think it comes down to a difference in philosophy. Put simply – Do you want a rising tide that lifts all boats or do you just want to get your boat off the beach and screw everyone else?

For decades the candidates in the Republican Party have used the phrase “tax and spend” derisively when describing Democrats. Yet it is the Republican Party, when in power that spends – much more than the Democrats. And, to make things worse, when the Republicans are in power they not only spend more, but they run up the debt. They don’t tax. They just spend. And when the Dems come in to clean up the mess they wail about the Deficit.

I heard Senator Ed Markey questioning someone from the GAO about the effect of the Big Beautiful Bill on our deficit. In ten years it will add thirty trillion dollars to the deficit. That bill alone will double our debt which will mean it will stand at double the amount of our whole annual economy. That is if we don’t get an uptick in interest rates, which is highly likely given the shaky nature of our economic house. The GAO guy said even a small uptick would blow the amount added to the deficit to fifty trillion.

When Biden left office we had the strongest economy in the world. Now? To quote our President, “People can’t believe…”

And don’t forget when Obama left office and before Trump came in we had a deal with Iran. Now? We have a war, which no one seems to know what for.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

The point has been made that autocracy and corruption go hand in hand.

Paul Krugman pointed out that this can be tracked statistically. The biggest take away from the chart he showed was the comment in the chart that “no country is rated as both highly democratic and corrupt.”

Rachel Maddow pointed out that Victor Orban’s Hungary had anemic economic growth (.4%) and we in the U.S. under Trump are at .5%.

Then there are the charts showing that the worst states economically and educationally are all under Republican control. In the case of Texas it used to be #7 in reading under Democratic governor Ann Richards. Under the Bushs and Greg Abbott it has fallen to #47.

Every Republican president from Ronald Reagan on has increased the deficit, made the economy worse, and infringed our liberties. Yet, the Republican candidates keep blaming the Democrats for the messes that they the Republicans create. Or as Bill Clinton has said, “their big complaint about the Democrats is we don’t clean up their messes fast enough.”

Imagine if Trump while in office had done nothing, just let things go at their own pace. We’d have a deal with Iran. We’d be pushing Russia back on its heels in Ukraine. The economy would be booming. Health care and education would be increasing. Basic research would still be going on. Instead all those things are in decline.

Then there is Trump and Russia. Is he a tool of the Russians? Every indication is that he is. We’ve never learned about the server in Trump Tower that was communicating directly with a server in Russia.

Then there is Jeffery Epstein. Does anyone believe that a man who hung out with Jeff for over ten years, swapped birthday cards with innuendos in them and has been photographed with numerous underage girls and been accused by multiple women of sexual assault not know what was up?

Then there’s Trump’s latest speech where he said the world cannot believe what they are seeing. Indeed they can’t but they’ve learned.

The best indication of what people think of Trump is to look at the price of oil. During his latest speech the price of Brent Crude went up $8 a barrel.

We will be paying for this reckless, incompetent, corrupt insanity for decades.

I doubt we will ever get back to our standing in the world that we once enjoyed.

“The Epistimology of Apocalypse: The Teotihuacan-Maya Battle on Tigre Pyramid, El Mirador”

Dr. Richard Hansen

This Zoom call was held March 23, 2026 at 8pm.

I believe this talk is one of three talks Richard has ready to give. Therefore, the information may already be known, but it was new to me.

SUMMARY: The main point of the lecture was that Richard and his team found evidence of a battle on the top of El Tigre Pyramid. This took place after El Mirador had gone into decline, slightly before the Entrada. Evidence suggests there were about one hundred people living in the ruins of El Mirador. They were attacked by people with Central Mexican weapons. This is evident by the fact that obsidian arrow points Teotihuacan style were found over the Upper Platform and the three pyramids at the top of ElTigre. The obsidian came from sources in the Central Mexican Valley. There were also arrow points of Mayan style made from chert. There is also evidence that the people defending themselves took to the three pyramids and hurled stones down on their attackers. These came from dismantling the tops of the pyramids.

So it seems that Central Mexicans (Teotihuacanos?) attacked Mayans living in the ruins of El Mirador. The evidence of this is that the arrow points were found on top of dirt that was on the pyramid.

Whoever attacked did not stay and there is evidence that the bodies were left where they fell.

Richard’s conclusions were that the small band living at El Mirador might have been what was left of a royal family and perhaps the Teotihuacanos were in the service of Tikal and killed the people in El Mirador to ensure that they would not reformulate and be a problem for Tikal.

My Thoughts:

This is evidence of Teotihuacan influence in the Tikal area before the Entrada. Could it be that Tikal employed a mercenary Teo force?

History has examples of people being hired as mercenaries who then take over replacing the people they were hired to protect. The Aztecs are one example. The Mafia is another. They were originally hired to protect the lemons in Sicily from theft.

The talk is recorded and when I get a link I will share it.

Other points of interest:

The Mirador Basin sits atop a raised area with a depression in the central area (ie a basin). Richard has identified 962 villages within the Basin. They are all connected via roads. None of these roads extended outside the basin.

Some of the arrow points have evidence of human remains and samples are being tested for DNA.

Richard shared some photos of the set of Apocalypto.