Rick Kinnaird

Friday, August 15, 2025

Trump has done an amazing job. Amazing how fast he has taken an economy that was the envy of the world and sunk it. It’s not sunk yet. We’ve just heard the tear as the ship has hit the iceberg and some are asking, “What was that?”

That was the economy starting to stutter and shudder as it begins its grind to a halt.

What we will experience is higher prices, lower wages, fewer jobs and a general economic malaise, clled “stagflation.”

Last time this happened two Republican presidents tried to reverse the effects and failed (Nixon and Ford.) It took a Democrat (Carter) to end it. It cost him a second term. Then Reagan came in increased the debt, destroyed unions and it has been downhill for the middle class ever since. And the poor? Forget about it.

We are now at the point where Republicans are not even hiding their contempt for – well – just about everyone. They continue their policies of cheating and pushing outrageous lies. It’s hard to understand how people who went to some of the most prestigious universities have become so stupid. It’s hard to believe they believe what they are saying. Maybe they do. Maybe they don’t. It doesn’t really matter. The fundamental problem is that their theories, if you can call them that, are nonsense. As are their solutions. I can’t think of a single thing this administration has done to help people. The problems they whined about in the campaign aren’t being talked about. Other that to perhaps quote on exstent data and to say everything is fine.

Imagine the ship is sinking and someone come to the captain and says, “the ship is listing to port.” And the captain replies, “Close the ports.” Thus demonstrating no understanding of nautical terrminology. That’s where we are with the economy.

People are running from side to side on the decks below and the captain gets on the public address syste and announces everything is fine, just a little rough water.

At some point, reality delivers the truth. And the truth is this President has done his utmost to ruin this economy, our government, and the health of our nation. 

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

I read a statement that said Trump had made over 4,700 wire transfers to Jeffery Epstein worth $1.1B.

Turns out it’s attributed to Senator Ron Wyden, and that Wyden wanted access to more government files.

Someone in the Trump administration said that it was interesting that this comes out now, but Wyden never asked to see anything when Biden was President.

There was also a Leon Black who paid Epstein $170M for tax advice. Black is a billionaire so yeah he could have paid Epstein for tax advice, but that’s a lot of money for that sort of thing and he could have gone to the best accountants in the world for cheaper. It seems fishy.

NONE OF WHAT IS ABOVE IS THE WHOLE TRUTH!!!

Let me start with Leon Black. Along with looking him up I got lists of the top black billionaires. After ten seconds of consideration I came to the startling conclusion that AI or Google or some computer linked the name “Black” to black people. Part of my careful analysis was due to looking at a picture of Leon Black and thinking, “He doesn’t look black to me.” Turns out he’s Jewish. And there are black Jews (Sammy David Jr.), but Leon Black looked more like Leon Panetta than Sammy Davis Jr.

So, Black is white. Also Jewish and ancestors from Poland.

How about the $170 million? Yeah. That’s a big question.

Turns out old Jeffy used Russian banks to deposit money and move it around. Especially, in regard to importing young women and girls from Eastern Russian and its former satellites. People like Melania. Hum.

I had never heard of Epstein being a tax whiz. So the question of why Black was paying him is still hanging out there.

Now why didn’t Wyden ask the Biden admin? Well, he kinda did. What do I mean by that. Wyden had been looking into Epstein and wire transfers for three years. He did say that there were 4,715 wire transfers totaling $1.1B. These are in the form of SARs, which are Suspicious Activity Reports, that banks file. During the Biden administration, the Treasury Department allowed Wyden’s investigators to look at the reports but they could only write hand written notes. So the claim that they did’t ask ain’t exactly true, and if you got to do it all by hand it’s going to take some time. (Sounds like the ATF gun reporting.)

Now, possibly mixed in those 4,715 SARs maybe some that Trump made. But Wyden never said they were all Trump’s.

There are four Russian banks involved in many of these transfers and those banks are now sanctioned.

Lots of drudgery and icky stuff to go through.

However, several questions are raised in my mind:

Why didn’t more of this come out during the campaign?

Was Trump involved in helping Epstein? I mean Trump had a Miss Universe pageant in Russia where he admitted to walking into the girls’ dressing rooms. And Melania was brought over by Epstein (I think that’s been verified, if not it should be.) How many of those transfers were Trump’s and if so what were they for?

(Trafficking?, Services Rendered? ie sex, Blackmail?)

And speaking of why didn’t more of this come out during the campaign. I saw an interview Barbra Walters did with a younger Donald Trump. Back when he was playing at being a real estate mogul in New York. I say playing because he was losing close to a billion dollars a year. In the interview Trump was going on about what a great deal maker he was. Barbra cut him off, “You’re broke.” Trump countered with “if you check with my bankers.” Barbra replied, “I have. You’re broke.”

Why did the Epstein stuff and the Walters’ interview not been played over and over again during the campaign? Damn it.

Here’s Barbra:

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Yes, it’s my birthday. I’ve been working on trying to get my back to stop hurting and I’m happy to report that I’ve figured something out that seems to work. Maybe, I should post to Facebook and call it a “life hack”?

Before I get to the main topic let me note that Trump’s tariffs and his Big Ugly Bill put a huge burden on the middle class and especially the poor. I can write more about that at another time. I have to wonder do the people around Trump understand this and are they just covering so they keep their jobs?

Which is worse knowing and lying? Or believing and telling lyes?

The first is evil, the second is gross naïveté.

Moving on to archaeology. Joe Rogan has been speculating about one ancient site – Göbekli Tepi. What he did and seems to do on most of his shows is to sit there and wonder, then arrive at some pull-it-out-of-your-rectum conclusion. Oftentimes aided by a guest who claims some knowledge of the subject. Or in the case of Tucker Carlson it’s more like Beavis and Butthead.

Göbekli Tepi is a site in Turkey, discovered by a German archaeologist in the 1990s. It’s a sunken round area with benches carved out around the perimeter and interspersed with rectangular T shaped pillars. In the center are two larger T-shaped pillars. Many of the pillars have depictions of animals, either in very flat bas-relief or in well shaped 3D. There are also elongated arms with hands that seem to wrap around part of the blocks. The site is 12,000 years old and has upended all that we know about the start of civilization.

So what does Rogan do? Besides sit on his rear and wonder? He brings in Graham Hancock. Who is Hancock? He’s a guy whose schtick is basically, “We don’t know how they moved these stones. They must have had help.” The help is either from a more advanced Lost Civilization or Aliens. Cute stuff, but dangerous. Better for a Saturday morning kids’ cartoon show than adults discussing things. Rogan brought in another person with other wilder ideas who claimed there were more hidden pillars and the archaeologists were dragging their feet to uncover them.

Here’s the thing. It’s been shown quite convincingly how the blocks for the pyramids were moved. How the stones of the Inca were so perfectly cut. How the statues of Rapa Nui “walked” to their locations. All these were claimed at one time to have been the work of gods, aliens, or lost civilizations. And yet, these wild claims persist. Why? Well, it’s more interesting than grubbing in the dirt for twenty years, and more spectacular. But it adds to the shitification of the subject. Now with AI, we can generate hundreds and thousands of BS similar things. We’ll get buried in it.

Göbekli Tepe is a site with a lot of questions and things we don’t know. There are a few things that can be ruled out. For instance: “Was it an ancient observatory?” Uh. No. Why? It appears that the circular structure had a roof with a hole in the center for smoke. So you wouldn’t be able to see stars. (Because there’s a roof in the way! OMG, do I have to spell it out? No? Okay, sorry.)

Why haven’t they dug more, faster? Answer: Once you dig through a layer it is gone for good. You want to take your time and tease out as much as possible. Also, the current archaeologist at the site said that he thought it important to leave some for others – possibly of another generation. Ken Weeks thought the same when digging KV5 in The Valley of the Kings. (That and digging out chamber after chamber could become boring.)

And lastly, a little tidbit from my source of all truth – Facebook.

There’s a picture of a kangaroo. Beside it is some speculation on his where it came from.

“You mean to tell me that after he got off Noah’s Arc he hopped all the way to Australia, and never left a sign of the journey?” Obviously, the kangaroo got teleported by aliens to Australia

August 7, 2025

Apparently, Trump thinks the EU has given him $600 billion to spend however he wants.

His Commerce Secretary thinks the tariffs are working and Trump can charge whatever he wants.

This is crazy dangerous stuff. Neither is true. What happens when reality hits them?

And the elephant in the room? Trump was in deep with Epstein, for years. Maybe, he was even helping in the trafficking of young women and girls. Certainly, he was taking liberties with them as he has admitted. Why are so many saying, “We don’t know,” and why didn’t this come out during the last election?

So far the biggest loser in the tariff wars seems to be Ford. They trade parts back and forth between Europe and the U.S. The tariffs have wiped out their 3rd quarter $800 million profit. Nice work Donnie! 

And in his sparkling deal with the EU – you’ll be shocked to hear this – but it turns out we, the American people, will be paying more and the Europeans the same they’ve always been paying.

Iran is considering switching from GPS technology and moving to a China based system. Why is this significant? It signals a loss of faith in American technology.

And that is the message all over the world – a loss of faith. You don’t get that back for decades. Again, great job.

Now the administration has decided that they need more people at the Weather Service. I guess they went over to the wall where the big switch is and flipped it to “on.” Great, now we’ll have hundreds or thousands  of newbies running around trying to figure out what is going on. Much better than having the old guard – am I right? (Hell. No.)

‘And in hysterical news “Big Balls” got beaten up in Washington DC. The 19 year old guy who thinks he’s a programming whiz got his lunch stolen by some car jackers. Hey, welcome to the real world.

Trump is trying to use this as an excuse to put Federal troops in DC.

Let’s go back to the jobs number that so enraged the Prez. The BLS will put out a preliminary report to give everyone an idea of how things are. Typically, this number gets revised twice over the next two months as more data comes in. In this case they reported a downturn in jobs. Donnie didn’t like that. Well, wait until they revise that number. If there was a serious downturn, as the BLS reported, a big number different than before is consistent with history during a turning point. You’ll get a sizable change. Once more data is collected, and if it is a down turn, then that number will no doubt get revised – DOWNWARD! Oh boy. Then it will be time to get out the black sharpie for some quick revisions.

And I’m still waiting for one of the people detained bye ICE to be shown to be a gang member.

Pop Quiz – Name something, anything, the President has done “to help the people.”

That’s his job. And as far as I know he’s done nothing in that regard.

Oh wait, he told the drug companies to start making more stuff here. All they have to do is go to their big wall and grab that dial marked “place to manufacture” and turn it from “there” to “here.” 

Average time to get a pharmaceutical line up and running? Five years.

That is after they decide to do it and to push it.

In the case of the U.S.? Eh. Maybe he’ll change his mind tomorrow. Let’s wait and see.

August 4, 2025

Imagine, you’re the Toyota president and you meet in the White House with Donald Trump.

Trump comes in, starts talking and he asks you why you don’t make cars in America? You’re about to answer, but you can’t because Donald keeps going on. He, the Donald asks, “Wouldn’t it be better to make the cars here in America, than ship them from Japan?

You’re about to answer, but Trump rambles on.

This gives you time to think of an appropriate answer. But what can you say?

BTW:

I did a quick Google search “Toyota facilities in America” and got this:

Toyota operates 11 manufacturing facilities across the United States, producing a wide range of vehicles, engines, and components. These facilities are located in North Carolina, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and California. 

So your problem is that you don’t want to insult the President of the United States by pointing out the fact that the vehicles and many of their parts are made or assembled here.

You could say something like, “You are so right. We will begin immediately to follow up on your suggestion.”

Then when he finds out he’s been made a fool of it could be worse.

Best thing to do for the moment is to smile and nod sagely. Look like you are paying attention and taking what he is saying seriously.

He continues to talk and you look serious, smile a bit, and nod.

Finally, he turns to you and asks if you have anything to add. Your best move? Say, “No, I think you’ve covered everything.”

Meetings over. Shake his hand and tell him you will start immediately on his advice. He asks if you can invest 500 billion in the U.S.A.?

You say, “Yes, of course.”

He smiles and says, “So we have a deal?”

You smile, shake is hand and say, “Deal.”

You are about to leave and wonder what just happened? You wonder if the President knows you’ve invested over $25 billion in the U.S. since 2018? That you employ 135,900 people in the U.S. and 470,100 when you factor in all the ancillary jobs. What can you say? Well, the President seems pleased, “We have a deal!” he announces loudly and triumphantly. You smile and nod.

You are ushered out of the Oval Office.

Okay, it’s my fantasy of how such a meeting would go. But he did ask the question about Toyotas.