The Skeptical Librarian – Thoughts and Observations About the World

U.S. Actually in Best Shape Since at Least 2000

“President Biden is bequeathing his successor a nation that by many measures is in good shape, even if voters remain unconvinced.”

“To hear President-elect Donald J. Trump tell it, he is about to take over a nation ravaged by crisis, a desolate hellscape of crime, chaos and economic hardship. “Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!” he declared on social media last week.”

“By many traditional metrics, the America that Mr. Trump will inherit from President Biden when he takes the oath for a second time, two weeks from Monday, is actually in better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush came into office in 2001.”

Details and explanation in the source article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/05/us/politics/trump-us-disaster-numbers.html

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2025-01-06

Politics / Society

People in Oregon Preparing for Rounding up Immigrants

How repulsive!!

“Several officials in Lincoln County, Oregon have received an anonymous letter urging people to report “brown folks” they suspect are undocumented immigrants, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

“The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office recently learned about a letter being circulated throughout Lincoln County which encourages community members to track and report information regarding people of color, specifically community members that are believed to be undocumented,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook.”

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/letter-urging-residents-report-brown-folks-condemned-oregon/story?id=117082954

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2025-01-01

Society / Technology

Facebook Adding Thousands of AI “Users”

Facebook and Instagram have announced that they will be adding thousands of AI “users” in the attempt to create more engagement.

“The AI characters will be created by users through Meta’s AI studio, with the idea being that you can interact with them almost like you would with a real human on the website.”

“They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform… that’s where we see all of this going.”

Source: https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-planning-ai-powered-users

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2025-01-01

Politics / Society

Trump’s America Is Violent and Racist

Despite the protestations, this did happen more frequently when Trump was president last time. And it’s already happening again.

“Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested in Grand Junction, Colorado, after police say he followed KKCO/KJCT reporter Ja’Ronn Alex’s vehicle for 40 miles. Alex told police that he believed he had been followed and attacked because he is Pacific Islander.

“After arriving in Grand Junction, Egan, who was driving a taxi, pulled up next to Alex at a stoplight and said “Are you even a U.S. citizen? This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!” Egan then followed him back to his news station and tried to strangle him.

“This, uh, really does not bode well for the next four years.”

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/28/colorado-man-trumps-america-now-00196098

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2024-12-29

Economy / Politics / Society

Wisconsin Dairy Farms Rely on Undocumented Immigrants

Wisconsin dairy farms rely heavily on undocumented immigrants, who perform over half the work on dairy farms, according to estimates. I wonder how long it will take for it to sink in that maybe these folks made a mistake in their voting for president.

“Wisconsin is home to about 70,000 undocumented immigrants, mostly from Latin America, according to estimates from the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute. These are the people who hang drywall, clean hotel rooms, wash dishes in restaurant kitchens and package the nation’s cheese.

“Determining how many of Wisconsin’s dairy workers are undocumented is almost impossible. Workers use fake papers to get jobs, farmers accept those papers without question, and the state and federal governments make little effort to get an accurate count. But a conservative estimate from a recent University of Wisconsin at Madison study puts the number of undocumented Hispanic workers on medium-to-large farms at roughly 6,200. That figure excludes the many immigrant workers on smaller farms, those with fewer than 500 cows.”

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/wisconsin-dairy-undocumented-immigrants-drivers-licenses

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2024-12-29

Politics / Society

Homan’s Plan Not Much Better

So he backs off on Trump’s plan to revoke U.S. citizenship from children whose parents are undocumented, and instead wants to put them in a “halfway house.”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan delivered alarming new logistical details of a forthcoming mass deportation effort, a day after promising to restart the first Trump administration policy of family separation.

“In an interview with NewsNation, Homan, tapped by Trump to lead border security policy, admitted that millions of mixed-status households created a “difficult situation”

“The Center for Migration Studies estimates that at least 4.7 million households in the U.S. are home to both documented and undocumented family members and that 5.5 million U.S.-born children live in homes with at least one undocumented person.

“Homan ruled out the Trump-backed plan to retroactively repeal American-born children’s birthright citizenship but acknowledged that the children of undocumented parents may be put in dire positions.”

Source: https://www.salon.com/2024/12/27/border-chief-us-born-children-of-undocumented-going-to-be-put-in-a-halfway-house/

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2024-12-27

Information Literacy / Politics / Society

Musk Disapproves of Wikipedia Spending Money on Diversity

Wikipedia spent $50 million on a diversity initiative to make their workplace more diverse. Elon Musk wants people to stop donating to Wikipedia “until they restore balance to their editing authority.”

Ironic, since that’s actually what they are trying to do.

Source: https://nypost.com/2024/12/25/business/elon-musk-urges-supporters-not-to-donate-to-wikipedia-over-dei/

Source: https://www.uniladtech.com/news/elon-musk-people-not-donate-wikipedia-414225-20241226

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2024-12-26

Justice / Politics

Just Another Case of Revenge

What’s the real reason Trump wants to take the Panama Canal?

Because in 2019 Panama seized property owned by Trump for failing to pay taxes.

“The owners of a hotel tower in Panama City that once operated under the Trump brand accused Trump Organization subsidiaries of not paying the 12.5 percent required taxes to the local government.”

“The Trump entities were allegedly supposed to withhold those fees in advance and pay them to the government regardless of whether the property was profitable or not. Instead, the Trump companies simply kept the money, the suit claims, ‘thus intentionally evading taxes.’ That and other financial irregularities exposed them “to millions of dollars in liability,” according to the suit, which also claims Trump companies sought to cover up their actions.”

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-companies-accused-tax-evasion-panama

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-panama-canal-threats-hotel-taxes-court-filing-2005079

Source: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-tower-panama/

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2024-12-25

Politics

Cover It Up When It’s Your Party

“The son of Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) confirmed that his mother has “dementia issues” that have kept her away from Congress in recent months, the Dallas Morning News reported Sunday.”

Yes, a sitting representative has been dealing with dementia for six months, living in an “assisted living” facility, and the Republican Party said absolutely nothing. But they did continue to accuse Biden of being “mentally unfit.” 🙄

Time and again it’s pointing fingers and accusing Democrats, when it’s really the Republicans doing those things!

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/22/kay-granger-assisted-living-facility-texas-00195837

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2024-12-22

Politics

Trump Threatens to Take Panama Canal

Apparently Trump not only thinks the president can do anything he wants, but also thinks he can make anyone in the world do whatever he wants!

“The United States originally built the canal and opened it to commercial traffic in 1914. In 1977, the US and Panama signed a treaty that called for the gradual transfer of control of the canal to Panama. The transfer was completed on December 31, 1999.”

“President-elect Donald Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage, which allows ships to cross between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

“In a Saturday evening post on Truth Social, Trump also warned that he would not let the canal fall into the ‘wrong hands,’ and he seemed to warn of potential Chinese influence on the passage, writing that the canal should not be managed by China.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-says-he-might-demand-panama-hand-over-canal-2024-12-22

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2024-12-22