Sound Off: Jan. 2, 2025
Trump and Musk
I think the reason Donald Trump is delegating so much power to Elon Musk is because he is basically very lazy and it will give him more time to play golf. If he can get him a big security clearance, he won’t even have to bother with those pesky daily Intel briefings that he thought were beneath him in his last occupation of the White House.
Ranking the states
U.S. News and World Report recently did a 2024 ranking of Best States. (Utah was number 1 by the way.) Multiple factors were evaluated, such as health care, education, economy, infrastructure, public safety, the state’s natural environment, fiscal stability of the government, as well as the opportunity it affords its residents. As usual, Mississippi was near the bottom, but at least we were ahead of Louisiana and New Mexico for bottom-feeder honors. Surprisingly, we did fairly well on education, but really bad on health care and economy, finishing No. 50 on both. Natural environment was a bright spot as might be expected. We were No. 35 out of 50 on Opportunity, but when you’re near the bottom there’s lots of room to move up, isn’t there?
Highway 90
I often walk in the early evening along Highway 90 in Gulfport. I have two pet peeves about it. First, it is unbelievable how many cars go by with a driver smoking pot. It all smells like skunk and you can easily smell it while walking along the beach side of 90. Second, so many cars drive with no lights on. This morning, in all the dense fog, people were driving with no lights on at all. Where did they learn to drive?
Fishing pier death
This could have been prevented by the installation of concrete barriers, warning lights and reflective signage at the end of the pier.
Worst presidents
Most historians who rank the 10 worst presidents list No. 9 as Herbert Hoover, the 31st president, whose greatest policy blunder was signing into law a tariff act that fueled international trade wars and plunged the country into depression. It’s said his style alone would have cost him re-election. Karl Marx said, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”. Could we be witnessing déjà vu?
Happened again
Incidents of domestic abuse are happening more and more, yet these crimes are not profiled and arrests are not made to deter them.
What new law?
What new law can Wisconsin enact that would have prevented that tragedy? The Wisconsin school shooter was 15 years old. Presumably, Wisconsin, like every other state, already bars minors from purchasing and/or possessing firearms. Wisconsin law likely also doesn’t take too kindly to murder. The Georgia law now holding the father additionally responsible for his 14-year-old son’s school shooting spree didn’t stop it from happening. Society can enact all the new gun control laws it desires, but someone intent on killing others will always be unlikely to allow the rule of those laws to deter them from attempting to do so.
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