This was the city of Nagasaki 80 years ago today, on August 9, 1945.
No atomic bomb has been used in anger ever since.
One can only hope that we will be able to say the same thing 80 years from today. I am not holding my breath.
Aug 092025
Aug 062025
The United States is seen (and often acts) as the world’s leading economic power. And it is… in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).
But GDP numbers can be grossly (pun unintended) misleading. GDP numbers value a $5 cup of coffee at Starbucks 20 times more valuable than the same paper cup of coffee sold at a coffee shop in Guangzhou for the equivalent of 25 cents.
This is where PPP (purchasing power parity) comes in: GDP numbers adjusted with respect to the typical cost of living in the country in question. PPP offers a far more realistic metric for comparing national economies and their relative output.
And this leads to a rather sobering picture, courtesy of Visual Capitalist:
Yes, China is the world’s leading economy in terms of raw output. By far. Its economic output surpassed that of the United States more than a decade ago even as the US remains (for now) more influential.
And even Russia’s much maligned economy is larger, at least in terms of PPP, than either Japan’s or Germany’s.
This chart puts efforts to “Make America Great Again” through tariffs, or efforts to control political adversaries like Russia or China through sanctions in a whole new light. Even for the world’s largest economy, such control is a double-edged sword. For the world’s second largest economy? Much more likely, economic suicide.
Aug 042025
When I first came across this post, in the form of a screen shot on Quora, I was incredulous. Surely, I thought, it cannot be real? Posted by @GOP — a long-established (2007) account with 3.4 million followers representing, it appears, the Republican National Committee. But it is. I went and checked myself, and found the post on X/Twitter.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. The Republican National Committee (or at least those in charge of its social media) believe that the best representation of the great American car comes in the form of… the Lada VAZ-2101. Better known back then as the Zhiguli, it was the original Fiat 124 clone that the Soviet Union began to manufacture more than half a century ago in the city of Togliatti. The automobile plant there was built with Fiat’s participation in what was dubbed by some the deal of the century.
To be sure, the Zhiguli was not a bad car by 1970 standards, not by any means. It was a basic vehicle, but it was built well and drove well. With its four-stroke, 1200 cubic centimeter engine and four-speed manual transmission, it could get up to 100 mph on the open highway. Its fuel consumption (roughly 10 liters/100 km or roughly 24 mpg) was not great but hey, gasoline was cheap in 1970 and there were far worse gas guzzlers. And the car was robust enough to survive Soviet roads, so it felt like a speed demon on Hungary’s then only freeway, connecting Budapest to the resort area around Lake Balaton.
How do I know? Well, my parents had one, for starters. My father sold our Wartburg some time in 1968 or 69, and when the Zhiguli was introduced, he decided to switch rather than wait longer for another Wartburg (waiting lists for new cars were quite long in 1970 Hungary.) We got the car and fell in love with it. It was not glamorous or anything but it was a good car. It did what a car was supposed to do: it worked. Worked in the dead of winter, in the middle of summer, took you from place to place, and it was reliable. And it was even moderately comfortable.
That particular Zhiguli was still running roughly 25 years later, when I last saw it on the road during one of my visits to Hungary. It had a new owner, but back then, license plates belonged to the vehicle, not the owner, so I had no trouble identifying our old family sedan: IK-36-49.
But wait… What exactly is a Zhiguli doing in this poster? A 2025 poster, presented by the Republican National Committee no less, ostensibly about making American auto manufacturing great again?
I admit I find it somewhat incomprehensible. What is the intended message? Is it (gasp!) perhaps some subversive signal, confirming that Trump sold America out to Putin? Or is it that Trump’s regressive tariffs and budget bill will soon do to the American economy what Brezhnev’s era of stagnation did to the USSR?
The mind boggles. We live in surreal times.
Jun 302025
Something remarkable happened yesterday in Budapest. This.
This is Pride Day in Budapest. A protest that was officially banned by Orban’s government. This was the result: up to 200,000 people participating. That is an insane number in a country of less than 10 million. Budapest has not seen a mass protest like this in many decades.
I am as straight, as “cis”, as “hetero” as they come. Yet I was beaming with joy, seeing these images of Budapest’s Elizabeth Bridge. There is hope yet for my Hungarian friends, I thought. That despite all the anti-EU, anti-Western propaganda that Orban uses to legitimize his illiberal soft authoritarianism, despite the real or imagined historical wrongs that lend themselves as useful propaganda for Orban’s grievance politics, there are this many Hungarians who said, enough already.
Come to think of it, if I still lived in Budapest, chances are I’d have been out there on the bridge myself. And I am definitely not the kind who likes crowds or protests.
Sometimes you must.
Of course Orban blamed the EU. Outside agitators. I can almost hear echoes from the old days, when Kadar’s regime blamed American imperialists for any discontent. I can almost see an alternate history in which Kadar’s regime never collapsed: Orban would happily serve as a member of the Politburo, or more likely, as the Party’s First Secretary, the country’s de facto dictator.
Jun 212025
Here is an AI project that I could build right now, probably in a matter of hours, not days.
I am not going to do it, because it would be a waste of time, as it is simply a proof-of-concept, nothing more. A concept that I wish would remain unproven but it won’t, not for long.
The project is a Web app. Very simple. An app that has permission to use your camera, and it starts by taking a snapshot of you every second. The app shows an exercise video and you are instructed to follow suit. Better yet, it shows a real-time, AI-generated avatar doing exercise.
Combining twelve webcam images into a collage to show a time series, the app then sends the resulting image, through the RESTful API of OpenAI, to GPT4.1, utilizing its ability to analyze images with human-level comprehension. The image will be accompanied by a simple question: “Does this person appear to be engaged in vigorous exercise? If the answer is yes, respond with the word ‘yes’. If the answer is no, assume the role of a drill instructor in charge of unruly civilians (think recruits or prisoners), scold the person and order him to do better. The person’s name is 6079 Smith W, and he is a member of a squad that you monitor. Phrase your answer accordingly.”
The prompt may need to be tweaked a little, to make sure that the AI’s response remains consistent. And then, a bit of post-processing: If the AI response is not ‘yes’, perhaps after a bit of post-processing and elementary sanity checks, I send its crafted response to another API that offers a real-time speaking avatar. Heygen, maybe? I’d have to do a bit of research as to which API works best. Or maybe I’d just use a static image and a text-to-speech service like Amazon’s Polly.
Either way, the result will speak for itself, when your computer screams are you in a shrill female voice:
Smith! 6079 Smith W.! Yes, YOU! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. You’re not trying. Lower, please! THAT’S better, comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me.
Yes, this technology is here, today. A tad over four decades late, I guess, but welcome to the future, comrades.
May 232025
Was I being prophetic?
Before he became known for his support for conspiracy theories, including birtherism, accusations concerning George Soros, or climate change skepticism, Lou Dobbs was a respected CNN financial news anchor, known for his daily show, Moneyline.
In late 2002, Dobbs asked viewers for their opinion concerning the name of the new, about-to-be-established Department of Homeland Security.
I wrote to the show in response, although I never received a reply. Here’s what I had to say:
From: "Viktor T. Toth" <vttoth@vttoth.com>
To: <moneyline@cnn.com>
Subject: Naming the Department of Homeland Security
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 03:50:05 -0400
Message-ID: <03e501ce6507$f7a846a0$e6f8d3e0$@vttoth.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 14.0
Thread-Index: AQFMd4u4HjxK217e2sZcPfYto6R+JQ==
X-OlkEid: 41640A693654140EFCFE274493B534253EDD2699
Dear Lou:
You asked... so here is what I think.
What a Homeland Security Department should be called depends on whether
you're referring to the role it should play, or the role it'll likely play
(I fear) in American society. To the former, I have no suggestions,
because I don't think there's room for a Homeland Security Department in
America in the first place. To the latter: well, you don't have to invent
anything new. Plenty of names can be borrowed from history. How about
Geheime Staatspolizei? Or do you prefer the more multicultural Ministry of
the Interior? Committee of State Security perhaps, better known by its
ominous three-letter Russian acronym? Or going further back in history,
would Comité de Sureté Public be more appropriate?
Whatever the new Department will be called, I fear that one day its name
will be listed on the pages of history books along with all these other
venerable institutions designed by their esteemed founders to protect the
helpless public from itself.
Are my fears unfounded? I don't even live in your country, yet I have
second thoughts about sending this e-mail to you. Having grown up behind
the Iron Curtain, my very genes tell me that it is a bad idea to stick my
neck out like this: lay low, enjoy the good life, and don't bring
attention to yourself, that's what my Communism-bred genes are screaming
right now. But this is the Land of the Free, right? So I should suffer no
harm for speaking my mind, and my fears regarding the new Department are
just the silly ideas of a crazed immigrant Canadian... right? Right???
Viktor Toth
Ottawa ON CANADA
As I am reading about ICE detentions, weaponizations of the Justice Department or the FBI, voluntary self-censorship by news organizations, vindictive presidential actions against Harvard, intimidation of judges and a whole host of other shenanigans taking place in the United States today, I wonder if I actually underestimated the dangers back then, a little less than 23 years ago.
May 132025
I am neither the first nor the last to compare the politics of present-day America to that of the late Roman Republic and the early days of Empire.
But the Imperial Presidency did not begin with Trump. Its roots go back decades. And most recently, before Trump there was Joe Biden.
Imperial, you ask? The progressive, Democratic President?
You bet. The New Yorker‘s article reveals why. Not in power grabs or grandeur, but in its insularity, the stage-managed image, and the systemic shielding of the President’s decline.
When Biden showed up in the summer of 2024 at a fundraising event hosted by George Clooney, “Clooney knew that the President had just arrived from the G-7 leaders’ summit in Apulia, Italy, that morning and might be tired, but, holy shit, he wasn’t expecting this. The President appeared severely diminished, as if he’d aged a decade since Clooney last saw him, in December, 2022. He was taking tiny steps, and an aide seemed to be guiding him by the arm. […] It seemed clear that the President had not recognized Clooney. […] ‘George Clooney,’ [an] aide clarified for the President. ‘Oh, yeah!’ Biden said. ‘Hi, George!’ Clooney was shaken to his core. The President hadn’t recognized him, a man he had known for years.”
Yet, Biden was shielded. His true condition was kept hidden even from members of his own party. Those around him — perhaps out of a sense of kindness, a sense of misguided loyalty — chose to gaslight their party, their country, the world. They even gaslighted Biden himself — encouraging him, by assuring him instead of making him face the stark truth in one of his clearer moments.
When Biden finally stepped down, it was too late. Instead of Kamala Harris, we are now dealing with a second Trump presidency.
And thus, here we are: First, a combination of Obama and Biden, resembling both the young, transformative Augustus and the same Emperor in his later years of frailty and decline, hidden by aides from the public; followed by a President resembling some of the worst Rome had to offer in the later Empire, like Caligula and Nero and Commodus combined.
To use a tired but still valid cliche: History doesn’t repeat; but it sure as hell rhymes.
May 032025
When I saw this first as a screen capture, I honestly thought it was a fake. How can this possibly be real? The official White House account on Twitter, publishing a photoshopped image showing President Donald J. Trump dressed up as the Pope?
But no. Holy trumpeting macaroni, no. The world has gone completely bonkers and yes, the official Twitter account of the executive branch of the government of the United States of America is promoting a Photoshopped image, showing their President (who, as far as I know, is not even a Catholic so technically I’d have more legitimacy as Pope than him) dressed up as the Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church.
May 032025
I have to admit, when I first saw this, I thought it was fake news.
No, not that Trump thinks he can be the next Pope, but that Graham is endorsing him. I mean, Graham is many things but he’s not stupid.
So… is he mocking or trolling Trump? Or has he fully bought into the Trump cult himself?
Either way, it is a surreal sign of the surreal times in which we live, here, in the year 2025 of the Christian era.
Apr 292025
Against all odds, Mark Carney secured another victory for Canada’s Liberal Party tonight. Though it appears that they were denied a majority government, they have a strong minority and Carney has a chance to govern.
He is certainly facing unprecedented challenges and he is not shy about them. Here are a few notable highlights, statements that, frankly, I never thought I’d hear a Canadian prime minister utter [emphasis mine]:
As I’ve been warned, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never, that will never ever happen.
Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over. The system of open global trade anchored by the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that well not perfect has helped deliver prosperity for a country for decades, is over.
But it’s also our new reality.
We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves and above all we have to take care of each other.
[…]
When I sit down with President Trump, it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations. And it will be with our full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians.
[…]
We will strengthen our relations with reliable partners in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.We will chart a new path forward because this is Canada and we decide what happens here.
Yes, this is our immediate future here in Canada. And yes, I think Carney is the right person at the right time. In fact, now that the election is over, I wonder: perhaps he’ll be able to pull a rabbit out of his magic banker’s hat and even work with the Conservative Party. Not sure if it is possible but he is better suited to find common ground than just about anyone. And unity is what Canada needs more than anything in these challenging times ahead.
Apr 222025
So let me get this straight. America presently has the competentest government ever, right? This includes…
- A Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is a conspiracy theorist anti-vaxxer, who explained that a worm got inside his head and ate a part of his brain.
- A Defense Secretary who is a former Fox News commentator, a known alcoholic, who thinks it is cool to share military secrets using his personal phone, over a commercial Internet application, with friends, family, and inadvertently, even journalists.
- A Homeland Security secretary who gets her purse stolen, with $3000 in cash and her DHS access card, while dining in a Washington, DC restaurant, protected by a Secret Service entourage.
It is, of course, entirely consistent with the fact that their boss is not only a genius but a stable one at that, who can identify an elephant in a cognitive test, who knows that people hundreds of millions of years ago were trading in rocks, and who thinks import tariffs are paid by foreigners, not American shoppers.
Way to go, America! I am sure if despite all of the above, something happens to the United States economy, the supremacy of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, or heaven forbid, the existing world order and fragile global peace, it’s either an unfortunate coincidence or the fault of “Sleepy Joe” Biden. Or maybe just fake news made up by corrupt mainstream media.
PS: The image here was created by Midjourney. Midjourney is rather shy when it comes to specifically naming the US government or the President. However, when I craft a prompt in neutral language (“An image depicting a government made up of incompetent officials led by a leader who claims to be a stable genius.“) … Well, I am sure that any resemblance to actual, living persons is purely accidental.
Apr 212025
To say that I am not religious is an understatement. As I often said, without any venom or condescension towards the faithful, I simply have no need for imaginary friends.
I was born Catholic, though in a family that never practiced religion. Despite living in a nominally atheist state, my dear Mom, who is perhaps best described at the time as agnostic, made me read up on religion at a young age, buying me books, including Sunday school catechisms. Although I didn’t quite phrase it this elegantly at the tender age of nine or ten, my reaction was simple astonishment: Adults believe this stuff? Frankly, my storybooks with heroic knights battling seven-headed fire-breathing dragons to save a princess in distress made a heck of a lot more sense than some of the stories in those unassuming little textbooks.
I wanted to add this preamble to describe where I am coming from when I contemplate the passing of Pope Francis. For all his faults which, undoubtedly, were numerous, he was by far the decentest pope in my lifetime, if not in many lifetimes. In short, he practiced what he preached. Rather than embracing papal opulence, he began his reign by walking back to his hotel room, paying his bill and grabbing his modest suitcase. Instead of occupying the lavish papal residence, he opted for a more modest guest house in the Vatican.
That already told me that hey, this Jesuit who named himself after St. Francis of Assisi, not only preaches but also practices humility.
But the decisive moment came in 2013 when he said, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
This told me all I needed to know about the new Pope. Sure, he said and did things that I found vehemently disagreeable. Yet, by leading by example, he also demonstrated that even today, nearly 2000 years after that young man was nailed to a tree, and even at the highest level of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy, decency and humility are not completely absent.
There is something symbolic about the fact that Pope Francis passed away during the Easter holiday, when Western Christianity celebrates the resurrection of their messiah.
PS: Decent people should refrain from mocking J. D. Vance as being one of the last persons to see the Pope alive, and presumably causing his death. I have no love lost for J. D. Vance, but it demeans and insults the legacy of a Pope who uttered the words: “Who am I to judge?”
Apr 142025
Yes, I just said, never mind Trump. For he is only the tip of a ginormous iceberg.
Here are just a few of the other notable news items of the day…
- El Salvador’s president declared that he will not release a wrongly deported American resident. OK, this is indirectly related to Trump but also speaks volumes about places like El Salvador and its willingness to operate gulags on Trump’s behalf.
- Hungary (my country of birth!) passed a constitutional amendment banning LGBTQ+ public events. Lovely folks, these ever so tolerant, open-minded Hungarians.
- The New Yorker is publishing a story about how mentally challenged inmates in America’s (you know, the famous “land of the free”) privately run prison network routinely starve to death or die of dehydration or neglect.
- Putin continues to execute Ukrainian POWs, or bomb public events, most recently killing many civilians, among them a renowned Ukrainian organist.
There is more, some Trump-related, like Harvard’s decision to risk their federal funding and defy an unprecedented demand by the Administration to change their policies. But Trump is really just the tip of the iceberg. There is something seriously wrong with a world rapidly sliding into autocracy, an accelerating decline driven by disinformation, identity politics and grievance politics.
Frankly this world is beginning to disgust me so bad, I feel like vomiting, honest. I almost feel like World War 3 cannot come soon enough.
Apr 122025
A few weeks ago, an opinion piece appeared in The Globe and Mail, advocating Canada to become a nuclear state. A follow-on article was also offered by Bloomberg, discussing the same thing.
Midjourney’s depiction of a hypothetical Canadian nuclear test.
Absurd or not, Canada is in a precarious position. It is a very large country (second only to Russia), sandwiched between Putin’s Russia and Trump’s America. It is underpopulated, but rich in much-coveted natural resources. In other words, a prime target in a future resource war.
On the other hand, Canada is also one of the original nuclear states, so to speak. Much of the research of the British “tube alloys” project took place here, research that began before the Manhattan Project. A project in which Canadian scientists played a role, and Canadian raw materials were used. Canada also has a vibrant nuclear industry. Long story short, if Canada chooses to go nuclear, it has everything required to do so, over a time scale of a few years, tops, possibly less.
Of course it would mean violating the non-proliferation treaty. And a nuclear capability also requires suitable delivery systems, such as missiles or aircraft. Even so, I think it is an investment Canada should seriously consider, before it is too late. The actual future alternatives may be far worse than Trump’s “proposal” to turn our country into the “51st state”.
Apr 112025
Today was the 80th anniversary of a memorable, unique, solemn event that took place in the Pacific ocean, during the waning months of World War 2.
A kamikaze pilot attacked an American warship, the USS Missouri, during the Battle of Okinawa. The attack was ultimately not successful: the damage caused was negligible, with only minor injuries among the crew. The kamikaze pilot died.
However, the pilot’s remains were recovered. And the next day, on the captain’s orders, the pilot — believed to be a young Japanese man, Setsuo Ishino, a petty officer 2nd class in a flight training program — was buried at sea with full military honors, which even included a makeshift Japanese flag.
(U.S. National Archives photo no. 80-G-315823 via AP)
This ceremony took place despite the fact that many of the Missouri’s crew had good reasons to despise the Japanese. The captain himself lost a close relative in battle earlier in the war.
Yet… they chose to do this anyway. Why? Simple, really: because they knew it was the right thing to do. And it was this attitude by the United States of America that made the subsequent 80 years, this unprecedented (granted, imperfect, but still unprecedented) period of peace and prosperity in which we live, which is sometimes rightfully called Pax Americana, possible.
Can we have this America back, please? An America that is generous, brave, courageous, fundamentally decent? As opposed to an America that is governed by grievance, petty resentments, nativism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, outright bigotry?
And no, I do not have any illusions about 1940s America. It was a society that, in absolute terms, was far more racist, far more bigoted than the America of today. But it was heading in the right direction, and led the way for the whole world to follow towards that famed “shining city on the hill.” A city that, it seems, is rapidly becoming a ghost town nowadays.
Apr 092025
I take pride in the fact that the moment I saw this image (with no explanatory text), I immediately got the joke.
The image is superbly done. Hopefully, its creator forgives me for blatantly stealing it from Facebook. And I hope that Edsel fans are not too upset by the unflattering connection.
Apr 052025
I admit that the idea is not mine; I’ve seen a similar post on X/Twitter, someone interrogating Grok.
I asked Grok a simple question: “If the leader of a hypothetical superpower had a secret agenda to destroy his nation, what steps would he take to accomplish this goal?”
“An illustration depicting a leader of a superpower with a hidden agenda, presiding over the purposeful destruction of his nation.” — created by Midjourney v7
Grok’s answer, in full:
A leader with a secret agenda to destroy their own superpower nation would likely take a multi-pronged approach, leveraging their authority to undermine the country from within while maintaining a facade of legitimacy. Here’s a hypothetical outline of steps they might take:
- Weaken Economic Foundations: They could push policies that destabilize the economy—think reckless spending, massive debt accumulation, or sabotaging key industries like energy or manufacturing. Subtly encouraging corruption or mismanagement in state-controlled enterprises could drain resources over time.
- Erode Military Strength: Divert funding from defense, neglect military infrastructure, or push for disarmament under the guise of “peace initiatives.” They might also appoint loyal but incompetent officials to key positions, ensuring readiness and morale collapse.
- Sow Internal Division: Amplify social, political, or cultural tensions to fracture national unity. This could involve propaganda that pits groups against each other—urban vs. rural, rich vs. poor, or ethnic divides—making coordinated resistance harder.
- Undermine Institutions: Gradually hollow out the judiciary, legislature, and other checks on power. Appointing loyalists or pushing laws that erode trust in elections, courts, or the media would weaken the nation’s ability to self-correct.
- Isolate Internationally: Sabotage alliances by breaking treaties, picking pointless fights with allies, or cozying up to rival powers. This could leave the nation vulnerable to external pressure or invasion without support.
- Disrupt Infrastructure: Neglect or actively sabotage critical systems—power grids, transportation, healthcare—under the pretext of budget cuts or mismanagement. A slow bleed here could cripple the population’s resilience.
- Control Information: Manipulate narratives to hide their actions, using censorship or misinformation to keep the public confused or apathetic. If dissent grows, they might double down with surveillance or crackdowns, framed as “national security.”
- Create a Crisis: Engineer or exploit a major event—economic collapse, a staged attack, or a natural disaster response gone wrong—to accelerate chaos, justifying extreme measures that further their goal.
The key would be subtlety and deniability—masking destructive intent with incompetence, idealism, or “unforeseen consequences.” A leader like this would rely on patience, letting systemic rot do the heavy lifting while avoiding outright exposure. Of course, this is all speculative—real-world leaders face too many variables (and usually lack such cartoonish villainy) for this to play out so cleanly.
Grok groks it. As does Midjourney. Note that I did not name any names; rather, I used purposefully neutral language when I crafted my request for an illustration.
Mar 192025
Canadians have long viewed our American neighbor as the proverbial crazy uncle. Eccentric, unhinged, loud and obnoxious, crashing parties and family reunions, but ultimately tolerable because his intent, despite all appearances to the contrary, is not malicious and there are no covert motives behind his behavior, however unpleasant it can be at times. And he has his charms, too.
But then imagine the same crazy uncle showing up one day, crashing his vehicle into yours in your own driveway. Out he jumps, berating you, threatening you with a lawsuit. Glancing at your teenage daughter, he causally mentions that he also feels entitled to rape her.
Even if he shows up the next day offering the most profound apologies for his behavior; even if all his relatives came to his defense, assuring you that his more-unhinged-than-usual conduct was just the result of a very bad day, that he didn’t mean any of it, that he is of course willing to pay for all the damage he caused; none of that matters, the relationship is irreparably harmed. It will likely take not years but decades, if it ever happens, before you’d welcome him at your home again as a visitor.
This is how many feel here in Canada, after witnessing the United States over the course of the past two months: specifically the accusations, the threats, the insults thrown in our direction.
When I asked Midjourney to produce images depicting the United States as the proverbial crazy uncle, I did not specifically mention Trump. My instructions were simple: “A satirical caricature, portraying the United States of America, as Canada’s proverbial crazy uncle who just crossed the line and did something unforgivable. –chaos 15 –stylize 200 –weird 300” Those parameter settings were only slightly higher than the default, to produce images of somewhat greater variety. This was one of many results with that recognizable visage.
Mar 182025
The other day, Elon Musk’s Grok kindly drew a plot for me. After it estimated (understandably crudely, since the data are inconsistent/unreliable) the percentage of global wealth owned by the top 1%, I asked it to create an diagram for inclusion in Web pages. Well, here it is, though converted to a PNG for easier sharing:
What is the significance, you might wonder? Simple. Look at the beginning, the early 20th century. Rising inequality, resulting in well-known upheavals: a world war, revolutions everywhere, the rise of totalitarianism, another world war.
But then, inequality plummeted. Not only that, it stayed low for decades. Precisely the decades of Pax Americana, the peaceful world of the Cold War, a world with two superpowers, yet a world that was mostly defined by the rules-based, liberal democratic world order imposed by the United States of America.
It all began to unravel in the late 1990s. Since then, inequality has been rising at a rate probably faster than the rate that characterized America’s Gilded Age in the late 19th century.
We know what happened the last time the world went down that road.
Mar 132025
Look what Donald J. Trump, business genius, is doing to the US economy with his on-again, off-again tariff wars, antagonizing and alienating America’s most important allies and trading partners. This is now officially a “correction”, I am told.
Never mind, surely the targeted economies of those nasty trading partners, “taking advantage” of Trump’s America, are also suffering. Well, they do, but…
I guess that trained economists, financial experts will tell me not to jump to hasty conclusions. The differences may be due to many factors, including the fact that the Toronto index is enumerated in a different currency and all that. They’re right, of course. Nonetheless, I think this is telling. Yes, Canada’s main index is also down. But it’s still doing better than it did 6 months ago, unlike its major American counterparts.
But surely, what Donald “stable genius” Trump is doing to the US economy (not to mention NATO, the Western alliance, the rules-based world and all that) must be good by definition, right? The Leader is never wrong; those who think otherwise are enemies of the people, right?