Love Baseball?:Tonight: NY Yankees V. Boston Red Sox: Old Rivals at IT Again

   The storied rivalry between 2 iconic clubs will take center stage tonight: Red Sox v. Yankees. This does not happen very often. For Westerners, it's 'ho-hum', but for New Englanders it's "bring it on" time. The "Curse of the Bambino" will cross the lips of some watchers as nostalgia always plays a role here.

     The curse was lifted a few years ago when the Sox finally prevailed in the World Series, posting a win. Pundits had a wonderful moment describing euphoria and glee for Boston's fans after years and years of local misery whether a blueblood or other type of Bostonian.  My own roots are with Boston as Great Granny Annie was born in Boston in 1853 to parents from -----Halifax, NS. She and family returned to HAlifax where she lived until coming to California in 1918 shortly after the Great Halifax Explosion severely damaged her home.

   So, watch it. 8 pm east coast time.   

Evan Gershkovich Speaks Out

    The former prisoner of the Rus Federation will publish his story of arrest and imprisonment by the Kremlin this month. His interview was published thuis past weekend. In the story, he speaks of hus arrest in Russya over 3 years ago. He was on assignment for the Wall Street Journal, interviewing Rus who woould speak with him on a variety of issues including conditions reflecting the continuiing war against Ukraine.

      Old Mad Vlad must be reaching for the Rolaids as his role in Evan's arrest is exposed. The Poor Old Dictator must wonder what it takes to win an unjust war against a small helpless coountry of farmers and infantry men and women.  Putin expected a walkover; this fantasy disappeared within a week. The coveted Donbass Region has not been completely taken as Ukrainian forces thwart all Rus army efforts on the ground. A stalemate exists.

     So, now the story of the Kremlin's creepy FSB has again been exposed as a heavy-handed extension of the Kremlin's internal decision makers-the yes-men who work directly for the former KGB Lt. colonel.

  Evan's story will resonate across the world as it adds more weight to the modern perception that the Rus have a genetic disposition to dictators and cannot/will not change despite the implosion of Communism in 1989/90. Don't visit Russya, don't welcomr the Rus-anywhere.  

META: Muse or Metamucil

    So, the Zuck came out and introduced its newest data gathering tool: called Muse. It is incorporated into the "new" glasses apparatus that people can wear and record and listen at the same time. While the method is not new, several earlier attempts with this technology fell flat. META and Zuch are locked in a race with other companies to gather more and more data for analysis thaat they can sell to business, government and a few consumers.

     Heaped on this 'muse' is AI, the new elephant in the tech room. Nobody can predict where all this tech will end up but the backlash has already raised eyebrows all around the town. As data centers pop up like spring flowers(weeds), locals are concerned, rightfully so, that these monstrous consumers of electricity will drive prices sky high for local energy consumers. Prices are already sky high and homeowners and businesses can hardly absorb more increases.

       Will new innovation lower the energy needs and usage of data centers? Who can answer this serious question? Nobody, least of all politicians tasked with the mission of overseeing such projects in their districts and zones.  At the rate of building that already exists, hundreds of data centers will be spread throughout the country. Corporations are spending  billions into this latest tech development. Will AI be the next great leap forward for the world or will it crash and burn or just peter out over time.? 

     Zuch, Elon, Amideo, et al., are cautiously coming out to urge caution, but still going relentlessly forward toward undefined goals of massive information control and data processing at levels never contemplated. A good? Or a bad?

      The Meta "Muse" is a hard sell as potential buyers will grapple with the idea that they will be targeted as anonymous data gatherers when out in public. Who wants to be recorded/documented/located so META can sell your information without consent? It's time to put the brakes on META and Zuck.    

Rus Businesses Hiring: Anti-Drone Security Forces

    So, MAd Vlad the Dictator of the Federation has imposed defensive positions directly on private businesses inside Russya. Clearly, the Rus military cannot meet the demands of an all-out war for more than 4 years going on 5 in Feb.  The Kremlin ordered these conditions and threatened State takeovers if companies fail in providing anti-drone capabilities to their factories.

      On the sanctions front, Rus companies and state operations have circumvented sanctions that prevent normal economic channels used by Rus government. No payments in dollars being the main obstacle. But shell companies have proliferated and are effectively neutralizing the effects of the sanctions. Shell companies have been established in Africa and Asia and have been effective in going around the business obstacles in place.

     More sanctions will be necessary to stifle these moves by the Kremlin's military operators. While the war rages on and casualties continue to mount, MAd Vlad remains committed to destroying Ukraine and his own country. Madness is the "new/Old King in Moskva. The Rus disease shows no sign of let up even as the economy tanks and the locals experience new levels of attacks by Ukrainian drones. The Ukrainian drones are becoming a daily occurrence all over European Russya and soon will have effectively shut down the Rus energy grid. As the 4th winter of the war approaches, Ukrainian military strategy will focus on oil and gas production facilities and transmission pipelines, placing  huge pressure on the population.

     Additionally, the EU is advocating member states to cutoff all Rus tourism: noo longer will wealthy Rus be able to evade the threats offered by a its soouthern "enemy".   Pres. Zelensky has continued to press for more strategic missiles from the US and European countries.

   Have a nice day 

Oh, Canada

    So, Canadian PM Mark Carney is poking sTump in the eye with a move to create a closer economic tie to the EU. Lovely. The Oval responds by offering to change the name of one of the Great Lakes to "Lake America".  How profound for a 4th grader.

     Canada's general reaction to the infantile activities of the The Oval is a gesture that indicates the country of 41 millions will not sit back and whistle a tune while the Oval continues to disparage the leader of the northern neighbor and chief trading partner of the monster of North America.

   The oval has disrupted the business worlds of both countries. The economic advisors of the Oval secretly laugh among themselves how the TV personality has departed from anything resembling reality. How does the Oval believe these departures from reality enhance the GOP's prospects in another election in November? In no way does this create good results among voters in the Party.  Soon, the US COngress will flip from a Republican bastion to a Democratic Party of Revenge.  They will come out firing on all cylinders and rollover the meek and mild survivors of the turnover. It will not be pretty and the sales of antacid products among those Repubvlicans still standing will zoom.

      After having polled numerous Canadians over the last month, it is appar ent in the this MAyor's mind that the Canadian folks are reasonable people and look at the obvious: sTump is an outlier and in 2 years he will be sent to the ash bin of history as the 'Outlier'. Canadians are very sympathetic abd still love Americans. The diversity I saw among those living in the Maritimes underscored the dominant theme in the attitudes toward Americans: maintain hope; be patient; ask for deliverance from this plague upon you. It will end soon, and won't be replaced with anything similar.  

Sec. of War: Really?

   So, how's the war going these days.Pete? Not so good?  Hmmm. And who's running this fiasco: Steve Bannon? Jared Kushner? Steven Miller? Suzie Wiles?  Or Miss HHarp?

Does anybody at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. have a clue? I think not. seems that going to war without a plan smacks of Vietnam, or Korea, or Afghanistan, take your best pick. A little too quick on the trigger(s), DJT?

     Ask your war Bro in the Kremlin: how's the "Special Operation" inUkraine going, Vlady? Not soo good, either. Bosom pals. 

    How's the Ballroom going, sTumpie? Finished yet? Does he finish anything, apparently not. 

Meta Goes to Court

     So, the states are finally going after one of the Magnificent 7, those ultra rich tech giants that have run roughshod over America. Meta, formerly Facebook, will defend itself against a lawsuit brought by 4 attorneys general who are aasking the court for damages amounting to $1.4 trillion or the book value of the company.

     The states of California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are the plaintiffs in the case which began today in Oakland, California, across the Bay from San Francisco. Various other lawsuits have been filed against the company, most alleging shortcomings on the company's platform when it comes to protecting minors from abuse and addiction to the medium.

    California's AG, Rob Bonta, in his suit alleges that Meta failed to protect children from harmful features that addict children and teens to their severe mental and physical detriment, all the while misleading the public regarding the existence and severity of the risks.

     Old Zuck probably needs a stomach acid blocker as he continues his romp across the business world that he helped launch a few years ago after he dropped out of college to begin the platform as Facebook.

Instagram is another platform used by children and Meta is owner of it, too. This medium has been targeted along with Facebook users. AGs also allege violations of the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act because it doesn't do enough to block underage users who misrepresent their ages. My, my, so much anger from the states. Do the kids/users complain?  

The Wall Street Journal editorial board came out in support of Meta, calling the states out for attempting a tobacco-like settlement that was agreed to some years ago after cigarette makers decided it was too high a hurdle to convince juries they were not responsible for all tobacco -related illnesses.

Too bad, Zuck.