A WORLD GONE MAD
A Progressive Liberal News Podcast
Veteran Television, and Radio Broadcaster Jeff Alan Wolf offers his Observations on the issues (many issues) of the week with a fearless liberal bent. His solid delivery, and dry common sense approach sets him apart from other liberals that populate Talk and Commentary Podcasts”
Jeff Does NOT Pull Punches.
He does NOT Make comments that are “SAFE”.
He tells the Truth.
(He Tells It As He Sees It)
He Is Very OPINIONATED!
He says the things Out Loud YOU’RE
already thinking.
Jeff is Unfiltered, Unspun, A little Unhinged, but offers a lot of Common Sense.
This Podcast could make you MAD.
This Podcast could make you SMILE.
Regardless, it WILL make you THINK!
A WORLD GONE MAD
Trump Wants To Be Pope, Pakistan Vows To Respond To India, Canada’s Carney Handles Trump
The resistance grows stronger with each passing day as I witness a world spiraling deeper into madness. From international conflicts to domestic power grabs, episode 99 of "A World Gone Mad" delivers powerful insights into news stories that demand our attention.
Donald Trump's "joke" about wanting to become the next Pope might seem like harmless banter on the surface, but it reveals a troubling pattern of an individual obsessed with accumulating power by any means necessary. Even in jest, his words expose an authoritarian mindset that continues to threaten democratic institutions worldwide.
More alarmingly, nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan stand at the precipice of wider conflict after India launched strikes targeting what they described as "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. With Pakistan vowing retaliation, this volatile situation demands urgent diplomatic intervention before it escalates beyond control. Meanwhile, Apple appears poised to challenge Google's search dominance by reshaping Safari to focus on AI-powered search engines, potentially ending a $20 billion annual arrangement and fragmenting the search market in ways that could transform how we access information.
The episode also examines Trump's tense meeting with Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney, where his continued references to annexing Canada demonstrate a fundamental disregard for national sovereignty. Despite these concerning developments, I conclude with an inspiring story about an Ohio orchestra conductor with Parkinson's disease who received revolutionary brain stimulation treatment, allowing him to return to his passion.
Join me Monday for my MILESTONE 100th episode as I continue documenting these extraordinary times. Your voice matters—reach out through my new email ResistDonaldNow@gmail.com and help preserve democracy in a world that desperately needs rational voices to prevail.
AWorldGoneMadPodcast@gmail.com
This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad. Hello, I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe. I give my commentary on national and world news and politics and I think you'll agree. This is definitely a world gone mad and if you're listening to this podcast then you are part of the resistance. I welcome you.
Speaker 1:Let me get some housekeeping news out of the way first. This episode is number 99. And I mentioned that because that means that the big milestone, episode number 100, would fall on Friday night this week and since that's the day of the week that you, the listener and other listeners to my podcast and throughout the weekend, it's going to be the lowest time when people listen. So I'm going to postpone episode number 100 until Monday night. So there will not be an episode 100 Friday night. Look for it Monday night.
Speaker 1:Second bit of news to follow up on the episode before this one, number 98. For those of you that did listen to it, I requested your support with my new email that I provided you and I'll be very upfront with you. I basically got crickets and I'm very disappointed. Out of the 600 listeners to my podcast, only seven of you emailed me at the new email, so I'm going to give you the new email again ResistDonaldNow at gmailcom. R-e-s-i-s-t Donald at gmailcom. Please use it. Tell me that you still support this podcast against Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters. More news I started working on the new website that I told you about to get away from Facebook. To those of you that did email me, you will receive that information, and the other people who supplied me with their emails will also receive this information when the website is ready. And thank you again to the handful of you that actually used the new email and showed your support by saying hello. Okay, let's talk about the madness in the news today.
Speaker 1:Trump jokes that he'd like to be the next Pope. Unless I completely don't know about anything, good luck, donald. Us President Donald Trump on Tuesday joked that he would like to succeed Pope Francis, who died last week at the age of 88. Trump, asked about whom he'd like to see become the next Catholic pontiff, told reporters I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice. Trump noted he actually had no preference, adding I must say we have a cardinal that happens to be of a place called New York, who's very good, so we'll see what happens. Even supposedly joking, trump still shows his true colors as someone obsessed with the idea that he controls everything and can do anything he wants. But of course he can, because very few people are trying to stop him Speaking of which.
Speaker 1:The Cardinals failed to elect a new Pope on the first day of the conclave, so this means they will return to the Sistine Chapel Thursday when there will be as many as four votes to choose a successor to Pope Francis. It's very rare, and has been centuries since a Pope was elected on the first day, so no big surprise, all right. What does it take to get elected? There are 133 voting cardinals who are all sequestered inside the Vatican during the conclave. Any one of them needs two-thirds of the vote to become the next pope. They'll keep voting until a new Catholic leader is chosen. Now we keep our eyes on the chimney, meaning at the end of each voting session, the cardinals burn the ballots. Black smoke means the cardinals haven't reached a consensus. White smoke means there's a new pope. There's no consensus right now yet on any one cardinal who will become pope. Now there is a side who wants to keep what Pope Francis did, which was totally breaking from the norm over the years in the Catholic Church. The other side wants to go back to the normal way of doing things for centuries Kind of sounds like Congress right.
Speaker 1:Pakistan vows to respond after India launches strikes in the wake of the Kashmir massacre. Now this is a major escalation. India and Pakistan are on the brink of a wider conflict after India launched strikes on both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India said it targeted terrorist infrastructure in the wake of a tourist massacre in. India controlled Kashmir last month. There are deadly attacks. Pakistan's military said 31 people were killed in India's attacks. According to a senior Indian defense source, now shelling by Pakistan killed at least 12 people on the Indian side of the de facto border that divides Kashmir. Pakistan pledges retaliation. Defense Minister Hawaja Asif said Pakistan will only hit military targets in India. Earlier Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif claimed Pakistan destroyed Indian fighter jets in an hour-long air battle. Now about the Kashmir dispute. Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan each control parts of Kashmir but claim it in full, and they fought three wars over this territory. So besides Israel and Gaza being overly aggressive and concentrating on war instead of a peacekeeping deal, we now have India and Pakistan a super powder keg that could go bad very quickly. This is an hour by hour situation and I, and I'm sure some of you and others, are hoping for a calming down of this potential nightmare.
Speaker 1:Apple looks to add AI search to Safari and AI search to Safari a potential blow for Google. Now Apple is actively looking at reshaping the Safari web browser on its devices to focus on AI-powered search engines. Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday a move that could chip away at Google's dominance in the lucrative search market. Apple executive Eddie Q testified in the US Justice Department's antitrust case against Alphabet, saying searches on Safari fell for the first time last month, which he attributed to users increasingly turning to AI. According to the report, now Google is the default search engine on Apple's browsers, a coveted position for which it pays Apple roughly $20 billion annually, or about 36% of its search advertising revenue generated through the Safari browser. Analysts have estimated Losing that position could keep heat pressure on Google, just as it faces fierce competition from AI startups such as OpenAI and Perplexity. Now Apple has already struck a deal with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT as an option in Siri, while Google is trying to secure an agreement by mid-year to embed its Gemini AI technology in Apple's latest devices.
Speaker 1:Alphabet shares fell 6%, while Apple was down about 2%. Both companies and the DOJ did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. Eddie Q from Apple said he believes AI search providers, including OpenAI and Perplexity AI, will eventually replace standard search engines such as Google and that Apple will add those players as options in Safari in the future. According to the report, we will add them to the list. They probably won't be the default. Bloomberg News cited Q as saying probably won't be the default. Bloomberg News cited Q as saying Now.
Speaker 1:Last month, google reassured Jittery Text Investors that its AI investments were powering returns at its crucial ad business. After its first quarter profit and revenue beat expectations, the loss of exclusivity at Apple should have very severe consequences for Google, even if there are no further measures. Da Davidson analyst Gil Lurio said Many advertisers have all of their search advertising with Google because it is practically a monopoly with almost 90% share. 90% share. If there were other viable alternatives for search, many advertisers could move much of their ad budgets away from Google to these other revenues.
Speaker 1:Trump's Oval Office meeting with Canada's Carney didn't reach Zelensky-level tension, but it wasn't all that friendly. It wasn't the most contentious meeting the Oval Office has ever seen, nor was it the warmest. Instead, the highly anticipated meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and his new Canadian counterpart, mike Carney, fell somewhere in the middle, neither openly hostile nor outwardly chummy, invincing very little neighborliness, at least the type used on neighbors, ones likes. The midday talks illustrated neatly the new dynamic between the once friendly nations whose 5,525 mile border the world's longest once guaranteed a degree of cooperation but which which, to Trump, represents something very different. Somebody drew that line many years ago. Trump said with, like a ruler, just a straight line across the top of the country. Trump said in his Oval Office at his meeting as his meeting was getting underway Now, when you look at that beautiful formation when it's together, I'm a very artistic person. But when you look at that beautiful formation when it's together, I'm a very artistic person. But when I looked at that, I said that's the way it was meant to be. That is not how Carney believes it was meant to be. I'm glad that you couldn't tell what was going through my mind. Carney told reporters later that day about the moment that Trump made that remark.
Speaker 1:Still, carney didn't entirely hold his tongue In a meeting dominated by Trump's comments. He spoke 95% of the time on all manner of topics, from the Middle East to Barack Obama's presidential library, to the state of high-speed rail in California. It was the new prime minister's pushback on the president's ambition to the state of high-speed rail in California. It was a new prime minister's pushback on the president's ambition to make Canada the 51st US state that stood out. As you know, from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale, carney said to Trump, drawing a begrudging. That's true from Trump before Carney carried on. We're sitting in one right now. You know Buckingham Palace that you visit as well. Carney continued as Trump nodded. Another true, and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale.
Speaker 1:Carney concluded it won't be for sale ever. Canada would not be annexed by its southern neighbor. Of course he's been saying that for weeks, most focally during last month's federal election in Canada that saw his liberals mount a shocking come-from-behind win, riding a wave of anti-Trump sentiment. Now, before arriving at the White House, carney also sought to send the message by announcing an upcoming visit from King Charles III, canada's official head of state, using the sovereign to make the point that Canada's sovereignty wasn't up for debate. Those messages, if he's heard them, have not caused Trump to back off, not even when sitting across from Carney in the Oval Office. Never say never.
Speaker 1:Trump shrugged as Carney mouthed the word never over and over next to him. I've had many, many things that were not doable, and they ended up being doable, and only doable in a very friendly way, trump said. Still, the president didn't press the matter further and the meeting did not fall off the rails for a topic that has caused so much visceral anger in Canada. The issue was essentially diffused for the time being in the Oval Office. After reporters left the room, carney told Trump that it was not useful to repeat his idea of annexing Canada. But he's the president, he said, recalling the exchange at a solo press conference after the meeting ended, and he will say whatever he wants. Trump hasn't, however, deployed the insult against Carney that he used against his predecessor, justin Trudeau, as far as calling him Governor Carney. No, I haven't done that yet and maybe I won't, trump said at an unrelated White House event later in the day Now. I haven't done that yet and maybe I won't, trump said at an unrelated White House event later in the day Now. Carney said they agreed to meet again next month at the G7 summit that he's hosting in Alberta, which Trump had previously not committed to attend. Still, relations between Washington and Ottawa remain at their lowest point in memory.
Speaker 1:Now, as Carney was at Blair House, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, preparing to depart for his meeting with Trump, the president launched a broadside on True Social, declaring Canada was overly dependent on the United States. We don't need anything they have other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain, trump wrote. They, on the other hand, need everything from us. By the time Carney arrived, however, trump seemed uninterested in having a public fight. We have some tough points to go over and that'll be fine, trump said, after praising Carney for one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics. The meeting ended somewhat abruptly with Trump declaring the US did not need Canadian cars or steel and that there was nothing Carney could say or do that would cause him to lift the tariffs. Just the way it is, trump said.
Speaker 1:But by the standards of the Trump White House, where another leader, zelensky, was berated and evicted of the Oval Office earlier this year, it was all relatively mild. Even Trump acknowledged he'd seen worse. We had another little blow up with somebody else, trump said, a veiled allusion to his fight with Ukrainian President Zelensky. That was much different. This is a very friendly conversation. Trump stated so. Trump, while not as snarky or disrespectful to Carney of Canada as he was with Zelensky, either he toned it down this time and knew better, which I doubt, or Mark Carney held his own against Donny Boyd.
Speaker 1:Please don't forget to send your comments to me about this story or anything in this episode. Use the new email I created because of the problems I'm having with Facebook and social media blocking me. It's resistDonaldNowatGmailcom Resist Donald, now at Gmail. Hopefully I'll hear from more of you than I did the last episode, which was three people total. And finally, stepping away from the negative stories, the things we can't control, I'll share this uplifting story with you. This is from the Good News Network, used with their permission.
Speaker 1:An Ohio music conductor dealing with Parkinson's disease was fitted with a pacemaker for the brain. That's right, allowing him to control his tremors and lead his orchestra once again. Now, rand Laycock was diagnosed with Parkinson's just before his 60th birthday. After going to his doctor with a twitch in his thumb, rand's symptoms progressed over the years. He started to experience a tremor in his right hand, which became noticeable if he had a looming deadline with his 100-piece orchestra, unable to control his shaking with medications alone.
Speaker 1:Rand learned about deep brain stimulation, called DBS, at the Cleveland Clinic, underwent surgery last year to insert the stimulation leads and battery, and now his tremor has nearly disappeared. My tremor is almost all gone, except if I experience extreme anxiety or stress, the conductor said in a media release, and my dyskinesia is pretty well under control. When I was diagnosed 11 years ago, my doctor at that time told me this wasn't a death sentence and there would be advancements over the next few years to help with my treatment. And here I am today with adaptive deep brain stimulation treatment. And here I am today with adaptive deep brain stimulation something we didn't even know about at the time, said Rand of Olmstead Falls, ohio. Now I knew the thought of brain surgery can be intimidating, but it's a life-changing procedure that allows you to become your own self again.
Speaker 1:Dr Michael Gostkowski DO, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic, explained that DBS involves implanting a device to deliver electrical currents to specific parts of the brain that control movement, which helps to modulate the abnormal brain signals caused by Parkinson's. He first underwent operations to insert the stimulation leads and implant the stimulator battery before having the device activated by programmer, erica Hennix. She explained when it comes to programming the device, we try different settings at first. We then adjust those during follow-up visits as we learn more about how his symptoms are being controlled Now. Ram saw success with DBS for nearly a year and then he learned about a new advancement called Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation, adbs. Although not everyone with DBS needs this adaptive technology, rand was a good candidate for it because his symptoms fluctuated throughout the day. Since his overall experience with DBS had been positive, rand was eager to try the new adaptive technology. It sounded like it would make my life simpler, not having to worry about adjusting my device settings and medications as frequently. Erica confirmed the fine-tuning with ADBS would reduce the risk of him experiencing tremors if his medication were to wear off in the middle of a concert or performance. In March, rand started using ADBS and now his tremor is almost gone and he looks forward to his 47th year of conducting. My symptoms are minimal compared to the way they were, and a lot of that is due to the adaptive deep brain stimulation. Once again, modern science and its advancement helps people with their problems.
Speaker 1:I'll be back again Monday. Remember I'm not going to be doing a podcast episode this Friday night because of my 100th episode. I will move that episode, number 100, to Monday. Because of number 100. That's a milestone 100. Majority of podcasts don't reach that number. Everyone, have a great rest of your week. This is a world gone mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. Without your comments. Your is a World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe Without your comments, your feedback, your engagement. People, I'm sitting in a room talking to myself. Please send me your comments. I hate talking to myself. Stay hopeful. There is chaos in the world, can't you see? And we need to stand up and preserve our democracy. This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad.
