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 Pisses Off Another Leader, Retail Stores Dealing With Tariffs, Rich Get Richer!
The clash between diplomacy and bullying takes center stage as Donald Trump meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Rather than engaging in thoughtful dialogue, Trump resorts to displaying unsubstantiated claims of white genocide—a testament to his heavy-handed approach to international relations. Meanwhile, ethical concerns swirl around Trump's acceptance of a Qatar jet, highlighting a troubling disregard for traditional presidential boundaries.
Behind the scenes of Capitol Hill, chaos reigns as Republicans remain deadlocked over a major tax and spending bill. The self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives openly admit the legislation would add trillions to the deficit, yet many still support it simply because it bears Trump's name. This hypocrisy reveals how principled governance has given way to political expediency, leaving meaningful policy discussions in the dust.
The wealth gap in America has reached staggering proportions. Wait until you hear what the top 10 richest people in America make!
Amid this troubling news, a heartwarming story emerges of a woman who once feared dogs but something changed her opinion.
Contact me with your thoughts and reactions—I'd love to hear from you! Until Friday's episode, stay hopeful despite the madness surrounding us.
AWorldGoneMadPodcast@gmail.com
This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad, mad, mad, mad, mad. And another week of A World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe and I'm back again to give my commentary on the news. Thanks for joining me. Let's jump right in. Here we go.
Speaker 1:Tense meeting between South African President and Donald Trump. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa disputed Trump's claim that white South Africans are suffering genocide during the two leaders meeting in the Oval Office, where the US President played a video pushing the unsubstantiated claims. Now, whether this claim by Donald is true or not is not the issue. That's important about genocide, of course, but Donald's idea of diplomacy is to strong arm a leader of another country. It shows how completely insecure Donald is, how small his hands are. No tact, no smoothness to how he deals with leaders from around the world. And an update on the Qatar jet fiasco. The Pentagon said it has accepted the jet from Qatar that will be used by Trump once it is modified. Discussions about the transfer of the jet have sparked ethical concerns among Democrats and several influential Republicans. This whole jet thing is absurd. A president should not accept gifts, especially a gift that could cause problems with the security of the leader of the free world. Shameless actions by Trump just show how he has no concern for the rule of law.
Speaker 1:Mike Johnson and GOP holdouts met with Trump amid impasse over bill. The White House is asking Speaker Mike Johnson and some key GOP holdouts to meet with President Donald Trump today, which they did to work through a major impasse on the tax and spending cuts bill. According to one of the holdouts and an administration official. Now the outreach comes as a half a dozen Republican hardliners declared that they will not support Trump's agenda on the floor demanding more changes to the bill. Johnson was going to hold a floor vote later tonight, but he currently doesn't have the support necessary to pass it Now. This is a major roadblock. A group of those hardliners, including House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland, told reporters this morning the White House had agreed overnight to changes to Medicaid and to roll back certain clean energy programs provisions they had pushed for, but they said they're still seeking specific details which they've declined to name Now. Republican Representative Chip Roy, a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus who has said he won't vote for the bill, said the meeting with Trump happened today. Vote for the bill. Said the meeting with Trump happened today Trump privately implored key holdouts not to derail the major tax and spending cuts package. You know that big, beautiful bill that Trump calls it. The official told CNN that previous talks with the House Freedom Caucus have not yet yielded progress. There was no deal. The White House presented HFC with policy options that the administration can live with, provided they can get the votes. But they cannot get the votes. The official said there was no deal. The HFC was going to meet with the president at 3 pm today to hopefully strike one.
Speaker 1:Johnson has insisted the bill needs to pass this week, ahead of the House Memorial Day recess. Now some conservative hardliners are warning about the potential pitfalls in the domestic policy bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to push to the floor late tonight. That's ongoing. I've not seen any word updated yet.
Speaker 1:As I'm recording this, gop Representative Rich McCormick of Georgia acknowledged that the bill would add to the deficit, but implied that it may be Republicans' only choice to pass Trump's agenda. Great, let's make the deficit worse just so we can pass, you know, this bill from Trump. I would love to have everything that I want and, as you know, I'm a deficit hawk, but I can't not pass this and then expect something better to happen", he said what ridiculous rationalization. When asked about the nonpartisan analysis that said the bill could add $3.8 trillion over eight years, mccormick said it's going to. Absolutely. It's not as good as I want it to be, but if the Democrats took control of the bill it would be bigger, he claimed.
Speaker 1:Another GOP hardliner, representative Warren Davidson of Ohio, argued the legislation spends more money than the status quo and actually hurts the deficits, adding it sets a bad precedent for future lawmakers. Now if they follow our example, they'll increase spending on their watch and they'll promise some future Congress will cut spending and that's how we wind up so far in debt, Davidson said. He said if Johnson succeeds in bringing that House floor tonight and it passes and he said he wants to the bill's going to have problems. Look, dysfunctional government, obvious broken government. Republicans has always just pushed through bills that are flawed. No bill is perfect. We all know this. But to push through something that is just wrong shows no moral center from the Republican leadership. They just enact things that hurt the people and our country.
Speaker 1:New intelligence suggests Israel is preparing a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Us officials say the US has obtained new intelligence suggesting that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities even as the Trump administration has been pursuing a diplomatic deal with Tehran. Multiple US officials familiar with the latest intelligence told the press Such a strike would be a brazen break what President Donald Trump US official said. It could also risk tipping off a broader regional conflict in the Middle East, something the US has sought to avoid since the war in Gaza inflamed tensions beginning in 2023. Officials, caution. It's not clear that Israeli leaders have made a final decision and that in fact, there is deep disagreement within the US government about the likelihood that Israel will ultimately act. Whether and how Israel strikes will likely depend on what it thinks of the US negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear problems. Look, israel is focused on its own agenda. That's obvious. You know the phrase damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. They Israel, for the most part, couldn't care less what anybody thinks, especially the United States and Donald Trump.
Speaker 1:Target, the store Target's problems are escalating. Target was already facing a very public revolt from some of its most loyal customers. Now it's warning about tariffs. The company said Wednesday that sales fell last quarter. Warning about tariffs the company said Wednesday that sales fell last quarter, driven in part by customer backlash to Target's reversal in diversity, equity and inclusion DEI programs. Target also cut its guidance as President Donald Trump's tariffs push up costs for the company. Target's sales at stores open for at least a year tumbled 3.8% last quarter. At least a year tumbled 3.8% last quarter. Fewer customers visited Target spent less when they shopped. Target also cut its financial outlook, a sign Target's problems won't go away quickly. The company expects sales to decline by low single digits this year. The company announced that it has established a multi-year enterprise acceleration program, or rather office, to speed up growth plans and it reshuffled its executive team.
Speaker 1:We faced several additional headwinds this quarter, including five consecutive months of declining consumer confidence, uncertainty regarding the impact of potential tariffs and the reaction to the updates we shared on DEI in January. Target CEO Brian Cornell said on a call with Analyst Wednesday. Cornell warned of massive potential costs from tariffs but said the retailer could offset them by diversifying suppliers, adjusting products and hiking prices if necessary. Tariffs may force Target to either absorb added costs, hurting its profits, or raise prices on consumers. Home Depot said Tuesday that it plans to keep most of its prices stable despite Trump's tariffs driving costs up. But tariffs may cause Home Depot to increase prices on select items and eliminate some product lines entirely.
Speaker 1:Walmart said last week that Trump's tariffs are too high and it will raise prices on some items, prompting an angry response from Trump. Trump stated Walmart should stop trying to blame my tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Trump stated Between Walmart and China, they should, as I said, eat the tariffs and not change valued customers, or rather charge valued customers anything. I'll be watching and so will your customers, trump claimed. There you go, donald, saying screw you to anyone who disagrees with you. This is the executive order I ordained Go, screw yourself if you don't follow along. Shut up and eat it. Take it up the backside.
Speaker 1:Donald the dictator says Did you know? The 10 richest Americans in our country got $365 billion richer in the past year. Yay, and now they're on the verge of a huge tax cut. Wow, seriously, yep, despite a brief market scare, the richest 10 Americans got $365 billion richer over the past year. According to a new analysis from Oxfam, the stunning increase in wealth amounts to a gain of roughly $1 billion per day for those billionaires. Let me repeat that $1 billion per day for those billionaires. Say it with me, listeners let's make America great again. By contrast, the typical American worker made just over $50,000 in 2023. Oxfam found that it would take a staggering 726,000 years staggering 726,000 years, 726,000, you heard right for 10 US workers had median earnings to make that much money.
Speaker 1:The findings put an exclamation point on the nation's wealth inequality, and come as Republicans debate a costly bill that nonpartisan experts say will make the rich even richer and deeply cut nearly $1 trillion from key safety net programs. Billionaire wealth has increased astronomically while so many ordinary people struggle to make ends meet. Rebecca Rydell, senior policy lead for economic and racial justice at Oxfam America, said in the report. Justice at Oxfam America said in the report. Now Oxfam argues that the Republican bill, a legislative priority of Trump, would further stack the deck against ordinary people. In favor of the most affluent, we're seeing a tax code being designed that would bring about the world's first trillionaire, wright-elsa said.
Speaker 1:Now some progressives have called for fighting inequality by imposing a wealth tax on ultra-millionaires and billionaires. Oxfam found that a 3% tax on wealth above $1 billion would raise $50 billion from just the 10 richest Americans alone. That's enough to provide food assistance for one year to 22.5 billion people. Now, of course, taxing wealth would be very challenging, in part because it would be hard to value net worth, and some legal scholars have questioned whether a tax you know, a wealth tax is even constitutional. Look, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the people in charge, as always, do not care and I'm going to say that's whether it's Republicans or Democrats. For the most part, we do not have leadership protecting our backside, but when Republicans are in charge, they definitely don't give a damn about any of us. And finally, and I offer you this following story to take us out of the negative news, with courtesy from the Good News Network Thank you.
Speaker 1:A woman who never liked dogs has been walking and biking around the world with a street dog that she found neglected and covered in fleas. An Australian cattle dog named Butch must now be among the most well-traveled dogs on the planet, having been taken in by a woman who spends all her days exploring the world. Now, heike Perngruber hopefully I pronounced that right worked as a camera woman for ZDF, that's Germany's biggest broadcast station, over a decades-long career that ended 12 years ago when she decided to hit the road permanently. It's taken her across over 104 countries on all inhabited continents. To date, she had been looking to travel across the Americas on a donkey in March 2020, before taking a break in a beach hut in Baja California the following year.
Speaker 1:Now, having been chased by dogs on more than one occasion during her travels, a lack of affection for the canine race grew into a dislike for the dogs All into her recent experience in the beach hut Cooking grilled chicken. One night, a stray dog named Max, meek and mild, came to the front door and Pern Gruber's friend Rony convinced her to let him stay. The following day, Max came back with two friends. Now, during her sojourn in the beach hut, the three strays gradually nursed away her fear of dogs, a prerequisite to a life-changing experience. Not long after, I never really liked dogs when I was a kid, but the first moment I had little Butch in my arms and knew he was mine now couldn't believe how I felt, prinn Gruber told England's Southwestern News Service.
Speaker 1:Now Butch was chosen from among a litter of seven flea-ridden puppies that a pair of unscrupulous owners were looking to cast aside. Despite all the uncertainties and extra responsibilities that traveling with a dog would bring, she looked at the Butch's face and knew what she wanted to do. He's my best friend. I love this guy to death and it's awesome. The Heidelberg native said. Australian cattle dogs are a tough breed. They are basically made for the outdoors and Butch does not know any other way. He only knows life on the road and we're connecting footsteps nearly every day.
Speaker 1:To begin their friendship, the duo spent a total of three years in the Americas together, walking across states in the US, ridinga motorbike in Arizona and central Mexico, canoeing in New York and Vermont and using a tuk-tuk to get around Chile and Argentina. With the tuk-tuk in particular, they saw thousands of miles of South America, both on and off road. Now we've seen amazing places and scenery and because Bush had the back seat in the tuk-tuk, he could sit in the shade or the sun. I think he really enjoyed that, said Pingruber. Then we flew to Madrid, spain, and I went home for just the third time in 12 years, she said. But it's been clear each time I came home I couldn't stay there and it wasn't my lifestyle anymore, even if there is still a connection to people at home. In November last year, after four months at home in Germany, they started out eastward through Europe, starting on a walk through Spain, proceeding to Andorra, france and Italy, before taking a boat to Greece, although Pindgruber does not plan much in advance. The pair are heading now to Albania and the rest of the Balkans, before moving on to Turkey and eventually towards either India or Mongolia.
Speaker 1:I choose where we go, mainly day by day. She said there are times when we want to get away from civilization, you know, be by ourselves, and then other times I'm sitting in a square trying to get some contact with others, either in person or through my phone. She said but I'm not a planner and that's the fun in it. I know the rough route, but it's about experiencing new places. I love culture, I love to understand the planet. She said I just carry the basics. I go ultralight, I carry my camera, my first-aid kit and Butch's medicines, so he's protected from ticks and the like and 99% of people are nice and overall I've had some great encounters with people. Even though there have been some bad experiences and moments, as a solo female traveler, it's a safe world to travel in. In general. She said the power of a dog changes a person's outlook towards them and with that story, after sharing it with you, I've got to go hug my own dog, cooper.
Speaker 1:I'll be back again Friday with another episode of A World Gone Mad. I'm your host, jeff Allen Wolfe. I've said it over and over again in previous episodes Say hello, email me, text me, phone me. Love to hear from you. Until then, I'm sitting in a room talking to myself. Stay hopeful.
