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
Reich’s Thoughts On The Beautiful Bill, Putin’s Biggest Drone Attack, Trump’s “Fake Anger”
A sobering look at Trump's "big beautiful bill”. I share Robert Reich’s thoughts on this destructive bill.
Russia launched 355 drones in its biggest attack on Ukraine, part of an escalating bombardment campaign
Trump’s fake anger towards Putin.
Germany and allies lift range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine, enabling deeper strikes into Russia
Scientists discover why a certain fish is shrinking their bodies to survive ocean heat waves caused by climate change
A man quits his job and decides to get on a sailboat with his cat and…
Another day in…
A WORLD GONE MAD
AWorldGoneMadPodcast@gmail.com
This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad, mad, mad, mad, mad. It's another day in a world gone mad. Hello, I'm Jeff Fallon Wolfe and I'm back again to give my commentary on the news. Thank you for joining me and no, you're not going crazy. There was no episode Tuesday after Memorial Day Because of the holidays. I took a a break, so you didn't miss anything. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1:This I came across, I wanted to share it with you and it's from Robert Reich, about the big beautiful bullshit bill from Trump. You, the bill where Trump says this will change everything in America, but in my opinion me, jeff it's going to destroy America even further. Listen carefully, share with anyone or defend against anyone who thinks this bill from Trump is wonderful. So I'm going to share this with you. I'm going to read what Robert Reich said with his facts Friends Reich starts. The old professor in me thinks the best way to convey to you how utterly awful the so-called one big, beautiful bill is that was passed by the House last week actually would be to give you this short 10-question exam Does the House's one big, beautiful bill cut Medicare? Answer yes, by an estimated $500 billion, because the bill cuts Medicaid. How many Americans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage? Answer at least 8.6 million.
Speaker 1:Will the tax cut in the bill the rich? How much will the top 0.1% of earners stand to gain from it? Nearly $390,000 per year. Think about this. The top 0.1% of earners in this country will gain $390,000 per year. If you figure in the benefits cuts and the tax cuts. Will Americans making between about $17,000 and $51,000 gain or lose? Well, they'll lose about $700 a year. How about Americans with incomes less than $17,000? They'll lose more than $1,000 per year on average. How much will the bill add to the federal debt $3.8 trillion over 10 years and who will pay the interest on this extra debt? All of us, in both our tax payments and higher interest rates for mortgages, car loans and all other longer-term borrowing. Who collects this interest? People who lend to the US government, 70% of whom are American and most of whom are wealthy.
Speaker 1:And here's a bonus question that Robert Wright threw in Is the $400 million airplane from Qatar a gift to the United States for every future president to use, or a gift to Trump for his own personal use? It's a personal gift, because Trump will get to use this plane after he leaves the presidency. Most Americans are strongly opposed to all of these things, according to polls, but if you knew the answers to these 10 questions, you're likely to be in a very tiny minority. That's because, reich says, of the following One, distortions and cover-ups emanating from Trump, magnified by Fox News and other right-wing outlets. Two, a public that's overwhelmed with the blitzkrieg of everything that Trump is doing and can't focus on this. Focus on this. Three, outright silencing of many of the media, who fear retaliation from the Trump regime if they reveal things that Trump doesn't want revealed. Robert Reich says please do your part, share this information as widely as possible. Look, this bill that passed in the House is awful. It's destructive and wrong on every single level and, like Robert Reich said, and I urge you as well, tell everyone you know about it.
Speaker 1:The Ukraine-Russia war the attack from Russia on Ukraine. Ukraine says Russia launched its biggest drone attack yet, part of an escalating campaign. Russia launched its biggest drone attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said last Monday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the three-year-old war. That has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the three-year-old war. Now, on the third straight night of that significant aerial bombardment, us President Donald Trump lashed out at Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying he had gone crazy by stepping up attacks on Ukraine. The expansion of Russia's air campaign appeared to be another setback with US-led peace efforts, as Putin looks determined to capture more Ukrainian territory and inflict more damage. It comes after Kiev accepted an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in March that was proposed by the US but that Moscow effectively rejected. This month alone, russia has broken its record for aerial bombardments of Ukraine three times. Russia is also still pushing along the roughly 1,000-kilometer, 620-mile front line, where it has made slow and costly progress and is assembling its forces for a summer offensive.
Speaker 1:Analysts say Only a sense of complete impunity can allow Russia to carry out such attacks and continually escalate their scale. Ukrainian President Zelensky wrote on Telegram last Monday there is no significant military logic to this, but there is considerable political meaning, he said. The Russian bombardment included 355 drones. Yuri Inhat, head of the Ukrainian Air Force's communications department, told the Associated Press calling it the biggest of the war. Russia fired 298 drones, 69 missiles and what Ukrainian officials said was the largest combined aerial assault of the conflict. From last Friday to Sunday, russia launched around 900 drones at Ukraine, officials said. Russia's defense ministry meanwhile said that its forces had shot down 103 Ukrainian drones overnight that were flying over southern and western Russia, including near Moscow. Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said 32 flights scheduled to land at three Moscow airports had to divert amid Ukrainian drone attacks. Now, the numbers from Ukraine and Russia could not be independently verified.
Speaker 1:Soon after Russia's February 24, 2022 invasion, the conflict became a testing ground for increasingly sophisticated drone warfare. Aflac became a testing ground for increasingly sophisticated drone warfare. Drones are generally cheaper to produce than missiles. Now Russia has received Iranian-made Shahed drones since 2022 and is now believed to be manufacturing its own version. Ukraine, as well as receiving smaller battlefield drones from its allies to help it compensate for a troop shortage, has developed its own long-range drones for strikes deep inside Russia.
Speaker 1:Now, supposedly, donald Trump is quote angry end quote at Putin and is disgusted, and he thinks that Putin is crazy with what he's doing. Supposedly. So Trump's decision to what he's going to do with what's happening from Russia's actions. He's going to give Putin two more weeks before Trump makes a final decision. In other words, he's going to allow Putin to continue with his attacks by giving him time to push forward, to take more land. This is a stall tactic by Donald Plain and simple, an incompetent president who clearly is in support of Putin.
Speaker 1:Germany's Merz said there are no more range restrictions on the weapons supplied to Ukraine. Germany's new chancellor said that his country and other major allies are no longer imposing any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion. Frederick Meurs has plunged into diplomatic efforts to try to secure a ceasefire and keep Western support for Ukraine intact since becoming Germany's leader nearly three weeks ago Now. He explained that there are no longer any range restrictions for weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine, neither by the British, nor by the French, nor by us, and not by the Americans either. That means Ukraine can also defend itself by, for example, attacking military positions in Russia, mertz said at a forum organized by WDR Public Television Until a while ago, it couldn't, it can. Now we call this long-range fire and jargon also supplying Ukraine with weapons that attack military targets in the hinterland. He added. He didn't elaborate. It wasn't clear whether he's referring to the easing of restrictions on longer-range weapons late this year.
Speaker 1:Commenting on Merz's statement, kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that a decision to lift range restrictions would be quite dangerous and run contrary to our efforts to reach a political settlement. Now. Germany has been the second biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. Mertz's government has been tight-lipped on whether it will supply Taurus long-range cruise missiles, something its predecessor, olaf Scholz, refused to do and Mertz advocated for as opposition leader. Well, apparently that decision of the Taurus missiles were made and the answer was no. The government has said it will no longer provide full details of the weapons it is supplying to Ukraine, unlike Schultz's administration. He cited the need for strategic ambiguity. Taurus missiles have a range of up to 310 miles and they said no to that. It's good to see the restrictions are being lifted from Ukraine on what they can do to fight back. Considering Donald Trump and his actions to continually support Putin, zelensky needs to be free to attack deep into Russia, otherwise Ukraine, his country, is lost.
Speaker 1:Did you know that clownfish shrink their bodies to survive ocean heat waves? Remember the movie Finding Nemo? Well, nemo was a fish called a clownfish. Scientists now believe that to survive warming oceans, clownfish cope by shrinking in size. Scientists observed that some of the orange striped fish shrank their bodies during a heat wave off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Fish that slimmed were more likely to survive.
Speaker 1:Now heat waves are becoming more common and intense underwater due to the climate change. Warmer water temperatures can bleach sea anemones that clownfish call home, forcing them to adapt to stay alive. Scientists monitored and measured 134 colorful clownfish in Kimbe Bay during an intense heat wave in 2023. That's still bleaching corals worldwide. They found that 101 clownfish decreased in length on one or more occasions from heat stress. Now we were really shocked at first when we saw that they were shrinking at all, said study author Morgan Bennett Smith with Boston University. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Though scientists don't yet know how clownfish shrink, one idea is that they could be reabsorbing their own bone matter. It's possible the smaller stature may help the clownfish save energy during a stressful scorch from heat, since smaller fish need less food. You know, it's always fascinating with the strangeness of nature and the way different animals adapt to stressful circumstances. And finally, I offer you a story to offset all the negative news, if that's possible An Oregon man who quit his job at a tire company and liquidated his retirement savings to set sail for Hawaii with his cat, phoenix.
Speaker 1:He reached his destination Saturday, he was welcomed by cheering fans at the end of a weeks-long journey that he documented for the mass of his followers on social media. Of his followers on social media, oliver Widger, who also was greeted by Hawaii Governor Josh Green at the Waikiki Yacht Club on Oahu, acknowledged he was nervous facing the crowd, which included reporters. Widger said he was feeling really weird not seasick, but I just feel like I have to like hold on to things to not fall over. He became an online sensation with this story, which followed a diagnosis four years ago with a syndrome that carried a risk of paralysis and made him realize he disliked his managerial job. He quit his job with no money, no plan, $10,000 of debt and the goal of buying a sailboat and sailing around the world. He taught himself to sail mostly via YouTube. Moved from Portland to the Oregon coast, he spent months refitting the fifty thousand dollar boat he bought.
Speaker 1:He set sail for Hawaii with Phoenix, his cat, in late April, documenting their experiences for his more than one million followers on TikTok and 1.7 million followers on Instagram. He said he thinks his story, which made national news, resonated with people. I think a lot of people are. You know, you're grinding at your job all day long and it doesn't really matter how much money you make at this point. Everybody's just trying to do enough to get by and that just wears you out. He said it's just the world's in a weird place and I think people have seen that it's possible to break out. Now.
Speaker 1:Green presented Widger with a proclamation. Fans swarmed Widger after the news conference, many holding cameras and seeking selfies. The scariest part of the trip came when a rudder failed. Widger said Highlights included seeing dolphins and whales and periods of calm Pacific waters. Being in the middle of the ocean when it was completely glass in every direction was an absurd feeling, he said.
Speaker 1:Now Widger, 29, said he never truly felt alone, since he was communicating with friends by means you know, including video conferencing. But he also lamented not experiencing the open waters in a way that other sailors who didn't have access to tools like Starlink internet satellites have in years before. He said he may travel next to French Polynesia, but he said he had been focused on getting to Hawaii, not on what he'd do after that. He said he also needs to make repairs to his boat. You know, our cat Phoenix is looking at me right now saying, hey, maybe I could do something like that. No, I don't think so, phoenix. We are perfectly fine at home or with local travels. This is A World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. I'll be back Friday with another episode. Send a text, an email or a phone call my way, looking forward to hearing from you. Until then, stay hopeful. There is chaos in the world, can't you see? Stay hopeful.
