Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Not John Oliver, Oliver Kornetzke. I’ve been blocked from his Substack page:

https://substack.com/@oliverkornetzke

I had previously posted a comment on his page that is now deleted. The text of my comment is here:

Waiting for Oliver or Someone Like Him

Nobody liked or disliked that comment, or commented on it. Then Oliver posted an alleged autobiographical essay that provided no actual background information, amounting to a pile of AI gibberish.

https://oliverkornetzke.substack.com/p/my-autobiography

This time, my comment was terse and intended to elicit some sort of a response. I said, “Obviously not written by an actual person.” Well, that woke somebody — or something — up, resulting not in a pointed rebuttal, but in my being banned.

As far as I can tell, the person, or persons, who are Oliver Kornetzke aren’t trying to cash in, other than perhaps accepting paid subscriptions on Substack. That much is good, but there’s a lot of left-wing flavored candy being tossed to the most sweet-toothed of gullible Trump haters. What distinguishes me from them is that I’m not so gullible.

Continue reading Oliver Blocked Me!

This comment came up in, of all places, an audio group I follow. It was written by someone who worked at a legendary, long defunct Boston loudspeaker company. I thought it would be worth posting here.

Most of those billionaires are libertarians who keep copies of Ayn Rand’s novels and nonfiction in a small bookcase in their bedrooms. Each of them sees themselves as versions of John Galt, a superior human being who has contempt for most of mainstream humanity, especially the inept losers who are struggling to survive.

Scratch a Republican and under the scratch you will either find an evangelical or a libertarian. Scratch either of those and underneath the scratch you will discover a fascist.

Socially, the chaotic and nasty situation we have in the USA today is an amplified version of what the country has been all along. Note that the rest of the world is no better, just less lucky.

I essentially agree with him, although I personally know exceptions to Evangelicals and Libertarians being fascists underneath. Since Trump’s return to power, I’m not sure we’re all that lucky anymore.

Jonathan Banks remembers.

During the Reagan years, I did a lot of business traveling. The loss of manufacturing jobs in the Midwest due to the rapid adoption of global trade was apparent.

In small cities throughout Illinois and Indiana, I saw relatively little economic activity compared to greater Boston. Those were the “Massachusetts Miracle” years that Mike Dukakis parlayed into a failed presidential bid.

The Eighties were peak years for shopping malls, when they were flooded with a generation of teenagers. Today, malls are dying and many are dead.

JCPenney is closing more stores as malls struggle

https://finance.yahoo.com/small-business/articles/jcpenney-closing-more-stores-malls-184100928.html

There are exceptions. On a recent visit I made to the Natick Mall, the garage and the parking lots were full. On a weekday. Likewise at Shopper’s World, next door in neighboring Framingham.

The garage capacity at the Logan Express airport shuttle in Framingham has been doubled. Yet the overflow lot between Shopper’s World and the Natick Mall appeared to be just about full.

Malls are in trouble outside of the Route 495 belt, and into Western Massachusetts. But closer to Boston, where the money is, good luck finding a parking space.

The median price of a house in my town is now over $1,000,000. So, is it any wonder that many Massachusetts residents consider the state to be unaffordable?

https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2026-06-16/cost-of-living-spurs-more-mass-residents-to-consider-moving-out-of-state-than-taxes-says-poll

Uh, oh. Trump’s big new toy seems to have the same peeling blue paint problem as the reflecting pool.