Bubblicious

Opinion from inside the Bubble.

Here in the Bay Area people say, “We live in a bubble.” After this last election, my response is “No, duh?” Look at a map of post-election results. New York, Chicago, Boston, New England, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego all overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic ticket. Along with the Bay Area, I refer to them as the good ol’ U.B.A., the United Bubbles of America. We fight for justice here in Bubbleland.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Bubbles of America and to the country for which it stands guard, regardless of religion, devoid of misinformation, with liberty, justice, and civil rights for all.”

As a dutiful bubblehead, I have investigated why people outside the bubble unbelievably voted the fascist Big Orange Blob another term. What I hear is: the price of eggs. Now, I’m not happy about it either. However, I will not risk becoming the next Hungary over it.

It turns out the primary reason for the recent significant increase in egg prices is a large outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu), which has led to a major reduction in the egg-laying chicken population, causing a supply shortage and driving prices higher; other contributing factors include inflation largely due to the pandemic, higher feed costs, and labor costs impacting egg producers.

If you are a bubblehead, you understand this had nothing to do with who was president. If you are not, you blame the party in power. You do not consider the following: There were 471,000 deaths from COVID-19. The medical journal, Lancet, reports that 40% of those occurred because Trump “dismissed its threat (despite privately acknowledging it), discouraged action as infection spread, and eschewed international cooperation.”

In fact, his unforgivable lack of response ensured that the pandemic would last longer, thereby adding to the factors that increased inflation to 8%. Eggs, food, gas, rent all shot up.

The Biden administration endeavored to clean up this mess. Now, as Joe exits, inflation is down to 2.6%. Unemployment is at 4.1% now compared to 8.1% during Trump. So, if you insist on pinning the price of eggs on a president, guess what? You just voted for that guy!

So, why did the non-Bubbleheads not know this? Is it a lack of curiosity? Possibly. Are they getting their information from people who told them it was Biden’s fault; specifically, from white mannequins placed in front of a camera and ordered to lie by their greedy manipulators? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Corporate interests don’t want the government to look over their shoulders. They want deregulation that will allow them to rake in maximum profits while the welfare of the rest of us become collateral damage. Trump is their guy. Exhibit A: the day after he was elected the Dow climbed 1,503 points, or 3.6%; the S&P 500 gained 146 points, or 2.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose nearly 3%. The next day they continued to climb.

Trump and his merry band of naysayers will make believe there is no climate change. When a violent wildfire ravages the Rocky Mountains, Elon “Money Bags” Musk and Vivek Ramasmarmy, from the new Department of Government Efficiency, may decide, “It’s Colorado, a blue state. Yeah. Burn, baby, burn, while we drill, baby, drill.”

Here's the result when you eat up big bowls of propaganda every day. Are you ready for $25 hamburgers? You voted to deport the people who work in the slaughterhouses. You didn’t think about who picks the lettuce, onions, and tomatoes. And why are all the fast-food places shut down? I’ll give you three guesses: Jose, Maria, and Jesus. They are waiting to be sent across the border.

I’ve heard rumors that Trump plans to incarcerate the undocumented and convert them into prison workers doing the same jobs, but now as slave labor. Now, that may just be Stephen Miller’s wet dream, but nothing would surprise me at this point.

I’m curious to see how far they will go. It may come to a point when even non-Bubbleheads may say, “WTF?” I’m hoping it comes in the 2026 midterms.

In the meantime, I’ve unsubscribed from the New York Times and the Washington Post. They normalized Trump’s behavior far too often. I’ve subscribed to the Guardian US edition (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news) for a more objective slant. I have also increased my monthly donation to the ACLU (https://action.aclu.org/give/now). They fight the good fight. And… I’m never going to believe the polls again.