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May 29, 2025 17 mins

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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

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a world gone mad.
This is a world gone mad, mad,mad, mad, mad.
It's another day in a worldgone mad.
Hello, I'm Jeff Fallon Wolfeand I'm back again to give my
commentary on the news.
Thank you for joining me and no, you're not going crazy.

(00:20):
There was no episode Tuesdayafter Memorial Day Because of
the holidays.
I took a a break, so you didn'tmiss anything.
Okay, here we go.
This I came across, I wanted toshare it with you and it's from
Robert Reich, about the bigbeautiful bullshit bill from

(00:41):
Trump.
You, the bill where Trump saysthis will change everything in
America, but in my opinion me,jeff it's going to destroy
America even further.
Listen carefully, share withanyone or defend against anyone
who thinks this bill from Trumpis wonderful.

(01:01):
So I'm going to share this withyou.
I'm going to read what RobertReich said with his facts
Friends Reich starts.
The old professor in me thinksthe best way to convey to you
how utterly awful the so-calledone big, beautiful bill is that
was passed by the House lastweek actually would be to give

(01:26):
you this short 10-question examDoes 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 expectedto lose Medicaid coverage?

(01:49):
Answer at least 8.6 million.
Will the tax cut in the bill therich?
How much will the top 0.1% ofearners stand to gain from it?

(02:10):
Nearly $390,000 per year.
Think about this.
The top 0.1% of earners in thiscountry will gain $390,000 per
year.
If you figure in the benefitscuts and the tax cuts.
Will Americans making betweenabout $17,000 and $51,000 gain

(02:35):
or lose?
Well, they'll lose about $700 ayear.
How about Americans withincomes less than $17,000?
They'll lose more than $1,000per year on average.
How much will the bill add tothe federal debt $3.8 trillion

(02:58):
over 10 years and who will paythe interest on this extra debt?
All of us, in both our taxpayments and higher interest
rates for mortgages, car loansand all other longer-term
borrowing.
Who collects this interest?
People who lend to the USgovernment, 70% of whom are

(03:20):
American and most of whom arewealthy.
And here's a bonus question thatRobert Wright threw in Is the
$400 million airplane from Qatara 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, becauseTrump will get to use this plane

(03:44):
after he leaves the presidency.
Most Americans are stronglyopposed to all of these things,
according to polls, but if youknew the answers to these 10
questions, you're likely to bein a very tiny minority.
That's because, reich says, ofthe following One, distortions
and cover-ups emanating fromTrump, magnified by Fox News and

(04:10):
other right-wing outlets.
Two, a public that'soverwhelmed with the blitzkrieg
of everything that Trump isdoing and can't focus on this.
Focus on this.
Three, outright silencing ofmany of the media, who fear
retaliation from the Trumpregime if they reveal things
that Trump doesn't want revealed.

(04:31):
Robert Reich says please doyour part, share this
information as widely aspossible.
Look, this bill that passed inthe House is awful.
It's destructive and wrong onevery single level and, like
Robert Reich said, and I urgeyou as well, tell everyone you

(04:54):
know about it.
The Ukraine-Russia war theattack from Russia on Ukraine.
Ukraine says Russia launchedits biggest drone attack yet,
part of an escalating campaign.
Russia launched its biggestdrone attack against Ukraine

(05:16):
overnight, a Ukrainian officialsaid last Monday, part of an
escalating bombing campaign thathas further dashed hopes for a
breakthrough in efforts to endthe three-year-old war.
That has further dashed hopesfor a breakthrough in efforts to
end the three-year-old war.
Now, on the third straightnight of that significant aerial
bombardment, us PresidentDonald Trump lashed out at
Russian leader Vladimir Putin,saying he had gone crazy by
stepping up attacks on Ukraine.

(05:38):
The expansion of Russia's aircampaign appeared to be another
setback with US-led peaceefforts, as Putin looks
determined to capture moreUkrainian territory and inflict
more damage.
It comes after Kiev accepted anunconditional 30-day ceasefire
in March that was proposed bythe US but that Moscow

(06:00):
effectively rejected.
This month alone, russia hasbroken its record for aerial
bombardments of Ukraine threetimes.
Russia is also still pushingalong the roughly
1,000-kilometer, 620-mile frontline, where it has made slow and
costly progress and isassembling its forces for a

(06:22):
summer offensive.
Analysts say Only a sense ofcomplete impunity can allow
Russia to carry out such attacksand continually escalate their
scale.
Ukrainian President Zelenskywrote on Telegram last Monday
there is no significant militarylogic to this, but there is
considerable political meaning,he said.

(06:43):
The Russian bombardmentincluded 355 drones.
Yuri Inhat, head of theUkrainian Air Force's
communications department, toldthe Associated Press calling it
the biggest of the war.
Russia fired 298 drones, 69missiles and what Ukrainian
officials said was the largestcombined aerial assault of the

(07:06):
conflict.
From last Friday to Sunday,russia launched around 900
drones at Ukraine, officialssaid.
Russia's defense ministrymeanwhile said that its forces
had shot down 103 Ukrainiandrones overnight that were
flying over southern and westernRussia, including near Moscow.

(07:26):
Russia's Federal Air TransportAgency said 32 flights scheduled
to land at three Moscowairports had to divert amid
Ukrainian drone attacks.
Now, the numbers from Ukraineand Russia could not be
independently verified.
Soon after Russia's February 24,2022 invasion, the conflict
became a testing ground forincreasingly sophisticated drone

(07:49):
warfare.
Aflac became a testing groundfor increasingly sophisticated
drone warfare.
Drones are generally cheaper toproduce than missiles.
Now Russia has receivedIranian-made Shahed drones since
2022 and is now believed to bemanufacturing its own version.
Ukraine, as well as receivingsmaller battlefield drones from
its allies to help it compensatefor a troop shortage, has

(08:10):
developed its own long-rangedrones for strikes deep inside
Russia.
Now, supposedly, donald Trump isquote angry end quote at Putin
and is disgusted, and he thinksthat Putin is crazy with what
he's doing.
Supposedly.
So Trump's decision to whathe's going to do with what's

(08:31):
happening from Russia's actions.
He's going to give Putin twomore weeks before Trump makes a
final decision.
In other words, he's going toallow Putin to continue with his
attacks by giving him time topush forward, to take more land.
This is a stall tactic byDonald Plain and simple, an

(08:52):
incompetent president whoclearly is in support of Putin.
Germany's Merz said there are nomore range restrictions on the
weapons supplied to Ukraine.
Germany's new chancellor saidthat his country and other major
allies are no longer imposingany range restrictions on

(09:14):
weapons supplied to Ukraine asit fights the Russian invasion.
Frederick Meurs has plungedinto diplomatic efforts to try
to secure a ceasefire and keepWestern support for Ukraine
intact since becoming Germany'sleader nearly three weeks ago
Now.
He explained that there are nolonger any range restrictions
for weapons that have beendelivered to Ukraine, neither by

(09:36):
the British, nor by the French,nor by us, and not by the
Americans either.
That means Ukraine can alsodefend itself by, for example,
attacking military positions inRussia, mertz said at a forum
organized by WDR PublicTelevision Until a while ago, it
couldn't, it can.
Now we call this long-rangefire and jargon also supplying

(10:00):
Ukraine with weapons that attackmilitary targets in the
hinterland.
He added.
He didn't elaborate.
It wasn't clear whether he'sreferring to the easing of
restrictions on longer-rangeweapons late this year.
Commenting on Merz's statement,kremlin spokesperson Dmitry
Peskov said that a decision tolift range restrictions would be

(10:20):
quite dangerous and runcontrary to our efforts to reach
a political settlement.
Now.
Germany has been the secondbiggest supplier of military aid
to Ukraine after the UnitedStates.
Mertz's government has beentight-lipped on whether it will
supply Taurus long-range cruisemissiles, something its
predecessor, olaf Scholz,refused to do and Mertz

(10:41):
advocated for as oppositionleader.
Well, apparently that decisionof the Taurus missiles were made
and the answer was no.
The government has said it willno longer provide full details
of the weapons it is supplyingto Ukraine, unlike Schultz's
administration.
He cited the need for strategicambiguity.
Taurus missiles have a range ofup to 310 miles and they said

(11:05):
no to that.
It's good to see therestrictions are being lifted
from Ukraine on what they can doto fight back.
Considering Donald Trump andhis actions to continually
support Putin, zelensky needs tobe free to attack deep into
Russia, otherwise Ukraine, hiscountry, is lost.

(11:28):
Did you know that clownfishshrink their bodies to survive
ocean heat waves?
Remember the movie Finding Nemo?
Well, nemo was a fish called aclownfish.
Scientists now believe that tosurvive warming oceans,
clownfish cope by shrinking insize.

(11:48):
Scientists observed that someof the orange striped fish
shrank their bodies during aheat wave off the coast of Papua
New Guinea.
Fish that slimmed were morelikely to survive.
Now heat waves are becoming morecommon and intense underwater
due to the climate change.
Warmer water temperatures canbleach sea anemones that

(12:12):
clownfish call home, forcingthem to adapt to stay alive.
Scientists monitored andmeasured 134 colorful clownfish
in Kimbe Bay during an intenseheat wave in 2023.
That's still bleaching coralsworldwide.
They found that 101 clownfishdecreased in length on one or

(12:36):
more occasions from heat stress.
Now we were really shocked atfirst when we saw that they were
shrinking at all, said studyauthor Morgan Bennett Smith with
Boston University.
The findings were publishedWednesday in the journal Science
Advances.
Though scientists don't yetknow how clownfish shrink, one

(12:56):
idea is that they could bereabsorbing their own bone
matter.
It's possible the smallerstature may help the clownfish
save energy during a stressfulscorch from heat, since smaller
fish need less food.
You know, it's alwaysfascinating with the strangeness
of nature and the way differentanimals adapt to stressful

(13:19):
circumstances.
And finally, I offer you astory to offset all the negative
news, if that's possible AnOregon man who quit his job at a
tire company and liquidated hisretirement savings to set sail
for Hawaii with his cat, phoenix.
He reached his destinationSaturday, he was welcomed by

(13:42):
cheering fans at the end of aweeks-long journey that he
documented for the mass of hisfollowers on social media.
Of his followers on socialmedia, oliver Widger, who also
was greeted by Hawaii GovernorJosh Green at the Waikiki Yacht
Club on Oahu, acknowledged hewas nervous facing the crowd,
which included reporters.
Widger said he was feelingreally weird not seasick, but I

(14:06):
just feel like I have to likehold on to things to not fall
over.
He became an online sensationwith this story, which followed
a diagnosis four years ago witha syndrome that carried a risk
of paralysis and made himrealize he disliked his
managerial job.
He quit his job with no money,no plan, $10,000 of debt and the

(14:29):
goal of buying a sailboat andsailing around the world.
He taught himself to sailmostly via YouTube.
Moved from Portland to theOregon coast, he spent months
refitting the fifty thousanddollar boat he bought.
He set sail for Hawaii withPhoenix, his cat, in late April,
documenting their experiencesfor his more than one million

(14:51):
followers on TikTok and 1.7million 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 atyour job all day long and it
doesn't really matter how muchmoney you make at this point.
Everybody's just trying to doenough to get by and that just

(15:12):
wears you out.
He said it's just the world'sin a weird place and I think
people have seen that it'spossible to break out.
Now.
Green presented Widger with aproclamation.
Fans swarmed Widger after thenews conference, many holding
cameras and seeking selfies.
The scariest part of the tripcame when a rudder failed.

(15:34):
Widger said Highlights includedseeing dolphins and whales and
periods of calm Pacific waters.
Being in the middle of theocean when it was completely
glass in every direction was anabsurd feeling, he said.
Now Widger, 29, said he nevertruly felt alone, since he was
communicating with friends bymeans you know, including video

(15:54):
conferencing.
But he also lamented notexperiencing the open waters in
a way that other sailors whodidn't have access to tools like
Starlink internet satelliteshave in years before.
He said he may travel next toFrench Polynesia, but he said he
had been focused on getting toHawaii, not on what he'd do
after that.

(16:15):
He said he also needs to makerepairs to his boat.
You know, our cat Phoenix islooking at me right now saying,
hey, maybe I could do somethinglike that.
No, I don't think so, phoenix.
We are perfectly fine at homeor with local travels.
This is A World Gone Mad.

(16:35):
I'm Jeff Allen Wolf.
I'll be back Friday withanother episode.
Send a text, an email or aphone call my way, looking
forward to hearing from you.
Until then, stay hopeful.
There is chaos in the world,can't you see?

(16:58):
Stay hopeful.
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