PERSPECTIVES: GOLDSEA

Supreme Court Cut Muscle from Global Tariff Extortion Racket

Fast billions had been amassed through crypto ventures powered by erratic tariff policies that scared foreign governments and big businesses into paying tribute for access ...

The Supreme Court Yanks the Executive's Chain

Despite assertions to the contrary by a seething and wounded President, the latest Supreme Court ruling on his exercise of unauthorized tariff power reminds him ...

Warmongering, the Last Refuge of Failing Presidents

Saber-rattling is like a baby-rattle for an insecure leader in need of comfort or his political death rattle.

If You Can’t Beat Em’, Deport Em’!

Texas Republicans’ retort to criticism makes “I know you are but what am I?” look high brow.

The Big Reward for Gutting the EPA and Promoting Futureless Industries

A self-serving political agenda is Trump's big reward for orders voiding a study finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and promoting the coal and ...

Why Lunar New Year Has Become More than a Traditional Asian Holiday

The spending power associated with Asian Americans has made the holiday a marketing moment for corporate America.

The Dirty Financial Motive Behind Japanese American Internment

California business interests persuaded Governor Earl Warren to send Japanese Americans to internment camps, forcing them to sell their thriving farms and businesses to rivals ...

Why the Extreme Delay in the Supreme Court's Tariff Decision?

Decisions on major cases with broad socioeconomic impact take longer as justices seek consensus to avoid a 5-4 split decision.

The Astrophysics and Quantum Biology Underlying the Chinese Zodiac

Jupiter's 12-year cycle around the sun and the sun's 11-year magnetic cycles are just two of several touchpoints between physics and the 12-animal Chinese zodiac.

The Simplistic Beliefs Taking the US Down the Road to Poverty, Isolation and Global Scorn

If only the deep yearning for simplistic solutions could make them work in the real world Donald Trump might have been a great President.

The Reincarnation of Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang

Bold initiatives undertaken for ego-gratification and self-aggrandizement are the hallmarks of both leaders.

Where Are Our Brutuses and Cassiuses When We Need Them?

We're now well short of the five dozen senators who ended Caesar's tyrannical hold over Rome, but a baker's dozen of promising prospects with spine ...

Who Were Enriched and Impoverished in Trump's First Year

The ultra-wealthy, Trump himself and some Asian Americans were among the biggest beneficiaries while the working class got fewer jobs and paid more for virtually ...

When Childhood Foods Get Tiktokked, I Feel Cheated

Why do I feel loss and resentment when viral TikTok videos rebrand Asian comfort foods as innovative new creations?

Narcissism in Dotage, Stuck in an Adolescent Brain

What could possibly explain destructive moves like mass deportations, unilateral tariffs on friends and allies, threats to tariff Europe into submission over Greenland, and a ...

Simple Math Should Discourage Superpower Imperialism

The economics of imposing foreign rule—not to mention military history—should discourage any rational leader from entertaining the ambition of seeking control of a smaller nation.

Throwing Around Raw Power Destabilizes US-Built World Order

Trump's frequent resort to unchecked exercises of constitutionally questionable military and tariff power is eroding a global order constructed over seven decades to give the ...

Trump Divvies Up Globe with Xi

Pushing his claim of a US sphere of influence over the Western Hemisphere is an implicit Trump endorsement of China's loopy claim over the South ...

How to Spawn Terrorists Devoted to America's Destruction

Trump's use of the US military to bully defenseless small nations into surrendering sovereignty is a tried-and-true formula for spawning more US-hating terrorists.

Venezuela Invasion Reprises a US Strategy That Has Never Succeeded

Trump's quest for diverting headlines puts him squarely among US presidents who risked the high cost of foreign interventions and paid dearly politically.

Huge Tariffs and ICE Action Cost Us Only $300 Billion

Donald Trump proved that Americans can absorb bruising economic blows if compensated with catchy slogans and a deep sense of victimhood.

The Greatest Divider Has Fractured American Democracy for Decades to Come

Donald Trump's political tactic has been to destroy trust in the institutions that once made the United States the world's most stable democracy.

Fusion Is Smart Science But a Dumb Energy Bet

As an economical global energy source fusion power's future is fast receding into the past.

Epstein Stickiness Reflects MAGA Base's Veiled Unease

Trump supporters who can't explicate the intricacies of policies and economics see Epstein files as a socially acceptable way to question his authenticity.

Daily White House Orders to Military Presage Constitutional Coup

Is Trump preparing for a day when military backing will cement his rise to absolute power?

Leading Brands Defy Trump Push to Return US to 1964

Brands like Apple, Costco. JP Morgan and P&G are standing on principle and long-term good business sense rather than caving to a passing demagogue.

History Shows Great Powers Collapse Without Robust Immigration

The United States is being led toward the decline suffered by Imperial Rome, Spain, China, Russia and today's Britain and Japan.

Tariffs and AI Chip Export Restrictions Make the US Lose Tech Centrality

Turning itself into a fortress that prioritizes its mindlessly political national security narrative, the US will become a poorer, weaker and less secure backwater.

Gen Z's Deferred Sexuality Evokes Memories

Children of Asian immigrants may relate to the social distancing and cautionary tales that may have put Gen Z in a sexual holding pattern.

Headlines, Oil and the Death of American Morality

The murders of innocent Venezuelan fishermen under the pretext of stopping drug traffickers is such a blatant violation of human rights that America itself is ...

US Sacrifices Global Power to Advance Fake MAGA Narrative

Trump's peevish decision not to invite South Africa to the Florida G20 on a false narrative of White genocide is one of many instances of ...

Thanking Our Humanity on the Eve of a World of Optional Work

As we look ahead to a world in which AI and robotics will provide everything we need, let's give thanks for those positive human qualities ...

We're All in This Together, Akaash Singh

An Indian rightwing-adjacent comic finds racist and misogynistic taunts less funny when directed at him and wife.

Where Do Democrats Go From Here?

Between Mamdani's win in the NYC’s mayoral election and the eight senators who voted to end the shutdown a week later, the Democratic party is ...

Lee Jae Myung's Ironic Gifts at APEC

Trump and Xi received ironic ribbing in the form of gifts from the S. Korean President of a golden crown and a go board.

Today's US Parallels the former Soviet Union and Putin's Russia

Trump's systematic erosion of bedrock institutions puts the US on the path of the former Soviet Union and Putin's Russia.

Xi's Tough Counters to US Tariffs Clouds Talk Prospects

Even if talks materialize the world's most important trade relations are hampered by each side's firm belief in their respective bargaining hand.

Is Plutopopulism the Greatest American Swindle?

Exploiting working-class anxieties to install policies that profit the wealthy has become an epic American political scam.

3 Big Lies about Migrants

These falsehoods about the impact migrants have on American society may have tipped the 2024 presidential election in Trump's favor.

How Donald Profits from Dollar Disruptions

His big personal bets on Bitcoin and his own WLF crypto offerings make Donald Trump's dollar-destabilizing tariffs, migrant deportations and endless series of disruptive posts ...

How Does Usha Vance Sleep At Night?

An investigation into a question that my fellow Indians have been asking a lot lately

What Kind of People Love Narcissistic Tyrants?

Those of us baffled and irked by people who support the likes of the current White House occupant can find the answer in psychology, genetics ...

Who (Really) Killed Jim Li?

The murder of lawyer Jim Li by his former client Xiaoning Zhang shocked Queen's Chinese community. There may be even more to the story than ...

How Stupid Is an Economic War Against the World?

It's not only stupid but massively self-destructive and devastating for our nation's future, according to analysis by virtually all economists, and yet that's precisely what ...

The Most Likely Grounds for Impeachment

As the current White House occupant continues to flaunt Constitutional and legal norms limiting his powers, a growing number of Americans are asking why not ...

Can the US Become a Christian Theocracy?

It's possible, but it won't be the pretty picture conjured by MAGA conservatives who would love to enshrine the Bible above the Constitution.

What's Behind Trump's TikTok Fervor

The focus and energy pumped into transferring TikTok's US operations to US ownership and control suggests the degree of political importance Trump attaches to controlling ...

White Martyrs, Brown Guilt and a Legacy of American Fear

In his brief career as a MAGA evangelist Charlie Kirk sowed enough resentment, mistrust and paranoia to set America on fire.

Xi-Led Autocratic Alliance Remains Inchoate

Despite the rallying cry heard in Beijing of building a truly multilaterial world in opposition to US dominance, the lack of concrete cooperation frameworks suggests ...

How the Trump-Modi Bromance Became a Train Wreck

The remarkably deep similarities between the leaders of the US and India can't keep their relationships from turning into one of the world's great train ...