More “Florida Man” Antics

 For those of you who live elsewhere, let me indoctrinate you into the cult of our state goofy headline generator  – Florida Man. (and occasionally woman.)  “Florida Man”—equal parts meme, myth, and mugshot. He’s the unofficial state cryptid, and he lives in headlines such as (and these are real!):  

“Florida Man throws alligator through drive-thru window.”

“Florida Man arrested for driving stolen vehicle filled with stolen items to court for his stolen vehicle hearing.”

“Florida Man tries to light cigarette with blowtorch, burns down apartment.”

The phenomenon largely stems from Florida’s broad public records laws, which make arrest reports easily accessible to journalists. Combine that with a humid cocktail of heat, eccentricity, and questionable decision-making, and you get a steady stream of surreal news stories that start with “Florida Man…”

But it’s not just about the headlines—it’s a cultural reflection.  “Florida Man” is a chaotic, common sense impaired, icon of American folklore: unpredictable, unfiltered, and often unintentionally profound. He’s the guy who wrestles a bear in his backyard, then sues the HOA for not warning him about the bear.

Florida Man never sleeps, and neither do the headlines. Here’s some more gator-wrestling, meth-surfing, raccoon-smuggling chaos:

 “Florida Man claims to be time traveler from 2048, warns of alien invasion, demands to speak to the president.” (this guy also stole a truck and drove to Patrick Space Force base insisting that he had to warn the President of the alien invasion. Considering  the current POTUS, this bordered on redundant.)

“Florida Man arrested after spaghetti-fueled rampage at Olive Garden—shirtless, shoeless, and covered in marinara.”

“Florida Man caught stealing iguanas to “start a Jurassic Park-themed petting zoo.”

And just when you think it’s peaked, Florida Woman enters the chat:

“Florida Woman pulls python from her pants during traffic stop.”

“Florida Woman rides motorized shopping cart through Walmart while sipping wine from a Pringles can.”

 Here’s a fresh batch of headlines that feel like they were written by a fever dream in a bait shop:

“Florida Man arrested for trying to duel a neighbor with live chickens—claims it's “Old Seminole tradition.”

“Florida Man builds homemade air conditioner using igloo cooler, leaf blower, and frozen shrimp—declares it “better than NASA’s.”

“Florida Man spotted flying drone shaped like UFO over retirement community—says he’s “testing panic response for future alien overlords.”

“Florida Man steals flamingo from zoo, names it “Chad,” and takes it to court as emotional support animal.”

“Florida Man caught siphoning Capri Sun from school vending machine—tells police he’s “just hydrating the youth.”

And: Even more outré:

“Florida Man runs through gym naked, hides in tanning bed at closing time. Deputies dubbed him the “Birthday Suit Bandit”.

“Florida Man tries to steal $1,500 of merchandise from Lowe’s, flees on the back of a UPS truck.” A Citizen tip helped track him down.

“Florida Man shoots neighbor’s pregnant cow after it wandered onto his property.” He’d previously threatened to shoot any animal that crossed the line.

“Florida Man arrested after dog-fighting ring uncovered—alongside a neglected 9-foot alligator” The gator was kept in inhumane conditions.

“ Florida Man dubbed “Nail Bandit” charged after damaging fire rescue vehicles with sharp objects—for over a year and a half.”

“Florida Man leads deputies on chase, then offers them a can of vodka spritzer.” Bodycam footage confirmed the bizarre peace offering.

“Florida Man under fire for holding a dolphin out of water for a photo.”
 Wildlife officials were not amused.

“Florida Man wakes up in hospital missing an arm—last thing he remembers is going to the bathroom near a body of water.” Gator encounter confirmed.

These are just a sampling of the Florida State Doofus in action. For more, check out our Governor and Surgeon General.

 

Donnie and Pete’s Shameful Pep Talk: Mandatory Indoctrination or Morale Hazard? The Theater of Trump and Hegseth’s Military Sermons

It was a mandatory attendance spectacle of forced submission. It’s one thing to brief the brass on emerging threats. (the sort of briefings which Trump frequently either doesn’t attend or sleeps through).  It’s another to subject them to a flagrantly politicized tent revival disguised as “leadership development.”

When Generals and Admirals—men and women who’ve commanded fleets, divisions, and nuclear assets—are required to sit through ideological monologues from draft dodger Don, and  lush/misogynist Pete we’ve crossed the line from professional development, mutuality of mission purpose and National security into mere performative loyalty. This isn’t about national security. It’s about political narrative control. This is theater of the absurd, aimed at Maga dolts who pleasure themselves to old copies of “Sgt. Rock of Easy Company.” (for those of you much younger than I, this was a popular Post WWII comic book, which survived until 1988)

This was a classic example of the chain of command meets the ratings machine, most likely spawned by burgeoning negative public reaction to the illegal deployment to US military forces to US cities and Trump’s slavish worship of “ratings” (his) and concern over their recent retrograde direction.

Even more sickening, Pete Hegseth, whose military credentials include a stint in the National Guard and a long tenure on morning television, now lectures the Joint Chiefs on patriotism. Trump, whose grasp of military strategy is rivaled only by his grasp of spelling, delivers rambling stump speeches to an audience trained to salute, not swoon.

Yes, Pete Hegseth’s relationship with alcohol has been a source of controversy and scrutiny throughout his post-military career—especially during his time leading veterans’ advocacy groups and working in media. He has openly acknowledged that after returning from deployments, he often coped with trauma by drinking yet, despite these admissions, he insists he never had a “drinking problem.”  Still, multiple former Fox News employees claimed they saw him intoxicated at work.  He was reportedly forced out of two nonprofits—Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America—due to intoxicated behavior, mismanagement, and other misconduct. A whistleblower report described him as “totally sloshed” at public events, sometimes needing to be carried away.

While he characterizes it as a common veteran coping mechanism, his drinking history has raised serious concerns about judgment, professionalism, and leadership. Yet, here he is, carping about facial hair and chromosomes.

As an aside and based on personal experience, I served with female sailors and officers and never saw an issue of any sort.

There have been no documented or credible examples showing that the inclusion of women, even on submarines, has caused a decrease in readiness or performance. In fact, the available evidence and official commentary suggest the opposite: that integration has been successful and beneficial. Despite Hegseths whining and implication, here’s what the record shows. I’m using the submarine force because it is the ultimate daily close contact, professional stress situation other than combat, and I have 26 years of experience in the area:

Historical Context & Integration: Women began optional assignment to on U.S. Navy submarines in 2011, following a policy change by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2010. This integration was phased, starting with female officers on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, then expanding to fast-attack submarines and enlisted ranks. No Navy reports or peer-reviewed studies have linked female presence on submarines to degraded operational performance. In fact, the Navy has emphasized that readiness and professionalism are gender independent. Female submariners are held to the same standards and have earned warfare qualifications (“dolphins”) just like their male counterparts.

Admiral John Richardson, a former Chief of Naval Operations, has stated that inclusive teams “achieve maximum possible performance” and “maintain high standards”. This is the sort of thing Hegseth, a flaming misogynist, even described as such by his own mother, detests. Anecdotal accounts from female submariners, including my recent conversations with a friend’s niece, herself a submarine qualified (USS Florida) intelligence expert, highlight mutual respect, strong crew cohesion, and the absence of gender-based limitations on performance. As might be expected, early discussions of such integration faced some initial resistance and heightened concern, but the result has not translated into measurable declines in readiness. If anything, such scrutiny underscores the need for fair evaluation rather than assumptions.

The U.S. military has long prided itself on remaining above the partisan fray. It’s why officers don’t campaign in uniform, why political rallies are off-limits on base, and why the oath is to the Constitution—not to any individual. But when attendance at these events becomes mandatory, the message is clear: neutrality is no longer enough. Visibility is loyalty. Applause is allegiance. This isn’t just a morale hazard. It’s a constitutional one.

It's not as if we haven’t seen this type of shitshow before.  In banana republics, strongmen parade before the military to affirm their dominance. In autocracies, generals are props in the theater of power. The U.S. has always stood apart—until now.

Even MacArthur, with all his ego, never demanded the Army sit through his political musings. Patton may have slapped a soldier, but he didn’t slap the Constitution. What we’re witnessing is not leadership—it’s political liturgy. If things remain as they are supposed to be, and the military is to remain the last bastion of nonpartisan service, its leaders must resist becoming simply stoic stagehands in a political pageant. That means pushing back on mandatory attendance. That means refusing to conflate patriotism with partisanship. That means remembering that the oath is not to a man, but to an idea, because when the generals are forced to clap, the republic begins to crack.

The irony in this situation is flagrant: a man who dodged the draft now commands the attention of those who’ve faced live fire. A true “fake media“ pundit, who once called diversity “a cancer” now lectures a force that thrives on cohesion and inclusion. As a veteran who knows better, it turns my stomach.

 

                       The Myth of the Overcrowded Sky

When Charlie Kirk declared “We’re full. No more visas for Indians,” it wasn’t a policy proposal—it was a bumper sticker masquerading as a worldview. In a nation built on immigration, innovation, and the occasional in-flight pretzel, Kirk’s remarks land with all the grace of a goose in a jet engine.

Let’s be clear: the U.S. aviation industry isn’t being overrun by foreign pilots. It’s being held aloft by them. Indian American professionals make up a vital part of our tech, healthcare, and yes, aviation sectors. They don’t displace American workers—they keep the planes flying, the code compiling, and the hospitals running while certain pundits are busy fearmongering from the comfort of a podcast studio.

Kirk’s comments weren’t just xenophobic—they’re economically illiterate. The H-1B visa program exists because there’s a shortage of qualified workers in key industries. If we’re “full,” it’s only of bad takes and empty slogans.

And let’s examine safety. The FAA doesn’t track pilot crashes by race or nationality because it’s irrelevant to performance. What do they track? Training hours, fatigue, mechanical issues, and weather. You know—actual safety factors? The idea that demographic diversity compromises safety isn’t just wrong, it’s dangerous. It undermines trust in a system that’s statistically safer than driving to the airport.

But, of course Kirk’s worldview didn’t stop at borders—it extended to bedrooms and boardrooms. At a women’s conference, he advised young women to avoid careers like orthopedic surgery, suggesting they should prioritize marriage and children instead. His claim that “all the good ones are gone” if women don’t settle down early wasn’t just regressive—it was a throwback to the kind of gender norms that make Donald Trump and Brigham Young seem progressive.

This wasn’t just rhetoric—it was ideology. It limns diversity as a threat, ambition as a flaw, and equality as a zero-sum game. It’s the kind of worldview that fears a cockpit staffed by a Black man or woman more than it fears turbulence.

So, what was really behind the “we’re full” and “stay home, ladies” messaging? In truth, a fear of change and a fear of complexity. A fear that the world is bigger than one ideology can contain.

If Kirk wanted to fly in a plane staffed only by people who looked and thought like him, he was welcome to charter one. The rest of us will be boarding commercial flights piloted by professionals—regardless of where they were born or what gender they are—because we care more about credentials than chromosomes.

 

                          

                                     A Medical Fool’s Carnival

 

A recent newspaper article contains the alarming story of Florida governor and Trump wannabee, Ron de Santis, declaring that it is his desire and intent (and he is encouraged in this by the  surgeon general of the state of Florida) to discontinue all mandates for vaccinations as a criterion for entering public schools in the state.

De Santis refers to, and summarily dismisses, strong cautionary disagreements from legitimate medical authorities on all levels, local, state, and federal, as “unsubstantiated.”  His toady State Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has also ignited a firestorm with recent comments and a policy push to eliminate all vaccine mandates statewide, including those for beginning schoolchildren. At a press conference on September 3, 2025, Ladapo emphasized personal autonomy over public health mandates, stating: “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” (yep, keeping kids alive is slavery?)  He continued, “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God.” Contemplating the potential ramifications of this type of thinking make my head hurt. That said, and as stated above, our illustrious governor is on board.

Ladapo has a well-documented history of diametrical differences between himself and the rest of the responsible medical community. He came to prominence in Florida for his opposition to COVID-19 mitigation measures, and promotion and furtherance of COVID-19 misinformation, for which he has been rebuked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has a history of promoting unproven treatments, opposing vaccine and mask mandates, questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and contradicting professional medical organizations. All this is with absolutely zero scientific justification. He joined De Santos in supporting monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID 19 up to the point where the drug’s manufacturer, a DeSantis contributor, finally admitted that their therapy didn’t work. Incidentally, Ladapo has also opposed gender affirming care and counseling for trans and non-binary minors.

        So, what then do the actual statistics say about mandatory vaccination? Let’s preface this with the statement that no valid study has ever shown an actual link between vaccines and Autism. Period. What follows will be an analysis of the effects of measles vaccine on what was once an annual epidemic in the US.

Historical Timeline of Measles in the U.S.

Pre-Vaccine Era

•       1765: First recorded measles case in the U.S.

•       Early 1900s: Measles killed ~6,000 Americans annually

•       1950s–1960s: Annual cases averaged 500,000+, with 48,000 hospitalizations and 400–500 deaths

 Vaccine Breakthrough

•       1963: Measles vaccine licensed—rapid and dramatic drop in cases

•       1978: CDC recommends two doses of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) for full protection.

Elimination & Resurgence

•       2000: CDC declares measles eliminated in the U.S.—no continuous transmission for over a year Yes, it works!

•       2014: 667 cases reported, mostly linked to unvaccinated communities. This coincides with the birth of the anti-vax movement, which was a conglomerate of anti-government, anti-science, deep state conspiracy, etc. movements in states such as California, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, and a few others which allowed “personal exemptions” for mandatory vaccines. California reversed course in 2015 and saw a step change drop in childhood communicable diseases, and in COVID cases later, (explanation below).

•       2019: 1,282 cases—the highest since 1992—sparked by outbreaks in New York and Washington among primarily unvaccinated individuals.

•       2024: only 285 confirmed cases across 16 outbreaks

•       2025 (as of August): 1,408 confirmed cases, 35 outbreaks, and 3 deaths reported across 43 states

•       86% of cases are outbreak-associated

•       Vast majority are among unvaccinated individuals

The trend and number of cases track similarly for Mumps. For Rubella, the same is true, but even more critical in some ways, in that Rubella can also, if transmitted to a pregnant individual, cause serious and disabling birth defects in the newborn. Rubella was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2004, but cases still pop up due to international travel and vaccine gaps.

All this of course implies that measles can become an unwanted gift. Susie ‘s mom is an anti-vaxxer, Susie goes to school and contracts measles, comes home, hugs grandma who may never have had the vaccine or has far less resistance. Grandma gets very ill as a result. The same was true in the COVID epidemic. Children, who had been vaccinated may have had contact with the virus and were contagious but essentially asymptomatic because their recent MMR vaccines also supplied some resistance to COVID (verified in a Harvard study). Adults at home with less resistance and less recency of MMR vaccination, or even none, contracted COVID from their apparently healthy children.

The same government which can require you to have a driver’s license and insurance should certainly have the right to require parents to have their children vaccinated as a measure to insure their health by insuring they are protected against known and potentially fatal diseases which thrive in close circumstances such as a schoolroom.

Dr Ladapo immigrated with his family from Nigeria when he was five years old. At that time (1983) Nigeria had no vaccine mandates and consequently had periodic outbreaks of contagious diseases. Oddly enough in that same year, Nigeria initiated the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). It was a major operational research project, launched in August 1983, aiming to dramatically increase vaccine coverage. It wasn’t yet a legal mandate, but it was a government-led push with strong community involvement and outreach. The project ran until July 1984 and boosted coverage from 9% to 83% in targeted areas. Now Nigeria does have vaccine mandates, particularly for childhood immunizations. In December 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria also implemented a compulsory vaccination policy for all public sector employees. Workers had to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative PCR test within 72 hours to access their offices., Nigeria requires routine vaccinations for children, and these mandates are enforced especially for school entry. I point his out only to show the retrograde thinking of Dr Ladapo compared to his African homeland.

Between Dr. Ladapo’s lamentable religious philosophical flummery and DeSantis’ politically driven grandstanding, Florida has the potential to regress to the 1950s as far as public health essentials are concerned. Remember Polio? If you’re my age you do since we were kept indoors when the too frequent local cases occurred. Likewise, community pools closed.

 Drs. Salk and Sabin wiped out Polio as a threat via vaccines. Vaccines save lives. imbeciles like Ladapo and DeSantis threaten them. Amen.

    No matter what it takes, vote in the midterms. Also take the time to encourage your Congressional Representatives to push for election day to become a national holiday.

 

                                                 Cola Wars

I saw a post today written by a friend who apparently hopes that Coca-Cola will go back to using cane sweetener vice corn sweetener in their flagship soft drink. According to today's paper, even though Donald Trump has stated categorically that Coke will go back to using cane sugar, Coca-Cola has said there are no plans to do that.

On the surface this seems like a trivial matter and one might wonder, “Well, if people really like cane sugar better, then why doesn't coke simply go back to cane sweetener?” There's a lot more to this story than simply a choice of one over the other. The cost of sugar in the United States started to rise in the late 1970s and into the 1980s as a result of government-imposed tariffs, prompting soft drink manufacturers to switch to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a cheaper alternative to sugar. By the mid-1980s, all of the major soft drink brands had switched to HFCS for their North American products, with the original formula of Coca-Cola being one of the last holdouts. In most countries, sugar is still used rather than HFCS.

First of all, Coca-Cola played one of the best bait and switch games ever foisted on American consumers when, in 1985, the company unveiled “New Coke.” New Coke was sweeter and had a somewhat different flavor than what Coca-Cola fans were used to. While the new Coke did not grab the old Coke’s market share and in fact was not particularly loved, we would later see lots of possible reasons why that happened.

One that was frequently cited was simply nostalgic brand loyalty to the old product. Another was that the new flavor simply wasn't as good or the same as the old Coke. What snuck by many people was that New Coke was sweetened with corn sweetener vice cane sugar. Just 79 days after the introduction of New Coke, when it had become obvious to Coca-Cola inc. that the new product was not loved like the old product, they came out with “Coca-Cola Classic”, which they were happy to have all consumers believe was simply the old Coke reborn. But, in reality the “new” old Coke had one significant difference. It retained the corn sweetener of the “New Coke.”

The vast majority of Coca-Cola fans happily greeted the return of Coca-Cola classic without understanding that what the Coca-Cola corporation had done was to switch sweeteners for economic considerations and, rather than simply change the classic coke recipe to substitute corn sweetener for cane sugar, actually first issued the New Coke so that the break in continuity when the Coca-Cola classic was restored would be less noticeable. By and large it worked.

What were the economic considerations? Simple really. Consider the current SecState’s statement, made while he was a Florida Senator, that “Sugar is a national security issue!” Yeah, he said that. He and his predecessors were cheerleaders for price supports on US cane sugar production, especially since the area of Florida below Lake Okeechobee has become US Cane Sugar central, beginning when the Fanjul family of Cuban sugar barons fled Castro’s Cuba and bought up thousands of acres of that land and began cane production on a grand scale. Marco Rubio and other Florida state level politicos have received and continue to receive massive campaign financial support in exchange for pushing for ludicrous federal price supports on US produced cane sugar. Considering the vast range of products retailed in the US which depend on cane sugar, we as a nation are paying a lot into the pockets of a relatively small market segment

The result? US consumers, commercia and private, pay more than twice the average world market price for cane sugar. Coke simply made an economic decision which has saved them multi millions, approaching billions, over the years since the shift to corn sweetener. Even without US price supports, cane sugar is more costly than corn sweetener. As one example, Mexican Coke is still made with cane sweetener. It is about 32 % more expensive.

Coke did what they did largely in the name of retaining brand loyalty while making an economic decision forced upon them by a government policy which favored the few at the expense of many, one of which is the nation’s largest soft drink purveyor.

Finally, one wonders why the hell an American President who drinks Diet Coke, sweetened with aspartame, gives a shit about which real organic vegetable sweetener is used in a beverage he doesn’t drink.

 

       Lies of the Right the President and Others Told Me

We all know, or certainly should know, that Donald Trump has a truth problem. Rather than dissect the spate of recent miserable policy outrages, I’ve taken the easy way out and am simply addressing some of the flood of lies coming from GOP talking heads, primarily but not exclusively the Grand Cheeto himself.   

 The lie: Trump: "All armed services are having among the best recruiting results ever” because of Trump policies, and “it was just a few months ago where the results were exactly the opposite.”

Fact:  Armed services recruitment rose from 200,000 in fiscal year 2023 to 225,000 in fiscal year 2024, a 12.5% increase, under the Biden administration.

 The Lie: Rick Scott, March 9:  "Well, first off, Donald Trump walked in with a crappy economy. The number of full-time jobs has been dropping almost the entire Biden administration."

The Truth: Under the Biden administration full-time jobs increased through that tenure. Part-time jobs also increased, driven by people who wanted to work part-time. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the number of jobs rose from 125.2 million in January 2021, to 133.5 million in December 2024 an increase of 8.3 million jobs, or about 6.6%, over four years.

The Lie: Donald Trump stated on January 20, 2025, that: “The United States is the only country with unrestricted birthright citizenship.”

The Truth: There are about three dozen countries that have unrestricted birthright citizenship, also known as "jus soli," or "right of the soil." In this group, The U.S. is joined by neighbors Canada and Mexico, along with nearly every country in Central and South America.

The Lie: Trump: “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”

The Truth: Most economists say Trump’s tariffs would hurt the country, as they are, in essence, tax increases that could raise the costs of goods in ways that could also harm economic growth. We are only beginning to see the effects of these ill-chosen tariff actions and it will likely only get worse. When the Yale University Budget Lab looked at the tariffs that Trump imposed on Canada, Mexico, and China, it found that inflation would increase a full percentage point, growth would fall by half a percentage point and the average household would lose about $1,600 in disposable income.

The Lie: Trump said: “We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.”

The Truth: The was no “mandate,” simply a stated goal. No legislation. Period.

The Lie: In his State of the Union message Trump said: “We’re going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody’s ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place. Deals are being made, never seen. (sic)”

 The Truth: No US automaker has announced a new plant since Trump took office and began instituting new tariffs. What is far more likely to spur US auto sales is the fact that Trump’s move to impose a 25% tariff on all imports coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico could add thousands of dollars to the cost of each new imported vehicle. (That said, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota. Subaru and Nissan already manufacture in the USA.

The Lie: Same SOU address: Trump said: “As an example, not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, 1 in 10,000 children had autism. One in 10,000, and now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong. One in 36, think of that, so we’re going to find out what it is.” (Of course, his moronic HHS appointee thinks he already knows)

The Truth:  the science is clear that vaccines don’t cause autism. Period. Actual research, on the other hand suggests that much of the increase is due to increasing awareness and screening for the condition. Also There have been changing definitions widening the scope of autism to include milder conditions now “on the spectrum” that weren’t recognized in previous years, coupled with advances in diagnostic technology.

The Lie: Trump press secretary, Karoline Leavitt to an Associated Press questioner: “He's (Trump) actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people (????), and the president is a staunch advocate for tax cuts.' The AP questioner fought back against Leavitt's claim by asking if she has ever paid a tariff, saying that 'They don't get charged on foreign companies they get charged on importers.' Leavitt responded: 'I think it's insulting that you're trying to test my knowledge of economics, and the decision that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to The Associated Press.'

 

And that’s about all I can stomach for today!     

 

                            

       More Trumpian Blithering B.S.        

 

An actual Donald Trump quote Friday, April 17^th: President Trump weighed in on the cost of eggs around the country, claiming Friday at the White House that the prices are “getting too low.” Trump then praised Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for doing a “great” job and then asserted that egg prices are “down 87 percent, but nobody talks about that.”  And: “You can have all the eggs. You watch, we have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low. So I just want to let you know that the prices are down,”

Fact: The highest recorded price for a dozen large Grade A eggs in the US was $8.15, according to the USDA, which was reached on March 4, 2025. This price was significantly higher than the average price of $4.95 per dozen in January 2025. Make no mistake about this; avian flu is the culprit, resulting in the following statistic: In December 2024 and January 2025, over 41.4 million domesticated birds were culled due to the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak. This brings the total number of birds affected to over 166 million, as of February 2025. The record number of chicken deaths, including those from culling, led to a surge in egg prices. Period. Trump claiming that his airhead SecAg had anything to do with egg prices is typical Trumpian rambling bloviation. If he’s speaking, he’s lying.

In truth, if egg prices were really down 87%, a dozen grade A large would cost $1.05 per dozen at retail. In truth, egg prices in the first three Trump months, are 64% higher than when he took office. Is that his fault? Of course not. Eggs are a market commodity and supply and demand drive prices. Fewer chickens means  fewer eggs, fewer eggs means higher prices. Period.

 Adam Smith understood that in 1776, when he published “On The Wealth of Nations.”  Donald Trump is an inveterate liar and an economic dunce.