This and That---September 25, 2026

A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.

This Is Today's Democrat Party?

The Center for Strategic Politics recently asked Democrat party voters their feelings on various ways that President Trump might be removed from office.

89% would have positive feelings if Trump was impeached and convicted by both Houses of Congress.

84% would feel good about Trump being removed for being unfit for office under the 25th Amendment.

59% would positively react to a military coup removing Trump from office.

55% would be happy if Trump died in his sleep.

32% would be positive about Trump being assassinated at a rally.

Are these the people we want voting for and deciding the future of the United States of America?

Hurricanes

We have been told for years that human-induced climate change was going to create more hurricanes and other catastrophic weather events

We were told that if Donald Trump was elected President to expect the worst for out climate.

We have just reached the latest date in any year since 1914 that not one hurricane has formed in the Atlantic.

Credit: https://x.com/MatthewWielicki/status/2102179720007909588

No, the lack of hurricanes is not proof that climate change is not real.

The climate is ever changing. It has been that way for thousands of years.

There has been an Ice Age. A Medieval Warm Period and everything in between.

However,  how is it that every time we hear about a hurricane, tornado or flood today it is blamed on human-induced climate change?

Humans caused it?  We are at the point that anything that happens with the weather is blamed on climate change.

Another surprising factoid I saw recently is that only a single major hurricane (Cat 3-5) has hit the East Coast of the United States in the last 30 years.

Compare that to other 30 year periods dating back to 1907.

The 1937-1966 period was particularly brutal.

Were there more or less humans and carbon emissions in that era compared to today?

Credit: https://x.com/ChrisMartzWX/status/2101047724539806147/photo/1

You possibly could argue that climate change may actually be benefiting the large population centers in East Coast of the United States based on this data.

Data Center Data

No other country is close to the United States in data center development.

Credit: https://x.com/ernietedeschi/status/2100932919162482871/photo/1

What is interesting is that none of these data centers got any attention until  the last several months.

For example, the Chicago area has had 125 data centers operating for some time without any complaints about noise, water usage, power problems and the like.

Source: https://dcmap.us/markets/chicago/

As has been pointed out, many are like large warehouses without the constant flow of trucks in and out and much less disruptive to surrounding neighbors.

Those data centers have been around for a good number of years already or you would not have been able to use your apps on your phone, shop on Amazon, watch YouTube videos or get your groceries delivered by InstaCart.

Why is it only now that they have become a hot political topic?

Undoubtedly, some of this is due to AI and the large scale of some of the rural data centers.

However, if we are to advance economically, and be in a position to meet our social welfare, military and interest obligations on $40+ trillion of federal debt, we need the economic growth that comes with those data centers.

This is the inconvenient truth that very few are willing to admit.

What Is The Chart Really Showing?

This is a chart I saw recently recently that was clearly attempting to make a point in comparing the deaths from the 9/11 attacks and deaths from Covid in April, 2020.

However, were those really deaths from Covid?

If they were, you would expect that deaths would have stayed at an elevated level for succeeding months as the virus infected more and more people.

However, deaths immediately came down and settled at just slightly elevated levels compared to recent history.

As I analyze it, what does the chart really show? 

It shows deaths in 2020 as a result of failed policies and practices.

Human errors.

Many people died in New York and New Jersey, not directly from the Covid virus, but by being put on a ventilator in those early days of the pandemic.

You may recall the mad rush in late March and early April, 2020 to manufacture more ventilators.

It was then recognized that immediate intubation of Covid patients was causing more harm than good in most cases. Less invasive respiratory support protocols were utilized.

In the end, 200,000 ventilators were delivered to hospitals. Only 15,000 were ever deployed.

Second, many became infected and died due to decisions by public officials in those states to put Covid patients in nursing homes.

Fortunately, the errors in judgment were recognized and corrected.

They stopped putting every hospitalized patient on ventilators.

They stopped putting Covid patients in nursing homes.

However, few have been willing to come forward and admit the enormous number of deaths that were caused by human errors rather than by the virus. 

To err is human, especially when dealing with a novel virus.

However, the total refusal to admit mistakes and culpability in so many of the human errors that were made involving Covid policies and practices continues to be maddening to me.

The Economy Is Horrible?

I have written several times recently about the disconnect between Consumer Sentiment (never been worse) and the actual facts regarding the economy.

You can read my previous observations here (9/21) and here (5/25).

I don't think there has ever been a bigger disconnect between perceptions, emotions and reality.

Further evidence of the disconnect was shown on the report on jobless claims released yesterday.

Initial jobless claims are the lowest they have been since 1968!

Source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2026/09/17/jobless-claims-sept-12/

For context, the average weekly jobless claim number since 1968 is 359,120.

The current number is approaching half of that average.

What should be done about this?

I guess the prevailing answer is to punish Trump and give Democrats majority control of Congress.

Yeah, that will make things a lot better.