Back in 1993, he opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), arguing it would accelerate the loss of American manufacturing jobs and drive down wages by incentivizing companies to move operations to Mexico.

Then, in 2000, he stood firmly against Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China, arguing again that it would simply allow corporations to offshore factories to low-wage nations and result in an epidemic of factory closures domestically.

Starting about a decade later, he fought against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), citing the benefit to multinational corporations at the expense of the American worker.

And when Trump 1.0 tore up NAFTA and drafted the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), he opposed the new deal as well, stating it was a continuation of failed policies.

In his words, a major reason for the decline of the American middle class and the increase in wealth and income inequality in the United States is our trade policies.

On another occasion, he wrote, Let’s be clear: one of the major reasons that the middle class in America is disappearing, poverty is increasing, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider is due to our disastrous unfettered free trade policy…we must rebuild our manufacturing sector and, once again, manufacture products that are made in the United States of America.

That was in 2011.

The man is a classic progressive, the East Coast dripping from every word he says.

He’s pro-tariff, in a targeted way, provided Congressional approval is part of the picture.

Some call him a tree-hugging socialist.

He prefers to be called Bernie Sanders.

Back in 2016 and 2020, he and Trump both campaigned against free trade agreements.

Are they crazy?

Or are they onto something?

The post The Other Guy Who Hates Free Trade Agreements appeared first on ComposeMD.

It’s a moratorium barring state approvals of hyperscale data centers (those using 50 megawatts or more of power) for up to one year.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that Downstate New York, once again, has found the rope, the one it uses to suffocate its Upstate cousins.

Let’s rewind the clock.

It’s 2008, and everyone is talking about hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking, the process by which underground rock layers are blasted with a high-pressure mix of water, sand, and chemicals to release trapped oil and natural gas.

The economically depressed Southern Tier of New York, along the Pennsylvania border, is rich in such shale (rock) formations.

Localities there debate the pros and cons. When you’re in the middle of nowhere, economics and the environment are not abstractions—they’re about survival.

Eventually, in 2014, those conversations are silenced by a statewide fracking ban, something pushed heavily by a primary challenger to Governor Andrew Cuomo, leaving him with little political choice. That challenger, needless to say, is from New York City.

Meanwhile, nearby Pennsylvania and Ohio continue to cash in.

Fast forward to 2011, when ridesharing services begin in New York City. Existing commercial licensing infrastructure in the city allows this to proceed, while New York State law prohibits the use of personal vehicles in this capacity.

That means that Upstate New York has to wait six more years for Uber and Lyft. In fact, New York State is the last state in the continental US to allow ridesharing.

And that gets us to these hyperscale data centers, used to support cloud computing and, of course, AI.

By definition, they use a massive amount of power, potentially driving up electricity costs for those in the vicinity.

They also require millions of gallons of fresh water for cooling, make a lot of noise, and result in a relatively modest number of permanent jobs.

Finally, they are the backbone of an industry that sells itself as Brahma but might actually be Shiva, at least from a societal employment standpoint.

All this, and the powers that be often seek tax breaks to boot.

In other words, the plot is worthy of rigorous debate—just not at the state level.

The author of the legislation that resulted in a parallel executive order (courtesy Governor Kathy Hochul) is State Senator Kristen Gonzalez from, yes, New York City—Brooklyn to be exact. Brooklyn, at last check, is nowhere near the proposed facilities.

Then there’s Niagara County, home to its namesake waterfall that provides hydroelectric power, lying in a cool climate near two Great Lakes (i.e. fresh water that can be used for further cooling), and the site of abundant industrial infrastructure based on a manufacturing past.

The city of Niagara Falls (NY) is an eyesore, the victim of a loss of geographic relevance—that is, until now.

But, alas, New York City, located seven hours away, always knows what’s best.

And big tech, when confronted with a data center ban, knows something too—where to find the other seven Great Lakes states.

The post How New York’s Data Center Ban Kills Upstate (Again) appeared first on ComposeMD.

I know what it’s like to be misunderstood.

I am from the Rust Belt, after all.

But you—I get the sense that you don’t even know who you are.

It started in 1796, when you joined the Union, as in became a state.

Your eventual capital, Nashville, was even named after a Revolutionary War hero.

But then, in 1861, you pulled a South Carolina and left to join the wannabe country with the copycat flag. You were confused, as East Tennessee wanted no part of secession.

Of course, like a little sh*t, you came crawling back.

And ever since then, say 1865, you’ve stayed confused as hell.

You and Nathan Bedford Forrest gave us the Ku Klux Klan.

You also gave us some of the best HBCUs the country has known.

Like most US states, you treated women like second-class citizens.

By being the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, you also gave women the right to vote.

You prosecuted John Scopes for teaching evolution.

Then you did God’s work at Oak Ridge by helping make the first atomic bomb.

You’ve provided a safe haven for climate skeptics.

You’re also a leader in nuclear and hydroelectric power.

You became the home of the lefty Al Gore, whose wife, Tipper, tried to stifle artists and their lyrics.

You’re also the home of the right-wing nut job Marsha Blackburn, who has made a career of supporting artists.

It’s safe to say you’re into the Bible—I have firsthand knowledge.

You’ve also opened your arms to the largest Kurdish community in North America—it prefers the Quran.

Nashville has gone from a shade of blue to really damn blue.

It presides over a state that has gone from a battleground to really damn red.

You have no state income tax.

But you’re obsessed with consumption tax.

You love your hot chicken.

And you apparently like chicken vindaloo as well.

But despite it all, Tennessee, you are still a state that preserves the past.

Just ask your transplants who work at Oracle and Amazon.

Sincerely,

Khan Trae Dick Shin

The post Dear Tennessee: Who Are You Anyway? appeared first on ComposeMD.

I learned this the hard way, as I involuntarily lost my summer to Marvel.

I suppose the story should begin in May, when the son returned from college after negotiating his first year.

Things only intensified the next month, when the daughter joined the ranks of the summer vacationers.

The lunches—that I could handle.

The rides—I could even deal with that.

What did me in, however, was the loss of cultural control.

There was an era, I’m assuming, when senior generations could force feed the junior ones, ensuring the persistence of misogyny, racism, and other societal ills that old people (and scary young ones) enjoy promoting.

But the tables have turned, and now I’m apparently the one being force fed.

It began with mentions of an arachnid, somehow crossed with homo sapiens.

Then came references to a patriotic military hero, another dude dressed in metal, and some green guy.

Even I had to Marvel—at the comics, that is.

Because one simple film adaptation—Spider-Man: Brand New Day—had opened the flood gates, and over the next two weeks, I found myself submerged in additional films, all courtesy the progeny.

With no choice but to manufacture inspiration, I harnessed my own superpower, the one that has birthed this blog, skimmed occasionally by influential people like the wife and mother.

That superpower, of course, is finding the Rochester connection, which in the age of AI involves a couple clicks and a couple milliseconds.

Let’s rewind to 1939, when Marvel Comics began under the name Timely Publications.

Two years later, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America. Simon, of course, was a Rochester (NY) native.

Fast forward to 1962, the year of Spider-Man’s first comic book appearance. A certain Iron Man showed up in the same year.

In 1983, Robert Downey Jr. made his professional stage acting debut at Geva Theatre Center—in Rochester. A quarter century later, he became Iron Man.

Five years after that, in 2013, scenes from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were filmed in Rochester. If you watch carefully, you’ll recognize Main Street masquerading as New York City.

Finally, we get to the Avengers, whose Compound is somewhere in Upstate New York (not Rochester, but who’s counting at this point?).

Satisfied, I realized that thanks to my fellow Rochesterians, the youngsters were still learning a thing or two from their predecessors.

But deep down, I still hoped the next Rochester connection would happen at school.

The post There’s Always a Rochester Connection! appeared first on ComposeMD.

But listen closely enough, and it’s there, simmering, always.

You’ve heard the terms.

Has-been.

Passé.

Decline.

But could it be that this truth is actually a Trump truth, aka a lie?

Let’s scroll through some numbers, starting with eight, as in the number of US states that border the Great Lakes.

For the sake of argument, we’ll agree that the long downward slide, otherwise known as the biggest lie about the Great Lakes, began in 1950.

Since that time, in alphabetical order, the eight Great Lakes states have added the following:

Illinois: 4.1 million

Indiana: 2.8 million

Michigan: 3.7 million

Minnesota: 2.8 million

New York: 5.4 million

Ohio: 3.8 million

Pennsylvania: 2.5 million

Wisconsin: 2.4 million

Those millions refer to human beings, totaling 27.5 million and leaving five of the states in the top 10 by population and all eight in the top 22.

But you’re a private equity bro—all you care about is money.

Remember, I’m just an artist turned blogger, but I believe that nominal GDP can provide some insight in this regard.

Illinois: 5

Indiana: 19

Michigan: 14

Minnesota: 20

New York: 3

Ohio: 7

Pennsylvania: 6

Wisconsin: 21

Those numbers, from 2025, reflect each state’s ranking on a list of US states by nominal GDP.

In other words, if this is what decline looks like, where does that leave the other states?

The post The Biggest Lie About the Great Lakes appeared first on ComposeMD.

The wisp of water that connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie and separates Detroit, Michigan, from Windsor, Ontario, has been an incubator of human emotion.

Hope and elation gave way to desperation and despair, which in turn birthed nostalgia and acceptance.

But these days, along that river, if you listen closely enough, you just might hear whispers of optimism again.

It starts with the subtle, like when a graph of population estimates has a positive slope.

Then comes the more obvious, like new housing.

Finally comes the blatant—say a $4.7-billion, 1.5-mile, cable-stayed bridge over the Detroit River, a much-needed complement to the almost-100-year-old Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

The new structure, officially opened on July 27, 2026, is called the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a shout out to the legendary Canadian hockey player who spent most of his career playing for the Detroit Red Wings.

In true collaborative fashion—the type that would be expected among fast friends—ownership is shared by the Canadian government and the state of Michigan.

Fully funded by the Canadians, the plan has been for them to recoup the costs through toll revenue. Once that goal is met, toll revenues will thereafter be split between Canada and Michigan.

Six lanes of traffic, a dedicated multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists, a marker of friendship, and a symbol of economic vitality—for a Rust Belt obsessive, it’s the stuff dreams are made of.

And then there’s Donald Trump.

The man who is unable to find meaning in life in the absence of conflict opted to manufacture some.

Trump’s buddy and donor, Matthew Moroun, happens to own the Ambassador Bridge and was opposed to the construction of a competitor.

In early 2026, shortly after Moroun donated $1 million to a Trump-aligned PAC, the President threatened to block the opening of the bridge.

And then, he started negotiating, aka extorting.

Claiming the aforementioned deal was somehow unfair, Trump coerced the Canadians into a parallel deal, one that gives an economic development fund controlled by the US government half the bridge’s net revenue for the first 15 years. (Whether Moroun will benefit from this fund is purely speculative.)

Just for kicks, a week before the bridge was to open, Trump announced 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods. In response, the Canadians disinvited Americans from a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Of course, the argument could be made that this is the dream, the kind where The Godfather is more than mere art.

Let’s just hope that with tolls involved, no one goes the way of Sonny Corleone.

The post How the Detroit River Answered/Shattered My Dreams appeared first on ComposeMD.

On July 26, 2026, relentless Cyber-wandering landed me on a headline: “Colorado River reservoirs hit record lows as Trump administration threatens major cuts.”

I feigned shock—could rapid population growth in a desert have consequences?

Seven states—Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Arizona—depend on the 1,450-mile-long river and its famed reservoirs (Lake Powell and Lake Mead) to quench their thirst.

One—Arizona—deserves special attention.

Located at the end of the line before the river dives into Mexico and empties into the Gulf of California, the state has concocted the following formula:

Keep taxes low.

This will ensure low per-pupil spending, low teacher salaries, and dated facilities.

The result will be the worst public school system in the country.

Allow high-tax states like New York—home to the best public school system in the country—to educate the next generation.

Meanwhile, use the low taxes to steal businesses from other states.

Then, go ahead and steal the young residents that other states paid to educate in order to fill those jobs.

While you’re at it, take some retirees as well so they can spend their life savings in your state as opposed to the ones where they made a living.

All of the above will equal Phoenix, the tenth-largest metro area in the country, home to 500% population growth over the past 50 years and 5.2 million residents—in a desert.

To make the place look nice, build a ton of golf courses and use the Colorado River to water them.

The last step, of course, is to complain that there’s not enough water.

As a final option, consider asking the states from which you stole businesses and residents if you can use their water.*

—

*The Great Lakes Compact, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008, is an agreement between the eight Great Lakes states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), coordinated with two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec), that with very rare exceptions bans the diversion of Great Lakes water outside its natural basin. And, on that note, I’ll have another glass.

The post Why the Colorado River Can Kiss My… appeared first on ComposeMD.

And you know Rochester, NY—that rusty town with a once-famous company that declared bankruptcy.

There’s a connection, and it goes beyond ruins.

Let’s back up.

Christopher Nolan, I’ve been told, is the man. Born in London—as in the UK—in 1970, the dude has turned himself into one of the highest-grossing film directors of all time.

Trust me—you know his stuff. In the mix are The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer.

And in 2026, added to that collection was The Odyssey, a film adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, the one you supposedly read in high school while studying the ancient Greeks.

The gist of it is that Odysseus, using the Trojan Horse, has just helped capture Troy, and now it’s time to go home. That brief jaunt, however, turns into ten years, rife with mythical monsters, deadly temptations, and so on.

Eventually…well, you’ll just have to read/watch to find out.

Rochester, NY, I’ve been told, is not the man. Incorporated as a city in 1834, the burg once showed immense promise.

Trust me—you know its stuff. In the mix were Xerox, Bausch + Lomb, French’s, Ragu, Western Union, Champion, and even a subway system.

But its best-known product remains Kodak, which, as mentioned, declared bankruptcy in 2012 and is now used by Harvard Business School as an example of what not to do.

Of course, random people have self-published books about how things in Rochester are nowhere near as dire as advertised, but readership has mirrored Kodak’s stock price, just without the rise before the fall.

The question, of course, is why Rochester can’t be innovative like Nolan.

The genius, after all, shot The Odyssey entirely on 70 mm IMAX cameras, something that has never been done before.

If only Kodak could have provided the more than two million feet of 65 mm film used to make that happen.*

Or, at the very least, the floundering company could have provided the print film—35 mm, 70 mm five-perforation, and 70 mm IMAX—shown in theaters.**

Then, perhaps, the stories told about us, like the film format itself, would be more three-dimensional.

—

*It did.

**It did.

The post How The Odyssey Saved Rochester, NY appeared first on ComposeMD.

(Or, if you’re reading this after July 19, 2026, I hope you didn’t succumb to the false advertising.)

Does 60 percent mean anything to you?

This story begins in the 1800s, when the Argentine government actively sought immigrants to populate the country and utilize the abundant agricultural land.

An obvious supply was found in Italy.

Fast forward to the next century, and the wave continued, this time also filling industrial jobs in cities like Buenos Aires.

After WWII, as Europe struggled to regain its footing, a final surge occurred, officially giving the South American country a healthy dose of Italians.

How healthy?

In modern times, as alluded to above, over 60 percent of all Argentines have Italian ancestry.

The marriage, it could be said, has been a happy one.

It has never been a struggle for Italians to learn the closely related Spanish. Along the way, the Spanish spoken in Argentina has been “Italianized”, both in terms of pronunciation and loanwords.

Religion, as you might imagine, has blended just fine, as Roman Catholics tend to have few issues with Roman Catholics.

And the food—has anyone ever complained about pizza, pasta, gelato, and Fernet?

Spain—as in the country that funded Christopher Columbus—of course knows a thing or two about Italy.

And the Spanish know that on the soccer pitch, their Mediterranean neighbor can be found disguised in sky blue and white.

The post Why Spain Is Actually Playing Italy appeared first on ComposeMD.