Core inflation has a long way to go before it's like it was in the Trump era.
Meanwhile the little people continue to pay, and pay, and pay.
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Another Fed interest rate pause and dashed hopes for a March rate cut, so the greedy money men throw a little temper tantrum
Obama affirmative action hire admits she's not up to the task of serving on the Supreme Court
“Cases are bigger. They’re more demanding. The number of amici are greater, and you know that our emergency calendar is so much more active. I’m tired,” she said, per Bloomberg Law.
In Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll in Pennsylvania, it's still the economy, stupid: More important to women voters than abortion by 29 points, the cost of everyday goods being the most important economic factor
The women shop. The women remember.
The massive poll results for seven swing states is available here.
The women think Trump is the one to fix it, by 11 points.
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Norway, Europe's most anti-semitic country, is also its most fascist economy, centered in dem ebil fossil fuels lol
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, was established in the 1990s to invest the surplus revenues of the country’s oil and gas sector. To date, the fund has put money in more than 8,500 companies in 70 countries around the world.
More.
The slide into the surveillance state picks up the pace as TSA to expand facial recognition scanners from 30 to over 400 US airports
TSA Expands Facial Recognition Scanners to 400+ Airports...
“The CAT-2 units are currently deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide, and will expand to more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years,” the TSA official said, noting that it is currently optional for travelers to participate in facial recognition screenings. Those that decline to do so can notify a TSA agent and go through the standard ID verification process instead. ... During a discussion at the South by Southwest festival in March 2023, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said “eventually we will get to the point where we will require biometrics across the board because it is much more effective and much more efficient.”
Currently optional, eventually required.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Just absolute shit journalism from The Wall Street Journal, by Egyptian American Nancy A. Youssef: "the Oct. 7 start of Israel's war in Gaza"
Administration officials have asked Beijing to convey messages to Iran about avoiding a broader conflict in the region, since the Oct. 7 start of Israel’s war in Gaza.
More.
What happened on October 7th, Nancy?
Israel did not start this war.
Biden administration half-measures fail to prevent another ship damaged by Houthi ballistic missile fire in the Gulf of Aden
Chemical tanker M/V Marlin Luanda called a Mayday after the Houthi ballistic missile attack set it on fire. Coalition forces including France and India responded and the fire was eventually extinguished, but not before the crew temporarily had to abandon the ship.
Anarcho-tyrant Joe Biden should be impeached for flooding the country with millions of illegal aliens under his unprecedented false promise of asylum
Under Biden, millions of migrants — in a move that has no precedent in
recent history — have been released into the country under a haphazard
presumption of asylum eligibility and led down a hazy legal pathway. Others have been admitted under different programs that lack any clear or permanent path to citizenship. Dealing with the legal fallout from the Biden administration’s decision
to release millions of migrants into the country will be the real
challenge. ...
The most recent statistics available are from November, when the immigration court backlog reached a record-breaking 3 million pending cases, up from 2 million cases a year earlier. Some migrants may have to wait a decade for a court date. Although the Biden administration has hired more judges over the past three years, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse reports that “more judges and higher case closures per judge have still not been able to keep pace with the flow of incoming cases.”
The result is a self-perpetuating disaster.More from The Boston Globe.
Under anarcho-tyranny, government fails to enforce the laws and perform the functions it has a legitimate duty to enforce and perform, while it invents laws and functions it has no legitimate duty or valid reason to make or carry out. ... While one characteristic of anarcho-tyranny is its propensity to criminalize and punish the innocent and the law-abiding while refusing to punish the criminals, another is its refusal to enforce the laws it has already enacted and to enact more laws that have no effect on real crime and that further criminalize the innocent or restrict their rights. ... Under anarcho-tyranny, the state creates a problem (which sometimes actually has some connection to reality), declares an emergency or crisis—the drug war, drug emergency areas, the carjacking crisis, Islamic fundamentalism—and then exploits that problem as an instrument by which it continues to enhance its power, though neither the fake problem it exploits nor the real problem that exists is affected.
More from Sam Francis.
Friday, January 26, 2024
Core pce inflation is out and shows itself running ahead of the 10-year US Treasury yield for four consecutive years 2020-2023, which is unprecedented
Jerome Powell is the biggest phony inflation fighter the country has ever seen.
He was appointed by Trump! So much winning!
Core pce inflation previously exceeded the ten year yield in 1974-75 and in 2012 (barely).
The Fed's primary inflation-fighting tool has been the Federal Funds Rate, but it let inflation run wildly out of control before even lifting a finger to stop it in March 2022 when the Fed finally acted and started raising the rate.
It is a shameful episode which has benefited businesses which hiked prices higher than inflation to goose profits, and the federal government which desperately needed to devalue its mounting debts, all at the expense of the average American.
The lack of outrage over this is a study in the depth of American servitude. Slavery didn't end in 1865 for African Americans. It became the common lot of us all.
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Ann Coulter: Ron DeSantis was filled with hubris from 2022 and misread the room, thinking the whole country was his Florida oyster
His 20-point victory in 2022, when Republicans were wiped out in the rest of the country, made DeSantis disinclined to consider the advice of people who were just trying to help him. ... DeSantis was running as if the entire voting population consisted of people with kids under the age of 18. In fact, that’s only about 20% of voters.
More.
I said as much last July, noting that 70% of Americans think having illegitimate children is morally acceptable.
The country is literally demoralized, which explains why it has the leadership it has, except in places like Florida, at least through 2026.
Florida is one of twenty-five states where governors are term-limited.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
New Hampshire primary exit polling on the illegal alien invasion shows Nikki Haley's vote came overwhelmingly from Democrat voters
New Hampshire primary exit polling shows Nikki Haley's vote is overwhelmingly in the bag for the new crazy asylum gimmick for illegal aliens flooding the border under Biden, which means her voters were mostly from Democrats.
. . . two-thirds of Haley voters said that undocumented immigrants should be given the chance to apply for legal status.
More.
The gimcrack redefinition of the asylum system under Joe Biden is simply the latest Democrat m/o at work about everything: Find a work-around around the law when you don't have the votes to change the law.
That explains the National Popular Vote Compact, Obamacare, student loan bailouts, et cetera. Redefining millions of illegal aliens as asylum seekers is simply the latest example.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
New Susquehanna poll shows Biden +8 in Pennsylvania, Republicans who missed Quinnipiac poll on 1/8 already showing Biden +3 there think this is new
Polls didn't just suddenly turn in PA.
The Susquehanna poll shows Trump underperforming with Republicans at 77%.
That is probably because of senior citizens.
Previously Quinnipiac showed PA senior citizens overwhelmingly supporting Biden 60-37, and Trump with his lowest favorable rating among seniors, at 33%.
They probably had friends who died of COVID and blame Trump.
As stock indexes make new all time highs, it's still a 7% world, not a 16% world
The current $SPX world, from Aug 2000 (market peak) to Dec 2023, dividends reinvested, average per annum return: 7.019% nominal.
The previous world of similar length, Apr 1977 to Aug 2000: 16.246% nominal.
Remember that no one even dates the bull market conditions of the past starting from 1977. The Reagan bull began in the summer of 1982. But even from 1977, it was a completely different, better world for investors.
The rate of nominal return per annum was 2.31 times better in that world.
Investing $100 per month in the previous world produced over $258k. Investing $100 per month in the current world has produced only $103k.
The following Vanguard mutual funds have inception dates in the year 2000. They reflect the same reality.
I show nominal average annual return since inception for each fund in 2000 through 12/31/23, per Vanguard.
Performance in red beats average SPX nominal 7.019% since 2000, but none by much. Remember that through 12/31/23 stocks generally were only recently buoyed by exceptional returns, after a down year last year. $VTSAX, the total stock market index, was up a whopping 26.01% in 2023.
VIGAX 8.21 Growth Index
VFIAX 7.62 500 Index
VTSAX 7.90 Total Stock Market Index
VEXAX 8.22 Extended Market Index
VSGIX 8.93 Small Cap Growth Index Inst.
VESIX 4.47 European Stock Index Inst.
VSMAX 9.01 Small Cap Index
VBAIX 6.70 Balanced Index Inst.
VBIAX 6.57 Balanced Index
VPKIX 3.40 Pacific Stock Index Inst.
VVIAX 7.18 Value Index
VEMIX 6.37 Emerging Markets Stock Index Inst.
VIPSX 4.49 Inflation Protected Securities
These are but a shadow of the former things which obtained in the previous world.
Monday, January 22, 2024
Sunday, January 21, 2024
DeSantis Over Before It Started is the truest headline Drudge has posted in a long time
DeSantis should never have run this cycle in the first place, but once in, you gotta be in it! This withdrawal after one lousy contest is just pathetic. Not being prepared to run through Super Tuesday March 5th is the sign of an unserious candidacy.
But the worst part is DeSantis quits quoting Churchill about having the courage to continue is what counts. DeSantis is not continuing, hello. Doesn't he realize he's implying he has no courage?
This is just awful.
This guy is finished, for good.
He didn't have the wisdom to refrain from running in this election cycle, and he didn't have the courage to continue beyond Iowa
He's done, along with the country.
Volodymyr Zelensky is still fighting, however.
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Mediate's Jan 6 for dummies: When Pence ignored Trump’s plea, a mob stormed the Capitol lol
Here.
Yeah, if only Mike Pence had been at the center of this universe.
Pence issued his statement disavowing any unilateral authority over electoral votes just as he began to preside over the Joint Session of Congress, at about 1:02pm. He couldn't have cut it any closer, holding his cards close to his chest until the very last second. He had still been working on this letter at 9:00am.
A large mob had already gathered around the Capitol by 11:00am, with bad intent, and eventually succeeded in pushing back the Capitol police to the Capitol steps before the time Pence even began to perform his duties inside, at about 12:53pm, or issue his statement.
It took these rioters more than another hour to breach the Capitol, which subsequently brought proceedings in the Senate to a halt at 2:13pm, and in the House at 2:29pm.
Trump didn't finish speaking at the Ellipse 1.6 miles away until 1:10pm., a 30-minute walk from the Capitol, just after which the Joint Session had split up to debate separately the Arizona slate of electors.
Meanwhile Trump, Michael Moore's human Molotov Cocktail, was already having lunch by 1:25pm, enjoying the mayhem.
Friday, January 19, 2024
Ugly Americans: Romney doesn't care that American civil juries have become a circus of vindictive retribution and obscene excess
Romney Rips Voters Who Don't Care Jury Found He Raped Woman...
JURY: TRUMP SEXUALLY ABUSED, DEFAMED CARROLL MUST PAY $5M IN DAMAGES
Jury awards De Niro ex-assistant $1.2M for sexist workplace discrimination...
Jury Finds Realtors Conspired to Keep Commissions High... Awards $1.78 billion damages...
She accused her ex of revenge porn. Jury awarded her $1.2 BILLION!
Idaho jury hits Ammon Bundy with tens of millions in damages in defamation suit...
JURY: ALEX JONES DAMAGES $1 BILLION...
Fox to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle election defamation lawsuit
Cop told to 'tone down your gayness' awarded $20 million...
Actor Geoffrey Rush Awarded $1.9 Million in #MeToo Defamation Case...
Hotel dishwasher awarded $21 million after boss made her work on Sundays...
University of Virginia Dean Awarded $3M in ROLLING STONE Defamation Case...
Sportscaster Erin Andrews Awarded $55M Over Secret Recording...
Man awarded $10m for SEGWAY accident while blindfolded...
Burglar's family awarded $300,000 in wrongful death suit...
Man Awarded $650K for Eye Injury Sustained During Lap Dance...
$240,000 awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt...
Peter Navarro chose allegiance to the separate and equal power of the Executive, of which he was a part and which the Legislative transgressed in a political witchhunt
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department wants former Trump White House
adviser Peter Navarro to spend six months behind bars after being convicted of criminal contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena. ...
“The Defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote in Thursday’s sentencing memo.
More.
Joe Biden buys 73k more votes, now totaling over 3.7 million
The Biden administration has now canceled more than $136 billion in student debt for over 3.7 million Americans, according to the White House.
More.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Third continuing resolution since September passes Congress to fund federal government into March
WASHINGTON — Congress passed a bill on Thursday that would prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend and keep federal funds flowing through March 1 and March 8.
The Democratic-led Senate voted 77-18 on final passage after considering a few amendments. The Republican-led House soon followed suit, passing it by a vote of 314-108.
The bill now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law before the funding expires Friday at midnight.
It is the third stopgap bill since last September as the divided Congress struggles to agree on full-year government funding bills. ...
The first stopgap bill led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker. His successor, Johnson, is seeking to avoid the same fate by selling the conservative victories in the latest deal.
More.
Peter Thiel is so mistaken about homeownership in his interview with John Gray
Peter Thiel says "To unshackle ourselves economically, one should start by attacking the extraordinarily distorted real estate market", but never once mentions how the prime culprits of the distortion were and are all Federal.
These were the commoditization of housing by the so-called Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 under Clinton and Gingrich, followed by Federal Reserve interest rate suppression under Obama after the collapse of the ensuing housing bubble it caused, re-inflating that bubble.
To Thiel "interest rates went steadily down", as if by the influence of some mysterious force. What could it be? He is not i n t e r e s t e d.
Nor does he mention a third Federal culprit, how the demand side for housing was and is distorted by 15% of the population swelling with foreign born in the UK and the US as a direct result of legally admitting millions of immigrants since 1990 in the US and since 1994 in the UK.
These are the legacies of the Bushes, Bill Clinton, John Major, and Tony Blair, now augmented by deliberate non-enforcement of the border in America by the likes of Obama and Biden, turbo-charging the demand side for housing, and prices with it, by flooding the country with illegal aliens.
Thiel observes that culturally "We became too risk-averse, too bureaucratic, too reliant on peer review in the sciences" somehow, but doesn't connect this to the aging demographics, even though he is aware of it. Not re-inflating the prices of homes of Baby Boomers would have been political suicide. He fancies this is now "over", but misses that the heirs of all this property are voters too.
This is not over.
Thiel is essentially a radical, as was Ronald Reagan and also Margaret Thatcher. He
completely misses how the libertarian impulse to deregulate under
Reagan and Thatcher led in a straight line to the housing catastrophe we all live with these
many years later. His libertarianism is myopic.
John Gray: "The difference is that this Truss wing of the Conservative Party wants to go back to Thatcher because they see that as a radical moment and they want to repeat the radical moments. But radical moments are very hard to keep repeating."
Peter Thiel: "They’re hard to repeat by doing the same thing. It was a one-time move to deregulate and lower taxes and then it’s not clear that doing it the second time does much good. ... The Reagan and Thatcher administrations ... allowed more companies to be acquired, more M&A activity to happen. It was a somewhat brutal but very powerful reorganization of society that was possible and in fact the right thing to do in the 1980s."
Incessant headlines about deep American discontent tell us we don't particularly like this now reorganized society. The new world order means your kid is saddled with horrible college debt, can't find a decent job, has to live at home with you, can't buy a house, can't get married, can't have children.
But Thiel is still dreaming the pipe dream of "exponential growth" to solve these problems. He hopes technology will come to the rescue in the form of remote work:
"Is there some way to reopen a frontier in real estate? The possibility where I think the jury is very out, though it doesn’t look that promising in 2023, would be remote work. Could the internet be a way that people are not stuck in these cities? And that would reset all these real estate values tremendously because even in a rather densely populated country like England, there is plenty of space if you’re not forced to be within the green belt of London itself. And in the United States even more so."
The interview is here.
Pakistan retaliates against Iran with military aircraft, attacks elements of the Balochistan Liberation Front just across the border, kills several
Pakistan Foreign Ministry:
“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran".
More.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Long after Red Sea attacks began, ridiculous Biden administration appeasers finally re-adopt Trump designation of Houthis as terrorists which they had revoked in February 2021
The U.S. State Department on Wednesday designated the Iranian-backed, Yemen-based Houthi rebels as specially designated global terrorists, or SDGTs, in an effort to deter further attacks against commercial ships crossing the Red Sea. ...
The State Department under President Joe Biden revoked the Houthis’ designation as a foreign terrorist organization, or FTO, in Feb. 2021, just a month after it issued the label under former President Donald Trump.
The reversal came in response to calls from the United Nations and humanitarian groups who said that the terrorist classification and its associated sanctions were “accelerating Yemen’s slide into large-scale famine.”
Three years later, after months of Red Sea attacks, the Houthis have regained their spot on a U.S. terrorist list.
More.
Iranian ballistic missile attacks on Erbil, Iraq and Balochistan Province in Pakistan, a nuclear power, show the Biden administration's policy of appeasement is an abject failure
Biden's weakness has emboldened Iran, which is betting that the superpower which cut and run in Afghanistan has no stomach to stop the aggression of the religious dictatorship in Tehran.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Within 24 hours, Iran launched missile
and drone strikes on targets in three countries — Iraq, Syria and
Pakistan — and took the extraordinary step of announcing its
responsibility for the attacks, triggering anger from its neighbors. ... Baghdad recalled its ambassador to Iran after the Monday night attack ...
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that it “strongly condemns the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran” which it said killed two children and injured three more. It added that “it is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran.”
More.
Pakistan is believed to possess over 100 operational nuclear warheads which can be delivered from a number of different platforms.
Would Iran attack Pakistan like this without having the same capability, or are they just fools?
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
35 people who didn't get the memo braved -18F to vote for Chris Crispy Creme yesterday in Iowa, even though he had already dropped out
The 108k who turned out under those conditions are a legitimate index of the proportional enthusiasm which exists.
Vivek got fewer than 9k votes and promptly, and properly, dropped out.
Change my mind.
Can you imagine working for Drudge and lifting this particular typo verbatim and reproducing it for a headline?
C'mon man.
That guy's brain emits artic temperatures.
Oh for Pete's sake, the low temperature in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Feb 1, 2016 was +28F
Only 14.4% of registered Republicans participated...
. . . in 2016, some 187,000 people cast ballots, a record high equating to 29% of registered Republicans.
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