The Economist: One official says Musk contacted the White House only after imposing the restrictions on Ukraine's Starlink

The America-Ukraine link grows even spottier:  The Starlink cut-offs were a test, and worse may follow

After SpaceX restores high-speed service, Musk claims Ukraine violated Starlink agreement

 

Who will be next week's White House press secretary?

 This week's is already done.

 Katie Zacharia out as Trump’s White House press secretary

... Zacharia lasted one-half of one Scaramucci. ... 

 

 

Hurrah for Mark Krikorian, who finally calls attention to the single most effective way to get rid of illegal aliens: systematic nationwide worksite enforcement

Two years too late, Mark.

He puts the illegal alien population in America still at 13.5 million in July.

Here:

... One area where ICE’s deportation efforts have fallen short is at the worksite. Jobs are the primary magnet that draws people to immigrate illegally. And while it’s been illegal since 1986 to employ illegal aliens, there’s never been much enforcement.

While the Trump administration’s immigration policies have in so many respects been a refreshing break from the past, in this area they are not. While there has been more job-related enforcement than under Biden, that’s not saying much.

If the White House’s concern (and the lack of worksite enforcement is a White House decision) is to avoid sensational news footage of illegals scattering during a raid by La Migra, there’s an obvious solution. The worksite is the ideal site for what I call “briefcase enforcement” instead of “body-armor enforcement.” Raids by armed ICE agents will always need to be an option, but less sensational—and perhaps more effective -- would be ICE audits of the payroll records of suspect employers, accompanied by colleagues from the Labor Department and IRS and state agencies. This won’t work as a one-off, but if suspect employers across all regions and industries knew that hiring illegals would result in, at the very least, a paperwork colonoscopy, followed by a notice to fire the illegal workers (if they hadn’t already run off), there’d be a lot more interest in complying with the law. The possibility of fines or criminal prosecution would be an even greater incentive for employers to clean up their payrolls, though current law makes that difficult.

Worksite enforcement would also be an important spur for self-deportation. If you’re an ordinary, non-violent illegal alien and all you hear about is the “worst of the worst” getting deported, you might figure it’s worth keeping your head down and taking a chance that you won’t get caught.

But systematic nationwide worksite enforcement would change that calculation. The likelihood of arrest by ICE would go up, and even more likely would be that your newly vigilant employer would be shocked, shocked to discover that you’re illegal and regretfully have to let you go.

Once jobs in the formal labor market, where most illegals are employed, dry up, the incentives to give up and go home increase significantly. ...

NBC News: Labor share of business income falls to historic lows as corporate profits explode

American workers are getting the smallest slice of the pie on record

 

Rob Wile

 

Since 2000, the value of the S&P 500 stock index has gained about 600%. Over the same period, inflation-adjusted worker earnings have climbed just 12.5%. 

 

It is now the least rewarding time to be a worker in the U.S. economy since the government started keeping track.

The share of economic growth captured by labor in the form of compensation like wages fell to a record low last quarter, hitting 52.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which began recording the statistic in 1947.

In other words, even as the economy continues to grow, worker pay comprises an ever smaller slice of the pie.

The data comes as stock prices continue to hover near all-time highs, while wage growth is barely keeping up with inflation.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that wage growth slowed to its lowest rate in five years in August and remains below the broader pace of price growth.

It’s the latest data point reflecting a decades-long stagnation in returns to labor, while corporate profits have exploded.

Since approximately the start of this century, the S&P 500 stock index has gained about 600%. Over the same period, inflation-adjusted worker earnings have climbed just 12.5%.

Wages vs. inflation

Since April, the prices consumers pay are rising faster than wages.

As of April 2026, inflation has outpaced wages, spiking in May at 4.2% before falling to 3.3% in July. Wages have continued a downward trend since March 2025 when the annual change was 4.2%, falling to 3.1% in August 2026.

What’s driving it all?

Economists aren’t really certain about the exact cause, but a confluence of factors appears to be at work, according to Mike Konczal, vice president of policy and research at the Economic Security Project and a former White House chief economist in the Biden administration.

The start of the century coincided with what is known as the “China Shock,” as Beijing’s entry into the World Trade Organization massively accelerated globalization and offshoring.

The shock chipped away at the number of traditional blue-collar workers in the U.S., and it reduced the bargaining power of those who remained.

Meanwhile, technological advances have allowed the typical worker to generate larger volumes of more valuable services.

But those gains are being captured as company profits, not as wage growth.

The trend appeared to reverse, or at least stabilize, for a brief period during the post-pandemic economic reopening. But exactly why that happened is still not entirely clear.

The decline resumed after President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025.

Konczal said some economists believe corporations have sought to increase their profit margins at the expense of higher wages for workers in order compensate for the economic uncertainty that Trump’s tariff policies have created.

Regardless of the specific reasons behind the renewed drop in gains for labor, the decline has implications for all of society, Konczal said.

It stands to increase wealth inequality by putting more resources in the hands of capital owners — namely stock market investors — while the returns to workers stagnate.

It also has fiscal implications: Konczal said efforts to increase taxes on wealth or corporate profits have proved politically untenable so far, compared with the current arrangement of taxing earned income and wages instead.

“The economy can start to become unequal in a way that it’s not just the CEO who makes more, but people who own shares do, and that wealth is very, very unequal,” he said.

 

 

GAO said in 2022 the SPR was in very good condition, Trump's Energy Department came into office saying it wasn't, recent drawdowns only compound the problems in the 60 salt caverns

The damn thing will probably collapse before they're done.

Maybe instead of a ballroom next to the White House they can build some new tanks instead. 

SPR depletion raises questions about integrity of caverns that store oil

... The Government Accountability Office said in a May report that “repeated partial drawdowns followed by refill can leach a single part of a cavern repeatedly, leading to undesirable shapes.” 

The majority of the SPR’s caverns were found to be in “very good condition” after the 2022 drawdown, according to the GAO.

“However, every drawdown cycle expands cavern volume and reduces the spacing between caverns within the salt dome, which ultimately reduces their long-term viability,” it said.

To release oil from the SPR, water is pumped into the bottom of the caverns to displace the crude to the surface and pump it through wells into pipelines.

Seventy million barrels is the strict physical minimum needed at the top of the caverns to keep the extraction pipes safely submerged in oil rather than water, said Siddharth Misra, a petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M University.

But “the practical operational floor for the crude inventory is between 250 million and 300 million barrels,” Misra said in an email to CNBC. At current inventory levels, “cavern integrity and overall operational capability are at an elevated risk,” he said.

When the inventory drops below 300 million barrels, the SPR loses its ability to pump oil at rapid speeds to address emergencies, Misra said. The system’s pipes and pumps could also get damaged as the oil layer thins at the top and sludge rises toward the extraction intake at the cavern ceiling, he said.

Fresh water is often pumped into the caverns during rapid drawdowns which dissolves the salt walls, Misra said. This “creates flatter, less stable roof and severely thins the critical salt pillars that separate adjacent caverns, greatly increasing the geological risk of a structural cave-in,” he said.

The SPR was originally designed for five full drawdowns. Instead, it has executed dozens of large and small releases over the past 40 years, Misra said.

“Because the system was not designed for this many cycles, the repeated injection of water and extraction of oil have caused severe cavern deformation, accelerated the rate of massive salt falls from the ceilings, and significantly weakened the overall structural integrity of the aging reserve,” he said.

Energy Department officials told the GAO that they are “holding the SPR infrastructure together with ‘Band-Aids,’ and that it is uncertain how long they will hold.” More than a quarter of the SPR inventory was “not available for drawdown due to a combination of construction outages and cavern outages” as of December 2025, the GAO found. ...

Komrade Karoline resigns to be a proper mom, ends her tenure at the end of August

 Trump says Karoline Leavitt resigning as White House press secretary

Well, she did a great job flipping the one in the White House in November 2024

 Can't take that away from her!

 Pelosi: Flipping 30 Seats in Midterms Is My Goal, "I'll Take More"

John Thune tells the White House to get off its dead ass and make some phone calls

That's the spirit, John.

 Thune responds to Leavitt quip that Trump’s patience with him ‘running out’ over SAVE America Act 

...“Maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes. Right? It’s 50 around here,” Thune shot back when asked about Leavitt’s statement to reporters at a press briefing earlier Thursday.

“Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats,” the senator added, appearing somewhat irritated by the critical comment. “And if there are Republicans they think are gettable, get on the phone.”

...“As I’ve said before, you got to get to 50, and I can’t count to 50 right now on a budget resolution”...

Some people think it is significant that U.S. commercial stocks of crude oil increased a little bit week over week to 411.4 million barrels as of 7/3/2026

Well, I don't.

Whenever U.S. commercial companies buy oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve at auction, those barrels are subtracted from line three but are added to line two. 

It's more complicated than that because some oil might be stored temporarily, or refined into other products which means it shows up on other lines, or it gets exported and shows up there.

The point is sales from SPR distort the U.S. picture, IF those sales are purchased by U.S. commercial companies.

And for March through early July, U. S. commercial companies have purchased AT LEAST 52 million barrels from SPR.

That has distorted the true state of U.S. commercial stocks from week to week throughout the period. 

Meanwhile, speaking of distortions . . . where did they get the product for this?

White House touts launch of 25 Freedom Fuel gas stations

... “The FIRST Freedom Fuel Network gas station has LANDED in Philadelphia, lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th President,” the White House wrote on the social platform X on Tuesday. ... Twenty of the stations are located in Pennsylvania, while five are in New Jersey, according to the Freedom Fuel network’s website. A White House official told The Hill the Freedom Fuel Network is a private company and did not receive subsidies from the administration. ...

   

Now there's a unifying message for the Fourth of July from the White House Press Secretary

 

The Trump clown show now says the housing bill is so unimportant, you know, the bill he urged Congress to pass in a White House proclamation on June 12th lol

 

J. D. Vance wants you to believe white people got Reagan elected in 1984 but not Nixon in 1972, among other fantasies

In any case he's going with "we're more like Nixon than Reagan".

Alrighty then.

I think they'll be a LOT more like Nixon after November.

Watergate a Story of How the Deep State Took Down Nixon

VP Vance, Nixon Library

 

It's not a story, it's a statement of an opinion: "Watergate is a story ...".

 

Like the remark about whites, the Deep State remark is just another one-off Vance burbles more than he argues.

 

Some call this knowing how to get in the headlines, others call it dog-whistling.

 

But let's talk substance instead. 

 

The actual luminaries of the Deep State in 1974 turned out to be Richard Hofstadter's 1964 practitioner of the paranoid style himself, the father of the conservative movement, Senator Barry Goldwater, and a moderate Republican Senator, Howard Baker from Tennessee, Nixon's would-be protector.

 

Goldwater was the one who had to break it to Nixon on August 7, 1974 that once impeached by the House there were not 34 votes to acquit in the U.S. Senate, not even half that, and maybe not even his vote. He was 1974's John Thune of 2026, who doesn't have the votes for Trump's election interference bill.

 

Baker's June 1973 question, "What did the president know, and when did he know it?", asked 53 years ago tomorrow, unintentionally became the opportunity for White House Counsel John Dean to detail Nixon conversations which implicated Nixon in the cover-up of his aides' Baker-styled "rogue activity", the Watergate break-in. 

 

It didn't take long for Baker to realize Nixon also was guilty.

 

At length seven Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee joined all the Democrats in voting to impeach Nixon by July 1974.

 

Had Nixon not taped himself, however, there would have been no Smoking Gun tape from June 23, 1972, which showed that the president ordered H. R. Haldeman to use the CIA to stop the FBI's investigation into the Watergate break-in six days earlier.

 

It doesn't get more Deep State than that. 

 

The release of its transcript on August 5, 1974 convinced everybody that Nixon obstructed justice and covered it up. That's what sent Goldwater & Co. to the White House on August 7th.

 

Nixon announced his resignation the very next day and left office August 9, 1974. 

 

Nobody took down Richard Nixon except Richard Nixon. 

 

By August 1974 66% of the country had joined this so-called Deep State conspiracy against Nixon, which marked an astounding reversal from the 67% who had approved of him in January 1973. 

 

Trump's not far behind Nixon at 58.6% disapproval just one month ago.

 

We'll see what mood the country is in to get rid of him shortly. The November election will be a referendum on this. 

 

A healthy republic repents of its mistakes, and a Christian society accepts that repentance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we want is the truth

Can you imagine a Vance presidency?

I can't. 

Vance: Iran Deal Critics "Want This To Go On Until Every Bomb Has Been Dropped Or Until Every Iranian Is Dead" 

Three Iranian tankers exit U.S. blockade as shipowners eye Hormuz in ‘wary disbelief’ 

 ... The U.S. and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday to end the nearly four-month war, with a formal signing ceremony to take place on Friday in Geneva. The pact, whose details have not been disclosed, is expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and waive sanctions on Iran’s oil sales. ... 

Update 12:10pm 

Read the 14-point draft agreement between the US and Iran

... The 14-point memorandum of understanding has not yet been officially released but a copy of it was obtained by CNN from a US official.

... A White House spokesperson said the text did not reflect the actual memorandum. 

... The US official told CNN that the text reflects the agreement signed digitally by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday. 

... Bloomberg earlier published a version of the draft. ...                                          

Update 5:20pm

The CNN story above now contains the official agreement, as of 38 minutes ago.  

It's a giant con: They signed a nothingburger with Iran, that's why they're not showing it to us

 

 

It is another desperate ploy to jawbone oil prices down in a world hurtling toward tank bottom.

 

Meanwhile, why did Vance have to sign?

 

Is Trump on his last legs?

 

And we're still dealing with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf? I thought Trump said all this took extra time because they were trying to find a more moderate faction?

 

It's all BS, MS, Piledhigh and Deep. 

 

 

June 11:  Oil executives warn White House that gas prices will get worse 

 

... “Both camps know exactly what is at stake,” said one industry official who frequently interacts with the administration. “The industry folks are intent on making sure that if the worm turns, the White House does not point fingers that the industry did not do enough.”

“Everyone everywhere fully appreciates that the standoff cannot go on for another 30-45 days without the political calculations changing,” the official said.

“The White House knows and understands the severity of the potential situation. … They are politically constricted from saying that publicly.” ...

 

June 15: Trump, Vance, Iranian official sign US-Iran peace memo

... Both President Trump and Vice President Vance electronically signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday, while Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, signed for the Iranian side, senior U.S. officials said Monday. ...

 

 Vance: Iran Deal A "Very General Document," We'll Figure Out The Details In The "Technical Negotiation Phase"

Vice President Vance acknowledged that the preliminary U.S.-Iran memorandum is only "about a page and a half" and described it as a "very general document. ... what the MOU does is set up a framework ..."                                   

 

Trump is a terrible judge of character. Ghalibaf is an IRGC fundamentalist.

 

 

Trump always prefers a diplomatic solution after oil prices spike 62% after he doesn't

 

 Oil prices fall 3% on report Trump reluctant to restart Iran war

... The White House declined to comment on the report when asked by CNBC. A White House official said while Trump “always prefers a diplomatic solution, he has been clear about the consequences if Iran refuses to make a deal.” ... 

Senator Thom Tillis says it's still amateur hour at the White House lol

 GOP Sen. Tillis slams Trump intelligence pick Pulte: ‘Don’t think he has a prayer’

... “Whoever these people are in the White House need to get the hell out of the White House,” Tillis said. “I am tired of amateur hour.” 

Donald Trump is the leader of the Party of Violence

Dana White Took the UFC From the Fringes to the White House

Sean Gregory, Time 

 

... MMA was once considered so savage that at the turn of the century, unlike pornography and other controversial fare, it wasn’t even carried on pay-per-view in many places. Now, the UFC is so mainstream that CBS, a network that on Saturday nights once aired Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, is showing Swanson club Landwehr’s cranium with his right hand, knocking him out in the first round. ...  The UFC packs arenas around the world, and the most powerful person on the planet, right beside White, is its promoter in chief. ... Across the room [of White's office in Vegas] are two pistols. One barrel is cloaked in a red bible cover, the other in a black one. “Those two books have killed more people than any handgun ever made,” says White. “I am very antireligion.” ...                         

When I was a kid we used to laugh at boys with girly names like Dana.

Maybe Dana White's masculinism is as simple as that.

 

 

Trump's White House director of communications tells off former Trump Secretary of State, who is rightfully worried about today's Iran peace deal rumors

One of the more disgraceful displays of the second term.

 

 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a free man

 Judge dismisses criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia in human trafficking case: A federal judge wrote that the investigation against Abrego in Tennessee was reopened to justify the administration’s decision to deport him to El Salvador

... Sean Hecker, Abrego’s attorney, said that his client “is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department. We are so pleased that he is a free man. Justifiably so.” ... 

Senate Parliamentarian won't let Republicans spend $1 billion through phony reconciliation interpretation to rebuild East Wing destroyed by the MAGA drone in the Oval Office

 

 Trump ballroom money in question after Senate parliamentarian rules. Thune says GOP will persist

... Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined Saturday that the provision, which included $220 million for security upgrades tied to the East Wing ballroom project, fell outside the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee. ... The White House and Senate Republicans have framed the $1 billion as Secret Service funding for security upgrades, not direct construction money for the ballroom. ... MacDonough has already ruled against several other pieces of the measure, forcing GOP leaders to revise multiple provisions as they try to keep the package on track. ...