This isn't news this morning at Real Clear Politics

 There wasn't one single story about it.

 

Thanks to Trump/Vance appeasement of Putin, NATO ally Poland is starting to look just like Ukraine

 

Poland says it shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace during attack on Ukraine

The Polish military accused Moscow of an "act of aggression" early Wednesday. The incident marked a first for a NATO member state since the Kremlin invaded its neighbor.

 

Poland said a number of Russian drones entered its airspace during an attack on Ukraine early Wednesday and were shot down with the help of NATO allies, a first since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbor. ...  Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country was dealing with "a large-scale provocation,” and that his military recorded 19 drone incursions overnight, four of which he said were shot down. ... The E.U. called it the “most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began.” ...

Yep, gold made another new record high: $3,673.95

 

The Wall Street Journal: Just 35% of high school seniors in 2024 were proficient in reading, and only 22% in math

 ... Twelfth-graders’ average math score was the worst since the current test began in 2005, and reading was below any point since that assessment started in 1992. The share of 12th-graders who were proficient slid by 2 percentage points between 2019 and 2024—to 35% in reading and 22% in math. ...

More.

And they can vote. 

Pattern development: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent first mixed it up with Elon Musk over an IRS appointment and now with Bill Pulte for bad-mouthing him to Trump

 

Signature placement tells you it's authentic lol

 

Gold makes new record high $3,646.29, spot silver to $41.29

 Reuters.

In early February Trump was +6 in the CBS News poll, now he's -12, with Democrats +3 in the generic 2026 Congressional ballot, but Real Clear Politics keeps telling us Democrats are less popular now than in Trump's first term

 

Kornacki: Unlike In Trump's First Term, Democratic Party Less Popular Than Republicans

Treasury Secretary Bessent tells a whopper

 

Bessent: Tariff Income And Fiscal Improvement Have Made The U.S. Bond Market The Best Performing In The Developed World

 

These jokers have added $1.2 trillion to the national debt in TWO months.

 

The 10-year US Treasury has returned 1.013% nominal in the last twelve months, -1.419% real. 

Let's cut to the chase: They need the National Guard to protect ICE from the people

If Trump were really serious about deportations, he'd be going after the employers, which would be far easier than going after eleventy million illegals or whatever it is.

That's how you know this is all fake, all performative. 

It is deportation theatre, from beginning to end.

The goal is 3,000 deportations a day, which over four years is only 4.3 million.

It is unserious policy, for an unserious country, but it is going to cost serious money. 

 

 

Here's another fascist ass-kisser: GOP 2026 US Senate candidate Mike Rogers wants Trump to send the military to Detroit

 

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants

 

They think they've been appointed judge, jury, and executioner, but are in violation of the Sixth Amendment

 

Friday's bad job report spooked Treasury buyers big time, pushing yields down 4.5% in the aggregate from the August average in a flight to safety

Average US Treasury yields by duration Fri Sep 5, 2025:

Bills 3.96

Notes 3.69

Bonds 4.75

Aggregate 3.98 (down 4.5% from Aug average).

The aggregate was already down 6.5% from January in August. The only yields still holding up had been in bonds, which gave up 11 basis points on Friday, yielding 4.75 vs. the August average of 4.86, down about 2.2%. 

The rosy scenario, which isn't rosy, is for stagflation. The worse scenario is for recession, possibly signaled by the revision to June payrolls, now down 13k.

You know, like in January 2001, but past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The point is, people are spooked. 

 

 

Gold hit a record high $3,599.89 on Friday Sep 5 2025, silver holds just under $41

 

Is Bill Pulte the new Brownie or what?

Ah yes, the current incompetence is but a dim reflection of the past incompetence, but a reflection nonetheless.

 

Mark Pulte, the father of Lisa Cook accuser Bill Pulte, loses homestead exemption on Michigan property after Reuters investigation finds he committed same infraction of which his son accused the Fed governor lol

Bill is obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 

 Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers: Reuters

... Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called “homestead exemptions” for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records. The exemption is meant to give a discount to homeowners on taxes for properties they use as their primary residence. 

Local tax officials in both states told Reuters that claiming more than one home as a primary residence isn’t generally allowed in their jurisdictions and could be punishable by fines or back taxes. After Reuters contacted tax officials in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, to inquire about the dual claims, Darrin Kraatz, director of assessing, on Thursday said the township “as of today” would revoke the exemption on the Pultes’ residence there. ... 

It isn’t clear how much the Pultes may have saved each year because of the Michigan claim, but on Friday property records already indicated the exemption there is now zero.

 

Bye dad!

 

 

Anonymous Department of Defense official says Trump attack on Venezuela fast boat was criminal

 Story.

  

 

Trump says that a year from now the jobs numbers will be absolutely incredible

Yeah, that's what we're afraid of.

Story. 

Safe haven gold scales the heights

 

Katie, bar the door.

Gold prices hit fresh record highs on Friday after a soft U.S. jobs report cemented hopes of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, fuelling fresh momentum for bullion’s blistering rally.

Spot gold was up 0.9% at $3,577.33 per ounce,. Prices hit a record high of $3,582.71 and were up 3.7% so far this week. U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.9% to $3,637.00. ...

More. 

U.S. Treasury yields tank in flight to safety after August 2025 jobs only +22k: Fed rate cut incoming

 

Donald Trump's dumb ass unemployment rate is 37.57% in August 2025, 103 million eating but not working

 

Just 49.44% had a full time job in August 2025

 You know, like in August 2016.

 

 

Let's compare the BLS' count of jobs added through August since December with the private sector ADP report

Total nonfarm gubmint: 74,750 per month

Total nonfarm private:  80,375 per month

Those rascally Democrats over at BLS, my word. 

 

Payroll report for August out this morning says jobs actually contracted in June by 13,000: Who will Trump fire now LMAO?

 Obviously more heads need to roll at the Bureau of Labor Statistics because in Trump's wonderful economy payrolls must have risen a lot more than 22k in August lololol.

 Payrolls rose 22,000 in August, less than expected in further sign of hiring slowdown

... Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 22,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for payrolls to rise by 75,000.

The report showed a marked slowdown from the July increase of 79,000, which was revised up by 6,000. Revisions also showed a net loss of 13,000 in June after the prior estimate was lowered by 27,000. ...

 

 

Redesigned Ford Expedition, an ICE vehicle which gets 18/19 combined mpg, sees best sales in 21 years

Ford’s redesigned three-row Expedition SUV is seeing explosive growth.

The Detroit automaker reported Wednesday that it sold 8,724 Expeditions in August, up 53.7% from the same time last year and marking its best sales in 21 years. It’s sold 61,022 of the vehicles so far this year, a 13.1% increase from the same period in 2024. ...

More. 

GM to make new EV production cuts in Tennessee and Kansas City according to Reuters

 

... GM will stop production of two electric Cadillac SUVs at its assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, during the month of December, according to a person familiar with the matter and communications to GM employees viewed by Reuters.

The plant produces the midsize Cadillac Lyriq — a relative hit and one of GM’s top-selling EVs — and the Vistiq, a larger electric SUV.

GM also plans to significantly curtail production of those vehicles during the first five months of next year by temporarily laying off one of its two shifts of workers, according to the sources. The company will additionally shutter the plants for one week in October and November.

The automaker is also planning to indefinitely delay the start of a second shift at an assembly plant near Kansas City, which is still slated to begin production of the Chevy Bolt EV later this year, the person familiar with the matter said. ...

More. 

Biden killed off the Keystone XL pipeline, costing Alberta over $1 billion, construction workers over $2 billion, and the economy billion$ more, so Trump killing off wind is simply to be expected

 

Meanwhile, at least people aren't getting fired like crazy

 

If the Bureau of Labor Statistics is drinking the liberal Koolaid, ADP must be drinking it too

 

Since December ADP is showing +80k jobs per month through August, PAYEMS is showing +85k jobs per month through July, as if they were drinking what BLS supposedly drinks.

 

And that's a fact, Jack.

 

 

The Supremes have the opportunity to do the funniest thing

 

Trump asks Supreme Court to quickly hear appeal to save his tariffs

Uniparty Trump hides behind the skirts of the 2001 anti-terror legislation to murder so-called terrorists near Venezuela after cutting and running from the Houthis in the Red Sea

<insert tough guy image here>

MEXICO CITY — U.S. forces could have stopped the boat that officials say was carrying illegal drugs from Venezuela to the United States on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, but President Donald Trump chose instead to destroy it, killing 11 people on board, to send a deterrent message to traffickers. ...

The action was a dramatic escalation for the U.S. in its fight against drug traffickers. Lawmakers and legal analysts questioned the legality of launching a lethal strike against civilians in international waters outside of an armed conflict.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the strike was “conducted against the operations of a designated terrorist organization and was taken in defense of vital U.S. national interests and in the collective self-defense of other nations,” an apparent reference to the 2001 authorization for the use of military force enacted by Congress after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that year. It authorizes the use of force against the perpetrators of the al-Qaeda attacks and to prevent “future acts of international terrorism.” Various lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for years to repeal the measure, including Vice President JD Vance, who as a senator in 2023 co-sponsored the End Endless Wars Act. ...

The U.S. Coast Guard sometimes shoots out the engines of go-fast boats during maritime interdictions, the former agent said, but killing the crew is new for the United States. ...

Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, said the strike violated international law. The U.S. is not in armed conflict with Venezuela or its criminal elements, she noted, which means it violated the suspects’ right to life. ...

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the attack “murder.”

“We have been capturing civilians transporting drugs for decades without killing them,” Petro said. “Those who transport drugs are not the big drug lords, but very poor young people from the Caribbean and the Pacific. ...

 More. 

Gold hit a record high $3,578.50 today, silver rose to $41.34

 Safe-haven gold rally gains further momentum after soft US data

... Spot gold was up 1.2% to $3,576.59 per ounce by 2:25 p.m. EDT (1825 GMT), after hitting a record high of $3,578.50. ... 

Riding the wave of gold's rally, spot silver rose 1.1% to $41.34, its highest level since September 2011. ...

 

Bonds tank and gold soars to start September in huge embarrassment to Banana Republican Donald Trump, who wouldn't pay his own bills let alone the country's

... Tariffs are set to bring in $172.1 billion in 2025, according to the Tax Foundation, which would be a nice financial boost to a country with a ballooning budget deficit.

“If this ruling is upheld, refunds of existing tariffs are on the table which could cause a surge in Treasury issuance and yields,” wrote Ed Mills of Raymond James in a note. ...

More. 

 

Gold briefly makes new record high $3,508.50 . . . and $3,529.93 in the PM Update per Reuters

 

 ... Spot gold was steady at $3,476.48 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $3,508.50 earlier in the session. Bullion has gained 32% so far this year. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 0.9% to $3,546.80. ... Spot gold prices rose 27% in 2024, and broke the $3,000 per ounce level for the first time in March ...

More.

PM Update per Reuters:

... Spot gold was up 1.5% at $3,529.01 per ounce as of 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), after climbing as high as $3,529.93. Bullion has gained 34.5% this year. ... 

Spot silver inched up 0.4% at $40.84 per ounce, after hitting its highest since September 2011. ...

Silver hits 14-year high

... Spot silver rose 1.6% to $40.31 per ounce, the highest since September 2011. ...

More. 

Irwin Stelzer: Trump has substituted state capitalism for market capitalism

 

 Trump sees off the free-market capitalism that enriched America

... In short, the extent of presidential control of the economy has not been seen since the end of the Second World War. Trump has added to his influence over macroeconomic policy by levying tariffs, another name for taxes. He is in the process of gaining control of monetary policy by packing the Fed board and firing an existing board member for alleged mortgage fraud, no trial necessary.

Fed independence, done and dusted, control of the macroeconomy complete, he is turning his attention to the independent players that make up the microeconomic economy. With sycophants in seats once occupied by powerful advisers and the opposition Democrats in disarray, effective resistance to Trump’s power push is negligible. ...

Now, as president, he is favouring visitors with baseball caps emblazoned “Trump in 2028”.

I wonder how many illegal immigrants from Poland Trump will be rounding up in Chicago lol

There were still 50,000 illegal Poles in the United States in 2016.

 Sources: Feds Secure Naval Station Great Lakes for Immigration Blitz

Are the $10 trillion with you in the room right now, Karoline?

 

Nope, it's already peaked

 Every other surge made it into high or very high range, but not this one.

That's good news.

 

 COVID CASES SPIKING... AGAIN...

 

The ever reliable UK Express reports a civilian Ukrainian ship near Odessa was "blown up" when it wasn't

 Ukrainian civilian ship blown up by 'unidentified explosive device' in Black Sea

Ukraine has revealed a civilian ship was blown up by an unidentified explosive device in the Black Sea, off the coast of Odesa. ...

 

The ship, which has not been named, sustained only minor damage and was able to continue sailing under its own power. ...

 

Anyway, here's a picture of the ship:

 

 

The Grauniad wants you to worry about a far-right civil war in the United States employing drones because of one guy on Substack found by one analyst with a vivid imagination

 Alarm: Far-right extremists eye drones for domestic attacks...

 

 ... the far-right American terrorist movement sees off-the-shelf or home-built first-person viewer (FPV) drones as a critical weapon in their own future war against the US government ...

... talk is commonplace of how these cheap drones are revolutionizing current wars and will be the critical tools of a so-called second civil war ...

... Multiple sources told the Guardian that the FBI has major concerns about the accelerationist neo-Nazi sect on the far right – one calling for an insurgency against the US government – and other ultra-violent actors in the same ideological space, eyeing the use of FPV drones for domestic attacks. ...

... evidence has emerged of military-trained neo-Nazis with relevant skillsets having pinpointed the drones as a potential tool ...

... [Joshua] Fisher-Birch first spotted the Substack and vouched for its credibility. According to him, the writer’s alleged background is not only “significant” but “violent white supremacist groups would find his drone experience to be useful”. ...

 

  

Meanwhile at Real Clear Politics, Democrats are hemorrhaging voters but consistently continue to win the generic ballot lol

 

Real Clear Politics rewrites headlines to make Trump look better

 

 

 

Appeals Court Rules Against Some Tariffs But Leaves Them in Place takes you to  Most Trump tariffs are not legal, US appeals court rules lol.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/most-trump-tariffs-are-not-legal-us-appeals-court-rules/ar-AA1LvGU7

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/most-trump-tariffs-are-not-legal-us-appeals-court-rules-2025-08-30/ 

 

 

 

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit isn't buying Trump's emergency argument for his tariffs because he's taxing everything from nearly every country

 

 Most Trump tariffs ruled illegal by appeals court, dealing major blow to trade policy

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that most of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal, striking a massive blow to the core of his aggressive trade policy.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held in a 7-4 ruling that the law Trump invoked when he granted his most expansive tariffs — including his “reciprocal” tariffs — does not actually grant him the power to impose those levies.

“The core Congressional power to impose taxes such as tariffs is vested exclusively in the legislative branch by the Constitution,” the court said. “Tariffs are a core Congressional power.”

The appellate court paused its ruling from taking effect until Oct. 14, in order to give the Trump administration time to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decision. ... 

In Friday’s ruling, the court found that the challenged tariffs exceeded Trump’s authority under IEEPA.

“Both the Trafficking Tariffs and the Reciprocal Tariffs are unbounded in scope, amount, and duration,” the majority ruled. 

“These tariffs apply to nearly all articles imported into the United States (and, in the case of the Reciprocal Tariffs, apply to almost all countries), impose high rates which are ever-changing and exceed those set out in the [U.S. tariff system], and are not limited in duration.” ...

 

Buh bye

 

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst won’t seek re-election in Iowa in 2026

Let's check in on real return from stocks since and before the August 2000 high to see what a real bull market looks like

 

$SPX since August 2000 through July 2025: 5.24% real, average per annum, dividends fully reinvested.

And the 24 years, 11 months before that to August 2000?

10.90%.

108% better. 

IYKYK. 

Let's check in on the S&P 500 version of the Buffett Indicator

The S&P 500 averaged 6,029.95 in June 2025.

Nominal GDP in 2Q2025 from the second estimate yesterday was $30.3539 trillion.

The first divided by the second yields 198.65, 145.25% elevated above the long-term median of 81.

Off the chart. 

Where angels fear to tread.

 

 

Population adjusted vehicle miles traveled in the first half of 2025 is lower than at the bottom of the Obama travel depression in 1H2014

Ain't got no where to go, I guess, with all that new delivery availability spawned by the pandemic.

 

 

Speaking of gaslighting, Kremlin Karoline wants you to think gasoline wasn't cheaper as recently as last December

Don't gaslight around gasoline, dearie.

 

 

Gaslighting: Spot gold to $3,433.99, spot silver to $39.14 on persistent core inflation of 2.77% average yoy for the last 18 months, 85% higher than the old normal, not on rate cut probability

 

They want a rate cut so bad, everything points to one, including what doesn't. 

 Gold on track for best month in four as inflation data bolsters rate cut bets

... Spot gold was up 0.5% at $3,433.99 per ounce. Bullion has gained 4.4% in August so far. U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.7% to $3,497.30. ... 

Spot silver added 0.2% to $39.14 per ounce and gained for the fourth straight month. ...                        

PM Update:

... Spot gold was up 0.9% at $3,447.09 per ounce. ... Spot silver added 2.1% to $39.89 per ounce ... 

Trump's federal government spending cuts are non-existent: We're on track to blow $7.3 trillion as expected

 The Elon Musk-DOGE spending cut affair was pure theatre.

When I said we spend $20 billion a day I wasn't kidding.

OK, it's only $19.869794 billion a day.

Meanwhile revenues are expected to fall short by $4.842671 billion PER DAY in 2025. 

 

The core pce inflation rate was 48% lower 2009-2020 than it was in July 2025

 The July 2025 yoy rate of core pce inflation, the Fed's key measure, rose to 2.877%, the third increase in the rate since April.

The average rate 2009-2020 was 1.5%.

Averaging 2.77% for the last year and a half is not progress.