Spot gold added 0.6% to $2,759.83 per ounce as of 0941 GMT. The price hit its highest since Nov. 1 earlier in the session and is close to its record peak of $2,790.15 hit in October.
More.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Pete Hegseth reportedly has had episodes of drinking to the point of passing out
I get the drinking too much until you barf. I mean, that's pretty much been Freshman Life 101 forever and a day. Pete was a freshman in college in 1999-2000.
But it takes a special kind of excess to drink until you pass out.
Is it true?
Who knows.
One incident was allegedly in 2013, when he was about 32, at which time he had earned an MA from Harvard. Another was when he was about 28, in 2009, when his first marriage ended. That's a long time after graduating from Princeton University in 2003.
The precise timeline is uncertain because his birth year isn't precisely known, and the new revelations come from a former sister in law, married to Pete's brother from 2011-2019, who can't remember the dates exactly.
Anyway, I don't get why the new SECDEF absolutely, positively must be this guy, with all this sooty baggage. No one is that indispensable.
From The Wall Street Journal here:
Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon, regularly abused alcohol to the point that he passed out at family gatherings, and once needed to be dragged out of a strip club while in uniform, according to an ex-relative’s account of his behavior that was given to U.S. lawmakers and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The sworn statement, submitted in response to a request from Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was signed by Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth. It states that she was with Hegseth when he passed out from drunkenness in the bathroom of a bar in Minneapolis in about 2013. It also describes another night, when she said Hegseth drank so much at a restaurant in Minneapolis that the Uber driver had to pull over on Interstate 94 so he could throw up.
In her sworn statement, Danielle Hegseth said she personally observed erratic and aggressive behavior by Hegseth, witnessing him abusing alcohol multiple times over the years. One Christmas in 2008 or 2009, he drank so much that he threw up and passed out, she said. ...
Trump executive order reverses Biden's pause on new approvals of LNG projects
It is little discussed, but Biden's pause on the new projects was based, in part, on the negative impact on prices paid by consumers because natural gas was being diverted to LNG exports. Reduced domestic supply has led to higher prices paid by consumers:
The current economic and environmental analyses DOE uses to underpin its
LNG export authorizations are roughly five years old and no longer
adequately account for considerations like potential energy cost
increases for American consumers and manufacturers beyond current
authorizations or the latest assessment of the impact of greenhouse gas
emissions.
Natural gas diverted to export already reached 10% of production in 2022.
Reported here:
The president reversed the Biden administration’s pause on new liquefied natural gas export facilities. Trump directed the Energy secretary to start reviewing new LNG projects as quickly as possible.
Natural gas prices have exploded by 210% since Trump was elected in November.
Irrational exuberance produces flatulence, recently floated meme coin $FARTCOIN lingers in the air at $1.8 billion market capitalization
Something smelly this way comes.
David Einhorn says we have reached the ‘Fartcoin’ stage of the market cycle
“Other than trading and speculation, it serves no other obvious purpose and fulfills no need that is not served elsewhere.”
A crypto token called “fartcoin” exploded in popularity as the re-election of Donald Trump unleashed a storm of animal spirits on Main Street. The meme coin is now edging towards a $2 billion market value, surpassing many U.S.-listed companies.
More meme coins have emerged since the inception of fartcoin. President Donald Trump launched $TRUMP, a meme coin built on the Solana platform. Its market cap over the weekend climbed past $14 billion. The coin at one point was down more than 20% over the past 24 hours, but it has since cut its losses to around 3%. Trump’s wife Melania also unveiled a coin.
Marco Rubio confirmed as Secretary of State in 99-0 vote, voted for himself lol
The Senate on Monday unanimously confirmed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as America’s 72nd secretary of State, putting in place the first member of President Trump’s Cabinet on the day of his inauguration.
Rubio’s confirmation vote passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, 99-0. Rubio also was able to cast a vote for himself.
Reported here by The Hill at 6:52pm yesterday.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Sunday that Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would replace Vice President J. D. Vance in the US Senate, but he has not yet been sworn in, hence the 99-0 vote for Rubio.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday, January 16th that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody will replace Rubio in the Senate after Rubio formally resigns.
Senate panel advances Defense secretary nominee Hegseth on party-line vote 14-13
The Hill reported here yesterday at 5:37pm.
90% of the 250,000 inauguration ticket holders got stiffed by Trump's move of the inauguration indoors
MAGA fan traveled 2,700 miles to DC - but is forced to watch Trump inauguration on iPad
Brian Roy traveled from Seattle last week and was among around 250,000 people who had tickets to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds before the ceremony was moved indoors.
About 2,600 VIPs were let in to the Capitol venues, and 20,000 regular folks into the arena. The rest were like Brian.
Way to go, Brownie!
Gold hits two-month high
There's funny money like $Trump and $Melania, and then there's the real thing.
Spot gold climbed 0.7% to $2,726.75 per ounce, reaching its highest level since Nov. 6 and nearing the all-time high of $2,790.15 set in October.
More.
Monday, January 20, 2025
As if the pre-emptive pardons of Fauci, Milley, and the Jan 6 lynch mob weren't bad enough, Biden pardoned his own siblings and their families at the last second
Meanwhile, earlier in December Biden's own Department of Justice warned Jan 6 "insurrectionists" that accepting a pardon from Trump would amount to a confession of guilt.
So Fauci, Milley, et alia are all ipso facto guilty.
CNBC story on Trump and Melania meme coins, introduced on Friday and Sunday, sheepishly mentions conflicts of interest
 |
| The Grifters, the sequel |
The meme coins were introduced precisely to cash in on the inauguration euphoria.
Melania Trump launches cryptocurrency ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration
... The Melania token was trading at $11.16 at 10:48 a.m. London time on Monday, up more than 50%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. It has a market cap of $2.15 billion. ...
“Meme cryptocurrencies like these are prone to large fluctuations and we generally consider them as speculative assets,” he said. “The tokens released by Donald and Melania Trump appear to symbolize support for the digital currency sector. However, the introduction of these coins during the presidential inauguration raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.” ...
Following the Sunday launch of the “Melania” token, the president-elect’s “Official Trump” coin briefly crashed as much as 40%, according to analysts at The Kobeissi Letter in a Sunday post on X.
Biden pre-emptively pardons his own supporters as he heads out the door after prosecuting his opponents for four years, admits "the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances"
"It's OK when we ruin you, but not if you ruin us".
... It’s unclear whether those pardoned by Biden would need to apply for
the clemency or accept the president’s offer. Acceptance could be seen
as a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing, validating years of attacks
by Trump and his supporters, even though those who have been pardoned
have not been formally accused of any crimes. ...
Sunday, January 19, 2025
This is just BS from Speaker Mike Johnson about LNG exports and Joe Biden's memory
Whatever may be said about Joe Biden's memory, he didn't have a memory lapse in this instance as alleged by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. It's troubling that Mike Johnson would misrepresent this in this way.
Joe Biden doesn't have a monopoly on "fake shit".
Sir, why did you [President Biden] pause LNG exports to Europe? Like, I don't understand.
Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do
that? You understand -- we just talked about Ukraine -- you’re fueling
Vladimir Putin’s war machine because they’ve got to get their gas from
him."
He looks at me, stunned, and says, "I didn’t, I didn’t do that."
I said, "Mr. President, yes, you did. It was an executive order, like, three weeks ago."
He says, "No, I didn’t do that." He’s arguing with me.
-- The Moment Speaker Mike Johnson Knew Biden Wasn't "In Charge" Anymore
LNG exports to Europe were not paused. And demand in Europe dropped in 2024. Biden signed a temporary pause for pending approvals of LNG exports, not for existing approvals of LNG exports. This and Mike's other comments in the story indicate that he is not exactly reliable on the subject. But he could have easily just looked it up.
Jan 26, 2024:
Sep 4, 2024:
US LNG export dominance tested as Europe's demand wilts
Meanwhile, Mike Johnson didn't tell anybody about this until now? Seems like a dereliction of duty for the man in line right behind the VP to become president in the event of incapacity or death.
And, oh yeah, US LNG export tanker loads hit a seven-month high in January 2025 at 71, through yesterday:
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts say Chicom's TikTok is toast
“The law is very precise, and the only way to extend that is if there is an actual deal in the works,” Johnson added. “I think President Trump is probably intrigued by all this and he likes to make deals, as you know. So we’re very hopeful that that can happen, and that 270 million American people who enjoy the platform can enjoy it, but enjoy it safely and not have their data being mined by our nation’s enemy.”
Saturday, January 18, 2025
David Brooks is not a serious person
And the fact that he's reelected and now about to take office and use
executive orders to wipe out a lot of things, including the civil
service potentially, or parts of it, that's just a gigantic pivot in
American history.
A president who must resort to executive orders is not consequential. The next president can wipe those out, by executive orders.
More importantly, there is nothing consequential about presidents who must pass major legislation through reconciliation rules, as Trump had to in 2017, which means the legislation is temporary by definition. Trump must now spend precious second term months on this same issue. He aims to extend his tax cuts for another period under reconciliation rules, which is fine, but that will also be temporary, not consequential.
Boehner and Obama made the Bush tax cuts, originally passed through reconciliation, permanent after Obama was re-elected in 2012. That was consequential.
The Bush tax regime is consequential. It makes Trump step and fetch it, just like Obama.
These ridiculous goofs, President Biden, VP Harris, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand should all be removed from office before Monday
The ERA was never ratified according to the rules. Pretending otherwise and using the power of the executive to assert otherwise is a violation of their oaths of office. There is no 28th Amendment to the US Constitution. The ERA is not the law of the land. These are renegade Democrats, but I repeat myself, enemies of the rule of law and enemies of democracy. They mock us with this stunt, and deserve mockery in return.
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