All his life long he is beset with fear and is full of convulsions, and distractions, even as the State which he resembles.
-- Plato, Republic
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Meanwhile Sean Davis' The Federalist is ground zero for the anti-war right, still ignoring what der Führer says
There isn't a single story on the front page right now at The Federalist about the Israeli-Iranian conflict, like it's not even news.
Monday, June 16, 2025
Israel states that one third of Iran's ballistic missile launch capability has been destroyed
It took Israel just two days to get control of the skies over Western Iran. With that accomplished, destroying the rest of the launchers should come more easily.
Iran's last gasp, ship signals in the Strait of Hormuz jammed from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas
Bloomberg reports:
Ship Signal Jamming in Persian Gulf Worsens as Conflict Widens
Navigation signals from more than 900 vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf went awry over the weekend, creating confusion in the shipping chokepoint as the fighting between Iran and Israel intensified. ... The Joint Maritime Information Center, an international naval task force monitoring the area, warned on Sunday that there are instances of “extreme jamming” of signals from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. ...
Update:
Two oil tankers collided and caught fire on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz, where electronic interference has surged during conflict between Iran and Israel, but there were no injuries to crew or spillage reported.
With Iran and Israel firing missiles at each other since Friday, interference has disrupted navigation systems near the vital sea route between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world's oil. ...
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Much of Trump's support comes from people with a libertarian habit of mind which insists that what is politically possible and what is perfect must be enemies of each other
Of course he isn't going full TACO, just half TACO with a twist.
Chinese students in America number under 300k annually. Communist Party membership/support will receive more scrutiny.
And helping Israel beat Iran doesn't mean being neck-deep in war.
But this gets traffic, which is the point for social media parasites.
TACO Trump is negative for long term investment, 1Q2025 exports were the worst on record for their positive contribution to GDP
Does anybody ever talk about exports anymore? You know, from domestic production?
... In recent years, a cautious optimism had returned, as supply chain shocks from the pandemic pushed some companies to bring production back to the US.
But frequent changes and uncertainty around where Trump's tariff policy is headed has 'got people spooked,' Andrew Anagnost, CEO of Autodesk, told the outlet.
The company sells software used by manufacturers to design factories and improve processes.
'The current operating mode is just the death to long-term investment,' he said.
While construction projects that were already underway are still going ahead, he added, confusion about the future is stalling new work. ...
More.
Exports are a " + " when calculating GDP. Imports are a " - " when calculating it.
Exports' contribution to GDP in 1Q2025 is THE WORST ON RECORD.
No wonder GDP was negative. Outside the pandemic soaring imports had their worst negative impact on GDP on record in 1Q2025.
It's a terrible time to be introducing new huge taxes on imports needed by domestic manufacturers, but that's what Trump is doing.
TACO Trump chickens out on more than just tariffs, calls off the ICE raids on agriculture, restaurant, and hotel jobs to quell heartland rebellion
Stephen Miller most hurt.
On Wednesday morning, President Trump took a call from Brooke Rollins, his secretary of agriculture, who relayed a growing sense of alarm from the heartland.
Farmers and agriculture groups, she said, were increasingly uneasy about his immigration crackdown. Federal agents had begun to aggressively target work sites in recent weeks, with the goal of sharply bolstering the number of arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants. ...
Inside the West Wing, top White House officials were caught off guard — and furious at Ms. Rollins. ...
But the decision had been made. Later on Thursday, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tatum King, sent an email to regional leaders at the agency informing them of new guidance. Agents were to “hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.” ...
More.
Observe again how quickly Trump is to turn on a dime. The policy changed in less than 48 hours. The last person he talked to can be the most influential, which is not what you want from the leader of the free world. Sometimes he stumbles into the right decision, to be sure, but he can always stumble the wrong way. The tyrant's soul resembles the state which he rules, full of chaos and conflicting desires which he is utterly unable to satisfy.
NBC News: Trump behaved himself at the Army parade, for which the weather did not cooperate
... Prone to delivering long, boastful speeches, Trump kept his remarks brief and made the military the focus. Beforehand, critics had warned he would politicize the event for his own purposes. ...
The winds picked up and a light drizzle commenced just as the tanks were about to roll.
The parade was supposed to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, but it was moved up a half hour in deference to the weather, a Secret Service official said. Army tanks, their treads squeaking against the pavement, trundled along Constitution Avenue under an intermittent drizzle. Hundreds of people were still stuck in line, even as the parade was coming to a close two hours later.
Some of the planned flyovers had to be canceled. Still, the crowd gathered on the National Mall looked up appreciatively as helicopters flew overhead in formation.
The parade came on the 250th anniversary of the Army and, as it happens, Trump’s 79th birthday. ...
More.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Israel has started attacking Iran's oil sector in Bushehr Province this morning, which will concern China since it imports 16% of its oil from Iran, buying 90% of Iranian oil exports
The cash China provides Iran in this transaction funds the ballistic missiles raining down on Tel Aviv this week.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Anti-democratic airhead DHS Secretary ICE Barbie says Feds are in LA to liberate it from duly elected governor and mayor
We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and
burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have imposed.
Imagine if the Democrats interfered like this in Wyoming or West Virginia. Republicans would throw a fit like they're doing in LA.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Israel makes sausage of Salami
Israel attacks Iran, airstrikes kill Revolutionary Guard chief Hossein Salami
... Iranian state media reported that Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] was killed in a strike. ...
Beyond Tehran, Iranian news channel IRINN reports that there were airstrikes on the city of Natanz, which is home to a key nuclear facility. Also hit were targets in the city of Khandab, where a heavy water nuclear reactor is located, and Khoramabad, the site of a ballistic missile base. ...
Charles Breyer, Senior US District Judge of the Northern District of California, rules Trump acted illegally in federalizing the California National Guard
... At one point, the judge said, “We live in response to a monarchy,” noting that there is a difference between the president and King George III, the British monarch on the throne at the time of the American Revolution.
“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions. He did not,” Breyer wrote in his order.
“His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the judge wrote. “He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
Breyer said that none of the three conditions required for Trump’s federalization of the Guard under a certain federal statute existed, namely the U.S. having been invaded or in danger of being invaded; a “rebellion” against the federal government; or the president being unable to execute U.S. laws.
“The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,’ ” Breyer wrote.
And he said that “regardless” of the outcome of California’s lawsuit against the administration, Trump’s federalizing of the Guard without the consent of Newsom “alone threatens serious injury to the constitutional balance of power between the federal and state governments.”
“And it sets a dangerous precedent for future domestic military activity,” Breyer added. ...
More.
It's stupid for Trump to riff off today's producer price report and call Jay Powell names because the number is likely to be revised higher, and besides, that's just poor form, old boy
May 2025 core producer prices, aka core wholesale prices, were reported today up 3.02% year over year. That will doubtlessly be revised up, especially as we get farther away from May.
Today's chart indicates April was up 3.18% yoy, but was originally reported at 3.1%. The latter was already rounded up, but the former rounds up to 3.2%. We'll see if that gets revised higher in coming months as well.
March was up 3.91% yoy we are told today, but originally it was reported at 3.3%.
February was up 3.74%, but originally reported at 3.4%.
January was up 3.92%, but originally reported at 3.6%.
December was up 3.74%, but originally reported at 3.5%.
The average up revision, including April, has been 0.3.
Be that as it may, we have in the May report nine consecutive months with core producer prices up in excess of 3% year over year.
Meanwhile for the nine years 2012-2020, the average increase was 1.62% yoy. I don't call producer prices rising at a rate 85% higher than that in May 2025 good news. It may be "less bad" news, but that doesn't make it good news.
Trump's a jerk to Powell. Vance is a very polished jerk. Remember his treatment of Zelenskyy? Stephen Miller is a jerk to Rand Paul. If you've seen the Trump cabinet in action, many of whom are political losers, you've seen even more insulting jerks. They may be descendants of the people of Jerkola for all I know, but I can only speculate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)