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”...

The fix for Social Security is easy, lawmakers just don't have the balls to do it

 Raise the tax rate two points, split between employer and employee, and raise the full retirement age from 67 to 69. Phase both in same as was done starting in the 1980s. That process concluded, by the way, only just this year.

It was going on all along and you never even noticed.

Doing this again will make Social Security solvent until 2100.  

 

AARP to Congress: ‘We strongly object to fast-tracking Social Security changes’ 

 

 

These are toothless resolutions against the Iran war meant for consumption by the dumb public and would never force Trump to do anything

 Congress splits on war powers resolutions to force Trump to abandon Iran war

 

 

Middle East tanker transits July 16-22, 2026: Strait of Hormuz 2.0/day, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait 14.6/day

BAM transits fell in JMIC Update 075 to 10.0/day since the Houthi Rebels announced on July 20 a blockade of Saudi shipping through the chokepoint. SE traffic fell to 4.0/day.

A product tanker is at anchor in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia after it was attacked by the Houthis on July 22.

Professional observers report some tankers abandoning their runs SE and turning back NW while Chinese VLCCs apparently are being green-lighted through despite loading with Saudi oil at Yanbu. 

VLCCs fully laden cannot transit the Suez Canal due to size constraints and must partially off-load before transiting and then re-load on the Mediterranean side of the canal.

 

Middle East tanker transits July 14-20, 2026: Strait of Hormuz 3.4/day, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait 17.3/day

 From JMIC Update 074:

... According to regional reporting, Iran has instructed the Houthis to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route should the United States strike Iranian power infrastructure. Sources close to the group stated that the Houthis have completed preparations to attack shipping, including the deployment of missiles and drones positioned near Bab el-Mandeb. ...

Slow news day: Twenty days after the figure was updated the New York Post finally does a story on it

 Shocking 105 million Americans are not working – more than during COVID or the Great Recession

Since it's not about Homer let me fix that for ya

 Somebody should make a movie about the actual Odyssey, instead of a movie about the West's Achilles heel, its introspective conscience since the defeat of Athens in 404 BC, the volume on which was turned up to 11 by Christianity.

Nothing defines the West like its failure of nerve. 

 

Nolan’s “Odyssey” Is a Defense of Western Christian Civilization

Garrett Exner, Providence

 

... [Christopher Nolan] never sought to make a film straightforwardly depicting Odysseus’s Late Bronze Age journey around the Mediterranean.

 

... In the Homeric epic, Odysseus is not troubled by the sack of Troy. He understands it as a glorious victory. Yet Nolan chooses to show the sack of Troy as a descent into violence and hate, culminating in the desecration of Athena’s temple and even the beheading of Athena herself. Instead of being proud of sacking Troy, these acts inspire severe post-traumatic stress and moral injury in Odysseus. This is not a bastardization of The Odyssey, but a thoughtful update in light of the Christian morality that has come to define the West.  

 

Through the film Nolan clarifies this through the use of Christian themes . . .. 

Idiot Doug Bandow isn't paying attention to what Bernie & Co. actually stand for

America’s Faux Socialists Know Not What They Claim to Be 

 ... Nevertheless, no one of note is advocating the wholesale federal takeover of private property, including businesses and other enterprises. ...

 First, Do No Harm: AI Under Democracy 

... AI was built on our data and our labor; we should own a piece of it. Senator Bernie Sanders’s American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would transfer 50% equity from the largest AI companies into public hands. I support that effort and propose to take it one step further because Americans deserve a seat at the table. ...

 

 

 

Mad King Ludwig: To stop Iran from getting The Bomb we have to let Saudi Arabia get The Bomb

 Saudis Reach Deal With U.S. That Could Let Them Enrich Nuclear Fuel

... Prince Mohammed has vowed he would build nuclear weapons if Iran does so, even insisting in one interview he would do so “without a doubt.”

... Mr. Trump’s concessions to the Saudis on the terms of the nuclear deal are significant. When the United States entered into a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which went into force in 2009, there were far more restrictive conditions. The U.A.E. agreed to the stringent inspections, signing what is called an “additional protocol” with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And it agreed to forgo the right to produce its own fuel, cutting off the possibility that it would have the infrastructure to produce a weapon.

That agreement became known as the “gold standard” for nuclear nonproliferation. And while the administration plans to argue that it will have other restrictions in place — including joint partnerships with the Saudis that will allow Washington to keep a close eye on the kingdom’s program — the fact remains that Mr. Trump has retreated from the restrictions negotiated by the Bush and Obama administrations.

While the bulk of the negotiations with the U.A.E. took place while President George W. Bush was in office, it was finished by President Barack Obama and went into effect in 2009. ...

Updated temperature graphs for Grand Rapids, MI

Trend for lowest minimum temperature is still down, despite 30 years of moderating lows.

Trend for highest maximum temperature is still down. 

Trend for average temperature is up about 1.0 degree F in 125+ years. The graph is probably the best one for showing the colder years of the mid-20th century flanked by the warmer periods before and after.  

Trend for cooling degree days is basically flat.

Trend for heating degree days is down, about 450 HDD or 6.5% over 120 years. Again, the last 30 years have been trending milder.

As always, click on the graphs to enlarge. 

 

In the first story ICE murdered a U.S. citizen in March 2025, a woman's son, in the second story a drunk illegal alien murdered a U.S. citizen in late 2024, a man's daughter

In both cases our incompetent government is ultimately to blame, Joe, but only in your case will someone pay any price.

 

My Son Was Killed by ICE. I Want Accountability

Rachel Reyes, New York Times

 

The Moral Test of Self Government

Joe Abraham, RealClearPolitics

 

 

 

Looks like Trump's 2025 loss in the Red Sea is coming back to bite

 Iran’s Houthi allies declare maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, escalating threat to oil market

Rubio might as well be Pilate washing his hands and saying he is innocent of the Persian Gulf debacle

 Rubio: "It Is Not The United States' Job To Protect Shipping For The Entire Planet, Forever"

 

 

I hope Taylor Farms sues the incompetent Trump FDA into oblivion

 

GILTS at 5% are OK when Labour does it

 UK’s Andy Burnham becomes PM as Trump slams Britain as ‘Poverty Stricken Disaster’

 

 

This should win the Academy Award for something

 

The Wall Street Journal is worried about GOP voters staying home if the Save America Act fails lol

Can't you just hear the WSJ after the GOP loses in November?

"It wasn't a Blue Wave, Republicans just didn't vote".

 

Middle East tanker transits per JMIC update 073 July 12-18, 2026: Strait of Hormuz 3.3/day, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait 18.0/day

 

It's soccer, and it's finally over, thank God

 World Cup 2026 final in photos: Spain triumphs as football crowns a new champion

Silver down 20.61% year to date, gold down 7.12%

 Silver $57.38

Gold $4025.70 

-- per APMEX