Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Jonathan Turley on Susan Rice saying "This will not end well for them." Reminder Rice was never elected to anything!
- The NYT's business model includes Wordle not truth.
- Jonathan Turley: The Supreme Court has ruled on tariffs, but who will pay? Two from Turley this morning.
- TSMC preparing $100 billion addition of 4 fabs to Arizona facility.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Trump was right about tariffs. Agree 100% - reciprocal tariffs work!
- The Artemis II launch date has been pushed off till March at the earliest. This was the sort of bad publicity I was talking about.
More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- How Trump's own appointees furthered Russiagate. Curious how may of these folks were recommended VP Mike Pence.
- Trump and Musk seem poised to reconcile.
- Economists are shocked by who is paying for the tariffs.
- What the X-37B really does. Fascinated by the X-37B.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Interesting: Israel begins pumping desalinated water in the Sea of Galilee.
- Study shows tariffs historically lower prices not raise them.
- From the archives: the influence of Bell Labs.
If this hits before the holiday season - it could be a very merry Christmas for both the economy and many US families.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- You have no idea how screwed OpenAI actually is. Have to wonder if OpenAI is this generation's more expensive Netscape or WebCrawler.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on why the Trump tariffs are necessary.
- Jonathan Turley: The Supreme Court hears arguments on Trump's tariffs. Time for a Plan B?
- VDH: Does the Democrats chaos strategy work? Never considered before that the shutdown was meant to galvanize key groups of voters before this week's election.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Why a Value Added Tax is the wrong fit for the US. I tend to agree.
- The X-Bat looks pretty cool.
- President Trump's tariffs vs the Supreme Court's duties. Think that tariffs are part of trade deals with foreign nations and are reciprocal are the key. The Constitution only gives the President power to negotiate foreign agreements. Plus the exploding national debt can be termed an emergency.
- 'People are tired:' Democrats splinter as shutdown nears record. Don't think they thought through the optics of not wanting to reopen the government because Senators may not want to work through the Christmas holidays.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- I only recently started reading Discourse and I'm sad to learn it's ending its run.
- People who can't understand a biscuit. I feel seen.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- US dollar on track for one of the worst years in modern history. "A weaker dollar could make US exports more competitive, boosting Trump's plan to rebalance US trade, but makes imports more expensive, adding to the sting of tariffs."
- Benjamin Netanyahu puts President Trump forward for Nobel Peace Prize.
- Jonathan Turley: NYT in trouble for reporting actual news to its readers.
- Neither safe nor effective. They knew all along.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Joint Us-China statement on economic trade meeting. The very definition of a reciprocal trade agreement.
- RFK Jr. says Trump just did what no Democrat ever had the guts to do. This is a huge moment.
- VDH: The Decivilizing of America. It needs to be stressed that this was intentional.
- Should public sector unions have collective bargaining rights? On he fence on this issue. On one hand unfunded (or underfunded) retirement benefits for public sector employees is one f the biggest under reported stories of our time. On the other hand local and state governments call for high standards without wanting to offer commiserate pay.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Is the CCP operating inside our borders? The answer is Yes.
- From the archives: David Mamet on writing drama.
- Preferences of a Curmudgeon. Agree 100%.
- No, tariffs won't fund the government. Don't really buy this argument or reasoning. The federal government budget in 2024 was $6.8 trillion but say 1/4 was waste or fraud and can be cut - that's $1.7 trillion right there. We've all seen the stats showing the top 10% of earners pay over 60% of all taxes and Trump hasn't targeted these folks just the ones making less than $200,000 to have Income Tax removed. That leaves just $520 billion in tariffs which seems doable. And this is just back of the napkin math.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Russiagate - slight of hand disguised as transparency. Like the idea of calling "redacted documents" as "selective transparency" instead.
- From the archives: In praise of slowness. Slow down. Read more books and watch less TV and for God's sake stop multi-tasking!
- VDH: Trump, Tariffs, Trade - and a Taboo? Wasn't aware of the Canadian oil sulfur content.
- It was an open secret. The Biden administration CHOSE not to do anything about it. And the corporate media CHOSE not to do any reporting on it.
Many a truth is said in jest.
- Credit (is credit or blame the right word) where credit is due.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Sen Josh Hawley on Meta (Facebook) and China.
- VDH with 10 Tariff Questions Never Asked. He's not wrong.
- German editor sentenced and fined for satirical picture of Interior Minister. The people who sentenced him were only following orders,
- From the archive: Navigating within your circle of competence.
Some thoughts on three of the most pressing issues of the day which are intertwined.
I happen to feel that Donald Trump knows what he's doing and is just metaphorically preparing the negotiations battlefield. I would not be surprised if President Trump and President Xi come to a deal that includes them smiling and shaking each other's hand.
I don't profess to know the future but this is how I see the situation. Your opinion may differ.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Perspective: Every war in history started as a Trade War. "Not every Trade War resulted in immediate armed conflict."
- Morgan Housel with thoughts on tariffs, economic history, and market decline. I disagree with much of his assumptions and think much of his thoughts on history are incorrect but agree with his stance of keeping an open mind since neither of us are experts in history or the economy (and certainly not me). And to be fair this was written before the big market rebound.
More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- 10 unfair practices faced by American exporters. Th first step is to become aware of them and the next step is to make them go away or suffer reciprocal tariffs/
- Judge orders Disney to hand over record in Gina Carano lawsuit. 100% on team Carano here.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Biden lied about everything, including nuclear risk, during Ukraine war. It's revealing that a story of how the American people were lied to and nuclear war was risked remains behind a paywall for the NYT and Matt Taibbi's Racket makes the story free. It's as if one is prioritizing dollars over journalism.
- Will antiviral chewing gum replace vaccines?
- VDH explains the Liberation Day tariffs. He's not wrong.
- The Oval Office meeting - the other 40 minutes. Combining this with the first link gives a very different perspective.
