Good morning one and all to another spectacular day!
Trump Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine
Trump to Address Joint Session of Congress Today
Europeans are fueling Russia’s war effort through gas purchases while militaries wither
EU Commission Unveils $840 Billion Plan to Boost Defense
Trump’s tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico take effect
Trump Announces $100 Billion Investment From Chip Company TSMC
Honda Yanks Production Of One Of Its Top Cars From Mexico After Tariffs: Report
Canada Will Impose 25 Percent Counter-Tariffs as US Proceeds With Blanket Tariffs: Trudeau
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
First!
🙂
HAH!
“Trump Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine”
End this idiotic war already.
It would be easier if this wasn’t happening: Europeans are fueling Russia’s war effort through gas purchases while militaries wither
I mentioned this to a bunch of Euro idiots, during a discussion this past weekend, and pointed out the problem is their green agenda and their assholish desire to dictate to the American tax payer, after they told me the Russian economy was weeks or months from collapse. Man they went nuts. You should have seen their reaction when they told me they would kick the US out of NATO and build their own militaries, and I told them I am all for that, that they better not ask the US tax payer to pay for any of that, and pointed out that it would end their welfare states.
Progressivism (globalist marxist cult) is a mental disorder…
The whole thing makes zero sense. I’ll bet we could find dozens of other conflicts around the world we could stick our nose in, we just chose this one because the backroom intel folks told us it was important.
It was important because Ukraine is corrupt as fuck, and a forever war there would replace Afghanistan. I remain convinced this stupid conflict is about resources and stealing tax payer money, primarily.
Oh Alex, there are other motives too. We’ve been dicking around in Ukraine for some time, the war is just the latest aspect.
I feel the same when I see Ukraine flags (not as often now that this crowd has the warm fuzzies for Hamas).
There are so many atrocities around the world but the professional left is only interested in the one that they have been directed to be interested in at any given time.
they have been directed to be interested in
Can’t expect the poor dears to think for themselves can you?
Trump Announces $100 Billion Investment From Chip Company TSMC
I don’t suppose anyone remembers the Foxconn debacle?
Does his order include DEI/CRT shit that make any government money a giant waste and slush fund for crime syndicates?
WTF? Foxconn was going to build a big, beautiful factory in Wisconsin, remember? Just because it is Trump doesn’t make industrial policy somehow more effective.
I didn’t remember it was Foxconn — but yeah, I remember several “investments” that failed to materialize that were touted by several administrations, including the Orange 1.0. Never count your chickens until
the USDA orders them all culledthe doors of the factory open for production — and often, not even then (as they shut down 6 months later after a token effort).We’ll see what happens — I think we’re better served all around by opening up resources, slashing the ludicrous regulatory state (how about not requiring businesses to have massive compliance departments? Separate health care from employment entirely so they don’t have to worry about managing health care besides their core business?) and use tariffs for shit like “competitors use slave labor” to make it uneconomical for companies to exploit things we aren’t evil enough to do. Some of that is going on — so hopefully that will be enough, and these silly announcements will be the pep rally crap on Friday afternoon that only the “cool kids” really care about… window dressing.
I’m apparently in a mood today judging from that writing… aren’t I?
/looks over at Intel
You don’t even need to go back that far.
Shovel ready?
A manure fork would work better
/Old Farm Boy
The only time a politician should be shoveling is if they are recreating the scene from Cool Hand Luke, and are doing so at gunpoint between two bosses (voters).
“Cold drink, boss?”
…
“NO!”
Canada Will Impose 25 Percent Counter-Tariffs as US Proceeds With Blanket Tariffs: Trudeau
Oh sure, Canada can totally win a trade war with the US.
You’re gonna unilaterally raise prices?
Well, we’re gonna raise them just as hard!!
Geniuses.
“USAID Is All But Dead”
Hammer a stake through their heart. Cut off the head. Burn the corpse. Salt the earth. Then nuke it from order. To make sure it stays dead.
You want to bet on Congress funding it again?
Any Congress critter that did that would be a real johnson.
Is you is, or is you ain’t my constituents? Those hungry mouths are still out there.
Didn’t Johnson announce yesterday they were going to do just that? He didn’t mention USAID specifically, but I don’t know how else to interpret “We’re not taking cutting anything identifed by DOGE. Maybe next year.”
They’ll never fund USAID again. USHELP and US+ will instead be stood up and funded at triple the USAID levels.
The reason congresscritters are in congress is to get their snouts in the trough, the trough’s name is USAID. Apparently Johnson has decided to completely fuck things up. In spite of all of the odds he is going to lose the house in the mid-terms for us.
“Weeeelllllll, maybe we will get around to looking at the DOGE recommendations next year….maybe….” <—–Republican SOP.
That cocksucker has no intention of doing anything about anything. He is a machine business as usual turd.
Your assumption that Johnson sees losing the house as a negative might be suspect. There is no way DOGE or anything to curtail government corruption happens if team blue takes over. In fact, that might help them get rid of any effort to do so. It this point it feels these people really are ticked off the American people wants to stop them from looting the sinking ship.
he is going to lose the house in the mid-terms for us
Who is “us”? We’re a bunch of fookin’ lunatics here; we’re the fringe. We don’t represent the mainstream R’s let alone D’s.
Us are the people that want things to change for the better. Now, we may differ on what that means (I, for example think the only solution is to nuke the D.C. area from orbit), but that’s us.
Us are the people that want things to change for the better.
We, aren’t a majority. We, aren’t really represented in Congress. We, are still screwed.
Sure, but it will go a long way to making me happy if D.C. was nuked.
Didn’t Johnson announce yesterday they were going to do just that?
If Congress sends Trump a business-as-usual budget, does he have the balls to veto and let a shutdown happen?
Because it will twitch back to life as soon as the short-memory morons vote the Democrats back into power.
Pull off its arms and legs and hide them in separate rooms of the dungeon.
Yeah — but several hundred years later… you know some idiot mage who just wants to check every nook and cranny will reassemble it in the Deep Roads just to have a chance at better loot.
It would be awesome for Congress to repeal the stupid national security tariff law that Trump is relying on and go back to how tariffs, like any other tax, had to be voted on in Congress.
Do their job and be accountable?
Much better to just delegate authority and suck up the graft.
And the voters just keep sending ’em back for more!
Canada Will Impose 25 Percent Counter-Tariffs as US Proceeds With Blanket Tariffs: Trudeau
Oh no, what will I do?
*furiously scratches maple syrup off grocery list*
I still haven’t opened the bottle of syrup I got at last year’s Honey Harvest. (I have to be careful about how I use a bottle of liquid sugar.)
To circle back to the actual topic, domestic production will cover domestic consumption, since most Americans eat maple-flavored corn syrup.
Hoarder! Kulak!!
Make alcohol out of it?
Ted S.:
A surprisingly rare and unusual thing. It’s used as an adjunct in quite a few things, but straight up maple wine is not that common. There is a distillery on the far east side that makes Red Maple:
Makes a great old fashioned.
obligatory
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Oh, the humanity… where will I get cheap maple syrup and poutine?
Dude, cook your own poutine. It’s french fries, cheese curds, and gravy.
Vermont
I don’t think real maple syrup has ever been cheap in my lifetime. Maple flavored corn syrup now…
Dr Otto, that’s simply a function of yield per acre and the overhead costs of farming maple versus maize.
Corn is just cheaper to make.
that’s simply a function of
Tariffs on cane sugar, to protect domestic corn and beet producers.
Tariffs on Cane Sugar are responsible for the annexation of Hawaii.
Local NPR said that the VT maple industry is going to be CRIPPLED! Because nobody in the US makes sugaring gear and the tariffs mean that none will be sold!
???
You can tap maple with very low tech means and you reduce it in a boiler. The fanciest setups automatically route the sap to the boiler pots.
Perhaps one year, I’ll pitch the girlfriend on getting sap out of the maples on the property. I don’t think I’ll get much overall from three trees though. But there are other places with maple trees as well.
Your verbiage reminded me of a culture war kerfuffle from back in college. A local bar wasn’t giving lesbian couples the benefit of “Ladies Night,” because (quoting the owner from memory) “men don’t get sap from those trees.”
So if a lady showed up wearing flannel it was game over?
I wonder how concerned NPR has been about every industry that moved from here to China over the years. 🙄
[steps forward to microphone]
I do not eat pancakes, and so do not use syrup of any kind.
[steps back]
So You were the one who ordered the dry French Toast.
Aunt Jemima hardest hit.
But yeah, #metoo.
What do you put on oatmeal along with butter, cinnamon and cream?
Hit by Uncle Ben, no doubt.
NA: Brown sugar.
Bacon, eggs and potato’s, every morning.
I wish part of Trump’s SOTU tonight will be an announcement that the income tax will be ended this year.
😁😄😂🤣
Why? I mean, I’m all for cutting the govt down to size, but you really want to zero out the defense budget? Or do we get a $5/gal gas tax to replace it?
Yep.
I ain’t skeered.
The strongest national defense a country can have is an armed populace.
Lunatic fringe affirmed.
*beams*
The income tax and the IRS have been weaponized against the American people. It has to go. Period.
You have to cut spending first then phase out the tax (so you can pay off the debt).
[cues up They’re Coming to Take Me Away, ha ha]
The income tax requires an extreme intrusion of the government into every citizen’s private business. There are a number of alternatives that would be less intrusive while collecting similar revenue. A national sales tax is probably the easiest to implement. A head tax would have tremendous advantages in terms of waking people up to how insane the spending is. None of this is going to happen unfortunately, but if we are fantasizing…
It doesn’t require that intrusion. You could simply have a tax of 17% above some earnings floor. No deductions, no credits, no exemptions.
Even that requires reporting of all your income transactions. 17% of what number? Ae capital gains taxed? How do we define income? 17% of gross revenue bankrupts most businesses immediately, so it has to be base don profit, which brings back in deductions of business expenses, which starts the slippery slope all over again. Sales tax reporting requires significantly less detail, and none with regard to individual citizens.
Um, gas is $4.89 at my house. And I drive a Tesla.
Bring it on.
It will be interesting to see how he responds to Johnson’s announcement: “Fuck you and fuck the DOGE you rode in on. We’re not cutting anything.”
“Here’s the Epstein List. Oh! Lookie here! Mike Johnson!”
Wasn’t there some big deadline of yesterday to produce all the files?
Queue Lucy with a football.
I see Bondi this morning saying all of the agents that were involved in the collection and storage of those files have already been let go. If the ones holding it now are still not releasing them on orders I am guessing they are incredibly damning to so many people….I mean, c’mon, that many agents throwing themselves on their own sword?
How many people are on the list, who are they and WHERE ARE THE TAPES?
I want to see the tapes or the FBI disbanded. Both might be in order.
They took the files with them, of course. Personal property and all.
I hear there will be a lot of performative bullshit from the people that have nothing but that.
Trump walks up to the podium: “My constitutionally mandated state of the union report to congress is in the packet under your seats. Good night.”
The big issues are polling at 60-70% favorable for Trump. I’ll bet a lot of people will watch tonight. It’s a great time for those idiots to make fools of themselves.
How does this make any sense?
Colorado bill looks to expand SNAP to allow restaurant food purchases
Cool. Can we make sure to tie into to my Uber Eats account?
That way I can have the state directly feed me at my home.
Ensure SNAP recipients can get any dish. Don’t stigmatize them by limiting them to the value menu.
Happy Meals or GTFO!
Whycome you hate restaurant owners and workers?
Using the poors to virtue signal with your tax dollars.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Interesting article in today’s WSJ about how many times an automotive part crosses the border. A coworker pointed out how rich this makes Warren Buffett. He’s right.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/track-one-car-parts-journey-through-the-u-s-canada-and-mexicobefore-tariffs-7c0d5dcb?st=NpLk6j&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Is Buffett still profiting on that railroad oil gimmick?
I thought he helped shut down the XL Pipeline specifically for that reason?
He didn’t “help” shut it down. He was the principal behind it being shut down. His train transport companies made bank because of that.
Not just Keystone, he collaborated with Whitmer and Inslee to make sure oil kept coming in on rail in their respective states.
Buffet’s dad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Buffett#Political_philosophy
If this has no giant golden Trump statue, I do not want it.
I read that this morning. If it works out, that should be the biggest news of the decade. Best part is Egypt wants Hamas completely out of it.
Trump is acting like a husband getting out of chores. He starts to do something completely wrong, and the wife says, “OMG JUST LET ME DO IT!”, and then he sips iced tea and watches a baseball game. Genius.
Best analogy ever I heard there TOK. The husband that wants to get out of work…
Wake me up when Honda brings back the S2000.
I have a friend that had one. He brought it up to visit me on a sunny spring day.
He said I had to drive it and rev the snot out of it. I remember my very pregnant wife in the passenger seat very unhappy with me while ripping around the neighborhood.
How tiny is your wife that she could fit in it while pregnant? I didn’t get into it as much as put it on like a pair of pants. And yet, I preferred it to the Toyota MR2.
I can understand her anxiety, especially if you like to hang your arm out the window — it’d be a good way to lose some fingertips.
She’s not tiny. It was interesting watching her shoehorn herself in the seat.
Naturally, I said nothing…
The local Honda dealer has a nice one in their showroom. I told them that if it’s brought back at a reasonable price, they can have my money.
II enjoyed driving it so much more than my Z3.
The S2000? A Miata rip-off, which is an MG rip-off, which is a Datsun Fairlady rip-off.
I may be wrong, but I think that the S2000 has a power:weight ratio double that of the miata. That what it felt like at least.
Shopping for a convertible is even more fun than shopping for a gun. Alas, to have gobs of unnecessary cash lying around again.
I’d argue more Jag than MG. But I think they looked at Lotus too.
The Nissan 240Z changed the reputation of a whole country
https://youtu.be/imsbLkTT9Ac?si=S3sEWqrCUQyAjJBC
Yeah, the S2000 was a beast next to a Miata. They loved to rev and made great power up high in the rev band. I had the pleasure of driving a neighbor’s.
Eh, maybe a Jaguar analog for those who worship the auto (like us), but there really wasn’t the institutional memory of the E-type like there was of the MGB. And having the power to weight ratio like that is the wrong marketing for a light, open two seater; you move into competition with the ‘Vette at that price point, and Mazda had the third gen RX7 which was a world beater around it that cost. The MX5 appealed to aging boomers, who wanted the looks more than the performance, and kids who saw a real tune-up special. Much better from both performance envelope and market position. The Honda was neither fish nor fowl, and would have had a better run under the Acura branding.
The 350Z, direct ancestor to the 240z, which as you said changed the perception of a country to the rest of the world, was a better car in every aspect, and was worth the wait for.
I never drove a Boxter, but in the class of light open fin-de-siècle two seaters, the S2000 was the most actively fun to drive. The Z3 was the most effortless to drive, the thing was freaking telepathic. The MR2 was trying to convince the driver that they were in a race car, and the MX-5 was a Mazda that the roof came off.
I should clarify that the MR2 was the one I would like to own the least.
Owning a Z3 back then was quite revelatory. Salespeople would come out of the stores to greet you when you parked.
I love my 350Z.
I saw yesterday that Nissan killed the GT-R.
The company is dying.
The company is dying quickly. The deal with Honda fell through, for reasons not stated. BY NOT STATED MEAN… Honda probably found major accounting irregularities and wanted nothing to do with it. We might never know the real reason. I was surprised I saw a couple of Infiniti commercials last night.
I was hoping the return to common sense and gas engines would save them.
RJ – Honda / Nissan.
Honda wanted plants closed globally that Nissan publicly stated weren’t going to be closed in the middle of negotiations. The most effective and affordable way for Honda to merge was to make Nissan a wholly owned subsidiary. Nissan’s management wanted no part of that.
The first one really irked Honda and the second one was the punishment for the first one.
I saw yesterday that Nissan killed the GT-R.
Yeah, imagine a market for a 6-figure Nissan.
Nissan, the Lancia of Japan.
There is a market for super cars.
The GT-R was a dragon slayer when it was introduced.
Like every other model in the line up, Nissan just cashed the checks, did no innovations, and let the GT-R get dated and non-competitive.
Apparently the dems plan on ramping up their resistance. I am not sure how they intend to do that but apparently heckling Trump off of the stage at the address to congress is part of the plan.
That should go over well.
Please tell me they are going to cosplay the event.
You really want to see Schumer and Pelosi as furries?
No, cowardly lion and wicked witch of the west.
Trump’s one of the few people with the ability to talk over anyone. Should be interesting.
I hope they do, and I hope they never learn that is the kind of shit that got them defeated last November.
And what will Congressional Republicans learn (if anything, ever)?
As Mike Johnson has just demonstrated, they too are incapable of learning.
You say that, but he just got re-elected to represent his district.
Once again, is this going to win ANYBODY over? Trump will mess up something eventually, if they just acted halfway sane they could capitalize on that.
Trump breaks people making them unable to act rationally.
The Congressional GOPers will aggressively learn nothing AND the Congressional Dems will double down on stupid.
We will continue to play our role as the new prisoner who just dropped the soap in the shower.
I see Milton Friedman’s criticism of tariffs continues to be ignored. It’s stupid to make your own X if you can buy it for less from someone else. This is one of the things that has hamstrung many African countries – they insist on trying to produce as much of their own as possible even as aid of all sorts streams in by massive amounts.
Yeah, it sucks that the textile industry there has stagnated because of all the imported secondhand clothing. So what? Pretty much all the cars, trucks, and buses there are imported with hardly any complaints.
In a similar way, the US has stupidly subsidized corn ethanol when you could just buy it at half price from Brazil where they make it from sugarcane, which is basically the only sane way of making the stuff.
I suppose quality, working conditions, and environmental concerns could tip the scales in favor of tariffs, but they almost never do.
“I see Milton Friedman’s criticism of tariffs continues to be ignored. It’s stupid to make your own X if you can buy it for less from someone else. ”
Totally correct, but a real stupid move when you are either enriching an entity which has designs that involve crushing you or playing on a non level field where the other side is using them to fuck you over. See, for example, the Euros buying oil & gas from Russia while then giving loans (the Euros are not giving the Ukes any free shit like the US tax payer) to Ukraine in a war or the US making China a threat to the world. And right now every one of these export partners has tariffs to make the US products unviable in their markets. Sure American buyers might be getting cheaper shit – for now – but in the long run they will find themselves not able to afford anything.
Also, tariffs are a great negotiating tool as even a threat of economic disruption often is enough to affect bad actors.
The Ukes should cut out the middleman and borrow directly from Russia.
Tariffs work OK as a threat. Following through on them is generally dumb. I’d be OK with them if it meant the end of the income tax (lesser of 2 evils), but that’s unlikely to happen.
I don’t worry too much about China. They have even more internal problems than Russia and a less competent military.
We could fix most of our problems and fuck over our enemies by just building oil refineries and nuclear reactors. Cheap energy = world peace.
St. Greta casts her hairy eyeball upon thee and screeches “HOW DARE YOU!”
Tariffs work OK as a threat. Following through on them is generally dumb.
Threats are worthless if you’re not willing to follow through.
“We could fix most of our problems and fuck over our enemies by just building oil refineries and nuclear reactors.”
The globalist cabal fears nothing more than an independent, self sufficient US, because they would lose any and all levers of power. As long as the US, and in particular the US blue collar middle class, exists, their reset plans are moot. Even if you forget the guns, prosperous Americans would never go along with a drastic standard of living reduction necessary for the globalists to bring forth their utopia. Especially since the powers that be want to off 3/4 of humanity, and Americans not willing to give up their sovereignty will be the most dangerous critters to their cause.
Yeah not buying it really.
I think Trump actually just thinks tariffs are good.
In the current trade environment, after the destruction wreaked on the US market & workforce, these tariffs from our side are great to use. We are the biggest market in the world. Sure we got some cheaper (and shittier) goods the way things are now, but if most of us are unemployed and end up on the government dole, this is going to end us. Their markets are shut, and ours are wide open. This allowed China to syphon off a massive amount of wealth from us. Now that wealth is being used against us. Like Lenin said: the capitalist will sell the commie fuck the rope to hang the capitalist with. And that is proving to be accurate and frightening right now.
I cannot at least stomach tariffs on China. They are inherently evil so yada yada.
But this popular rationalization is not something Trump believes anyway. He believes tariffs are an inherent good. How do I know? Just ask him. One of his biggest strengths and weaknesses is that he is an open book.
LOL true.
As part of that tradeoff it’s a good thing we are so rich* we can afford to pay millions of Americans to sit around and get high all day instead of doing something productive.
*Not really
Friedman was right from a pretty narrow, blinkered, green-eyeshade perspective. The world is more complicated than that. I have little doubt you couldn’t make a case, on a pure cost basis, for offshoring most US manufacturing and even laptop jobs. I’m not sure that results in a better society, though. It’s interesting that in the “free trade”* era, US GDP, especially ex-government borrowing, has not grown noticeably faster.
*an interesting term for trade conducted under multi-thousand page regulations, but whatever
Err, “you could make a case”. Maybe I need to cut back on the Jack in my morning coffee.
This 840B plan will be paid for….how exactly? Goodbye watermelon bullshit, goodbye welfare state.
They are the 30yo kid getting kicked out of the nest throwing a temper tantrum and blaming their parents. It is painful but it has to be done.
Yeah. They chose their welfare state over providing for their own defense. In other words, modern European socialism was built on the backs of US taxpayers. Some EU countries will have to come close to DOUBLING their defense budgets. That money has to come from somewhere, and you need the resources to build it all. They have neither. Germany’s economy is currently shrinking, much of the rest of the Eurozone (Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc) are welfare states themselves, and they shredded their energy sectors in favor of green energy nonsense. Their native populations, those who would fight for their country, are few and far between since having opened the gates to the migrant hordes.
And they think that wretched setup can produce a military such that it can replace the US. Even if it can, it will take decades, and by then the hordes will have taken over, leaving this shiny new military in their hands.
Europe is Capital F Fucked.
Let us not forget we directly subsidize their drug costs, too. Their governments put a price cap on their drugs, we get the price hike.
Mojeaux:
That’s where things get interesting. My understanding is we allow them to cap the price on the drugs as that’s the only way they’ll honor the patents. I’m curious if the EU will decide to just ignore the US patents at some point in the next 10-15 years.
Nice. Now the EU can deficit fund the pointless war in the Ukraine.
EU Floats $158 Billion Fund to Boost Military Spending After U.S. Halts Ukraine Aid
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/eu-chief-offers-member-states-urgent-plan-to-boost-defense-spending-ec0c09d7?st=65ePMz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The 150 billion euro fund, which would be raised by the issuance of EU debt, would be focused on buying air- and missile-defense systems, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition, drones and antidrone systems, von der Leyen said.
I wonder why they never mention that the EU is giving the Ukes loans. They expect to be paid back. But Trump is a boor for deciding the US was cucked under the democrats and he wants to be paid back too.
What is really happening here is EU centralization. Right now, the EU cannot directly tax anyone, they only get payments from governments.
They want to float these war bonds that get repaid by direct taxes on citizens. The money itself will just be squandered, but now the EU will have the equivalent of the Sixteenth Amendment to squeeze wealth out of the peasants.
squeeze wealth out of the peasants
Sure, because that’s where the money is!
Not in Europe, JI.
Not in Europe.
They can give them the weapons they don’t have made in the factories they ain’t got.
All the weapons that the EU has given the Ukes came with a US guarantee of priority and bargain pricing from US weapons manufacturers. The EU literally has not given anything to the Ukes, since the US tax payer is the las stop in the money paying racket around this idiot war.
Can they be more specific? Why don’t they just say “Germany” because that is probably the major culprit.
Germany is indeed the major culprit. The green agenda from the East German government coalition over the last 20 years has cratered their energy infrastructure. These fools even shut down their nukes because they told people that was not green. Then reality – old winters and manufacturing energy requirements – hit, and they turned to Russia to help it make bank and keep the war going. I guess if you are giving the Ukes loans, eventually you expect to get it back, so running up the tab, is not that big a deal, the theatre about not stopping the war, notwithstanding.
They all keep talking about a military build up. With what energy? What resources and money?
Didn’t you hear? They were going to Confiscate all the US hardware in Europe.
Not sure how they plan to manage that when they don’t have an army.
East German
Did they bomb Pearl Harbor too? JFC, that’s where the voting base of AfD is – the former East German zone. And the West Germans were shaped (by NATO) just the way we wanted them to be, docile and compliant.
The AfD is not a conservative party except in the very limited sense of being nationalist and wanting to deport Islamic migrants. Their economic policies are a very leftwing platform of more social safety net spending. There is no significant party in Germany, or elsewhere in Europe, proposing significant reductions in social spending. I suppose it is a human trait to assume that someone your enemy hates is broadly on your side, but it isn’t true.
And has been the primary locus of European – world, even – eco-nuttiness since the seventies. As long as the U.S. helped keep them rich, it was easy to maintain the fantasy. We are only witnessing the begininnings of the whole thing falling apart. It could get ugly.
Germany today is nothing like West Germany was: however it is almost 100% like East Germany was. Thank Merkel and her cabal for that.
It’s not like any of them have a coherent energy plan.
France does.
France has a pretty serious army, too.
It was part of the national reconciliation, an incentive to get southern men to serve, and throwing a bone to the southern states getting huge deaths of land confiscated for federal bases.
It made lots of sense.
I’m meeting later today with a big GOP supporter whose small business imports nearly 100% of its raw materials from Canada (with no U.S. supplier alternatives available). Will be interesting to hear his take on the new tariffs! I remember back before NAFTA, his business barely squeaked out a profit. With NAFTA, it prospered and U.S. employment went up about 400%.
Bragg and now Fort Benning is back!
https://x.com/DerrickEvans4WV/status/1896924340983132407
But named for different people.
It’s not the same.
Yes. It is totally different, just a coincidence.
It was stupid to ever name them after Confederate “heros”.
Kinda the deal unless you want to tell southerners that they aren’t “really” Americans. Admittedly, a lot of the Yankees do really think the south needs to be a subjugated territory controlled by FedGov, but they don’t like to admit that.
It was part of the national reconciliation, an incentive to get southern men to serve, and throwing a bone to the southern states getting huge deaths of land confiscated for federal bases.
It made lots of sense.
To NA’s point, this was to bring the country back together, and not keep the old wounds fresh. The carpet baggers did enough damage to this post Lincolns death that fairly extreme measures were needed.
This was one.
Ft. Bragg was built in 1918, so the tail end of WWI. That’s just a bit past the end of Reconstruction, and well into the Southern Progressive Democrat era.
No, but it is hilarious.
I bet he got that straight from Donald.
I’ve lived in the north for 50 years and never heard anyone, ever, talk about making the South some kind of federal territory.
And a lot of the statuary celebrating southern military leaders didn’t go up until the ’20s. Memories are long, and things take a while to work themselves out.
The Klan actually peaked in influence in the 20s/30s, and not just in the South.
The second half of your statement destroys any argument you might be making with the first half.
To avoid future controversy just rename to “Fort 1”. Same with every government building.
“To get to Fort 1 from Fort 1, you have to fly to Fort 1 and go voerland for some three hundred miles, don’t turn at the fork, or you’ll end up at Fort 1.”
Paging LT Hood, Korean War hero…
A few days behind I started watching the most recent Rogan Musk interview. The shit DOGE is finding is amazing.
https://x.com/Leksents/status/1896925948878164449
A sugar free product I never liked mixed with alcohol. Yum?
Kraft Heinz Dips a Toe Into Booze
Processed-food giant rolls out Crystal Light vodka seltzers as core food brands struggle
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/kraft-heinz-dips-a-toe-into-booze-60c103d1?st=xE34JH&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Seems like a Hail Mary to me with the same unlikely completion.
You would’ve thought they’d go for a [hail] Bloody Mary.
Yuck, yet another flavored seltzer that gets you drunk.
I’m waiting for the non-alcoholic Crystal Light vodka seltzers.
I remember getting really hammered on Diet Crystal Pepsi and Captain Morgan. It was not good, but effective.
Ah, the transparent soft drink fad…those were the days.
Relevant to the clear drink fad:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sjRG34DlA
Ha, I greatly preferred “clear cola” to the regular thing. I doubt I have drunk the original stuff more than a handful of times in the decades since.
I’m hoping they used simple syrup for the shots where people were eating.
It’s not the first.
Lots of them are trying to get a cut of the RTD (Ready to Drink) market. There’s some interesting positioning going on, but it seems that the winners (so far) are the ones that have either:
1) Partnered with a known liquor brand (Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Jameson, etc.)
2) Set themselves up as a premium product (OTR is the big one that comes to mind here)
3) Were able to get out into the public early (Cutwater and Long Drink come to mind here).
4) Are going low/no alcohol (THC mocktails or just RTD mocktails)
This could either continue to stick around and become a core part of the market, or it’ll be a fad that blows over (like the hard pop trend a while back).
Yeah. The non-alcoholic component is the attraction here. Plus the distribution, but I don’t know how many states allow easy grocery store sales of alcohol.
As you noted one of the successes seem to come from the alcohol component’s brand and reputation. Less so the other way around.
Sensei:
It’s more restrictive than even grocery store sales. PA just recently allowed the sale of RTD cocktails at all. Here in Ohio, as long as they’re under 41 proof, they can be sold outside the liquor stores. However, depending on what process was used may determine what license you need to have in order to sell it. Here there’s a different license to be able to sell beer and to be able to sell cider/wine/mead. Most of the grocery stores and retail establishments will get both, but every once in a while you’ll come across a place that is only selling beer or wine (I’ve yet to see a place selling just cider or mead).
I’ll say that at the price point, some of the RTD cocktails are passable substitutes. One local brand sells their in a pouch at a very reasonable (~$6/375 ml) price. When it starts warming up, I’m going to toss one into my ice cream maker to see if it’ll set up into a frozen cocktail or just get superchilled.
I like On the Rocks.
I liked some last night, in fact.
lol “Hard pop” was my daily drink long before the market caught on.
rhywun:
There was a brief time when I had to be careful buying stuff. Sprecher decided to jump on the hard pop trend, and used very close to the same packaging and identical bottles to their regular pop. We still see their pop around (at the fancy stores), but I haven’t seen anything (outside of maybe their hard root beer) else of theirs in quite a while.
Inside One CEO’s Impossible Mission to Stay Ahead of Trump’s Tariffs
Tormach is among the businesses slicing spending and raising prices to blunt the damage of a potential trade war
https://www.wsj.com/business/a-manufacturer-tried-to-get-ahead-of-trumps-tariffs-it-still-got-whipsawed-371e6f05?st=FZiYpU&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Yup… I’m curious what the cost savings of the Mexican production is compared to using the US.
I see local convenience stores hiring at $15/hr, so I would have to assume assembly line labor, even unskilled, is running higher than that. Hard to imagine Mexico isn’t cheaper than that.
I could be process reasons. There might be a couple actions that are cheaper in Mexico, not to mention cheaper labor costs.
Might also be the vastly fewer regulations.
We may want to look at that too.
Well, the instant coffee I drank around 5 is keeping me out of bed, so that’s good. I couldn’t find St John’s Wort at the grocery store yesterday. Maybe Wal-Mart has it. Speaking of which, I suppose I should get a job there. At least I’ll be able to walk to work.
A gallery of busty vagina-havers and future inseminated persons on Titty Tuesday.
https://archive.is/5SNeV
#2, yowza!
#48 was worth the scrolling.
MY GIRLFRIEND!
Preach brother!
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2025/03/04/americans_can_no_longer_tolerate_european_entitlement_152446.html
Nice rant!
Not unless we get to fck Europe some, cause they are right now not even giving us a reach around.
I wish all the businesses that froze out Russian vendors would just take the Russian vendors back on. Looking at YOU, Etsy.
There was no need for that. Putin does not give 2 shits about a few Russian cross-stitch designers and it’s not going to hurt his bottom line.
It’s all about sending the acceptable message, effectiveness is optional.
It’s all virtue signalling. Yeah they’re not doing it to hurt Putin, they’re doing it because they’re afraid of the consequences from certain quarters if they don’t.
There’s no reason why Europe can’t take care of their own defense, it’s time we stop letting them mooch off of us.
I’m on board with what he’s saying, that the US needs to not be the national defense for the entire Euro zone, but I disagree with the tone that this is a situation we got into by accident, or reluctantly. For generations, US foreign policy has been to meddle in the affairs of every country, our “allies” included, and our military presence in Europe flows from that policy.
This is correct.
The problem is now that Trump has rightly said it’s time for that to end, the Euros have lost their fucking minds because they know they’ve been using our lucre to subsidize their utopias.
It was bad strategy on our part, and terrible strategy on theirs. Their whole system is about to fall apart without our military defending all of Europe on our dime.
Their citizens are already taxed to hell for their social programs, and that was with minimal defense spending. Building an army and nuclear defense system of their own will require they pay for it. Citizens will become vassals of the state with how high they’re going to have to jack up taxes, because you know they’re not going to cut their social programs. They’d have revolution if they did. And that’s not going to pay for it either. In Europe the USSR may have lost, but communism has won, despite us spending trillions to protect them against it.
Once you put the turn signal on everybody has to yield.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/1j2w03e/oc_driver_decides_she_doesnt_want_to_turn_left/
He is still going to be made at fault for that collision.
https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-institutes-military-draft-for-everyone-with-ukraine-flag-in-their-facebook-profile
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump announced this week he will be instituting a mandatory military draft for any American who puts a little yellow and blue Ukrainian flag in their Facebook bio.
“These people, they want to fight,” Trump told members of the press Monday. “They put that little flag in their profiles and I know they really want to get out there, die for Ukraine. Really brave and tremendous people. Not me though, I’m not a flag person. No flags in my bio.”
The usual people will be all indignant. How dare you point out they happily support causes with terrible effects/consequences to other people?
We will fight to the last Ukrainian!
The new version of the Republican voting gun owner for sensible gun control seems to be anyone tangentially related to our National Parks. The media blitz on this particular DOGE target really has surprised me.
Federal layoffs hit the deep-red, rural US west: ‘Our public lands are under threat’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/04/trump-doge-federal-layoffs-national-parks
Erickson is a small-government conservative, laments bureaucracy and stands by his belief that there’s a need to “cut the fat” at the federal level. But in his district, he foresees a lack of trail maintenance hurting local outfitting companies and understaffed parks with closed gates.
There should be no federal lands.
While true, the national park system is literally the most popular government-run org.
Hence why Obama closed them to pressure Republicans on a budget deal.
I would not go for them whole hog quite at this juncture.
Yeah, they had some crying on the local news about this last night. I don’t think they ever mentioned how many or what percentage of people had been laid off in Tucson or AZ, but they had some bint claiming the parks were going to be ruined somehow. And of course, the counterpoint was “well, I’m sure there might be a few cuts you could make here and there, but we need to go about it in a very measured and deliberate way”.
I’m waiting for the protests for the steel workers. Instead, we’ve got protests at the national park that lost (maybe) 6 positions.
How can I protest? I hadn’t planned on going to a national (or state) park anyway. I’m guessing there are about 300M other Americans that weren’t planning on visiting “Ol’ Faithful” this year either.
Trump will insure that some of those that were planning on visiting a park will not be able to go , from financial constraints.
100% of the taxpayers were paying for the parks that 10 % (maybe) would visit for a few days but a half dozen others will lose their jobs?
“Not my hobby horse!” Film at 11.
Nice detective work, The Guardian. 🙄
Turncoat backstabbery</a?
Michael McFaul, Washington’s former ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, likened the move to President Franklin D. Roosevelt losing “the 1940 election to an America Firster who then had the U.S. switch sides in World War II … We’d all be speaking German now.”
“That’s why this current moment feels like,” he wrote on X. “Three years into a war between an imperialist dictatorship with autocratic allies and a democracy, Trump just switched sides.”
And this is why you don’t allow elections in wartime.
Muh Ukrainian democracy! Fuck off…there are actually cogent and honest arguments (I disagree with them but they do have some merit) they can make but that argument is tailor made to manipulate the emotional and the stupid.
McFaul
Go kick Putin’s ass yourself you loudmouth pussy.
The Ukrainian military does accept foreigners who want to fight for them.
Except for the tiny detail that we are supposedly not at war either “side”, yes, it is exactly like that. 🙄
Canada Will Impose 25 Percent Counter-Tariffs as US Proceeds With Blanket Tariffs: Trudeau
You’ll be sorry when he price of Canadian Whisky soars.
So, something I don’t buy costs other people more?
But what if I already have enough Crown Royal bags for my dice collection?
Crown Royal apple + cinnamon tea = sleeping potion.
Well also all the mineral and fuel inputs we get will literally make everything in the US more expensive.
I imagine it will be much worse for Canada.
I’d feel more comfortable if there was a stated goal.
So? Canadian tariffs are just a tax on the Canadian people. Why should I care?
That’s why this is at least hilarious to me.
For all this talk of Trump not getting tariffs, it’s clear no world leader does either.
So apparently this flu was a little 72-hour thing, which, okay, great, but *I* had it over the weekend and now my husband has it during workdays. 🤮 I wish we had coordinated better.
By the truckload!
Mexico is suing Smith & Wesson and other gunmakers for damages, claiming that they are turning a blind eye to hundreds of thousands of high powered weapons made in the U.S that are illegally trafficked into in the hands of Mexican cartels.
——-
While 90% of gun dealers act legally in their gun sales, 5% do not, according to lawyer Jonathan Lowy, co-counsel for Mexico and president of Global Action on Gun Violence.
“Those bad actors sell to obvious cartel traffickers in bulk sales and repeated sales where the traffickers come into the store repeatedly over weeks and months, buying large amounts of AK-47s, AR-15s, sniper rifles that can shoot down helicopters, often paying in cash,” he says. “Manufacturers know who those dealers are, how they’re supplying the cartels, and yet they continue to choose to sell their guns through those dealers, and allowing those sales practices.”
Hundreds of thousands of American guns, with serial numbers and everything.
With that kind of demand, you’d think the cartels would just bring production in house. After all, they build their own submarines.
Of course manufacturers should be liable for the deliberate misuse of their products. That’s why Ford can be sued when someone deliberately runs over a bunch of people.
Well, I do keep seeing stories about cars or trucks driving into a crowd of people with little or no mention of the driver…
And of course you have asked the ATF for the records of all of these transactions, right?
sniper rifles that can shoot down helicopters
Oh I’m sorry, you’re a fucking moron, aren’t you?
“president of Global Action on Gun Violence”
Yes.
Smith and Wesson makes AKs? TIL.
Mexico notes that it is a country where guns are supposed to be difficult to get. There is just one store in the whole country where guns can be bought legally, yet the nation is awash in illegal guns sold most often to the cartels. Mexico maintains that gushing pipeline of what it calls “crime guns” comes from the United States where manufacturers know which dealers are the bad actors.
Sounds like an enforcement problem. Maybe they should sue the policia.
If their accusations hold up at all why not sue the dealers?
You mean Obama, right?
Of course they haven’t checked the inventories of the Mexican Army or Federal Police, have they?
The records say everything is perfectly in order!
How are they getting into Mexico? That seems to be the main problem. Maybe they should crack down on the cartels that are bringing them over the border?
Wait… you’re saying that BOTH sides may want to watch the border? If only there was someway we could coordinate this.
─Humphrey, I must talk to you about something; something that concerns me deeply, really profoundly important.
─Is it the Amendment to the Administrative Order on Stock Control in Government Establishments?
─No…
─…Or the Procedure for Renewal of Local Authority Leaseholds in… Special Development Areas?
─No, what concerns me is a Great Issue really of Life and Death.
─Ah… Shouldn’t that wait till after Work?
─How do British armament manufacturers sell their arms to Foreigners?
─I believe you have to get an Export Licence from the Department of Trade.
─So Private Firms can sell their arms abroad?
─Private Companies and Government Agencies.
─To whom do they sell?
─Foreign Governments, usually.
─Is that all?
─Well, sometimes you can sell to an arms Dealer, Third Party… Or perhaps a little man in Manchester buys on behalf of a Party in the Channel Islands who’s contacts in Luxembourg…
─So there’s no real Control over who the arms go to in the end.
─Indeed there is. The Dealer has to provide an End-User Certificate, which is a Signature acceptable to H.M.’s Government, that the ultimate Customer is in fact an Approved User.
─Is that a real Guarantee? I mean, would you be surprised, for instance, if a British aircraft carrier turned up in the Central African Republic?
─I, for one, Minister, would be very surprised. It’s 1,000 miles inland.
─You know what I mean. What about smaller weapons?
─It’s officially impossible. Stringent Security, rigorous Inspection Procedures, meticulous Scrutiny…
─You mean it’s all a facade?
─…Ah! I think perhaps this conversation should end here, don’t you, Minister?
─You don’t seem to be very worried by this information.
─These things happen all the time. It’s not our problem.
─So does robbery with violence. Doesn’t that worry you?
─No, Minister. Home Office problem.
─Humphrey, we’re letting terrorists get hold of murderous weapons!
─We’re not.
─Well, who is?
─Who knows? Department of Trade? Ministry of Defence? Foreign Office?
─We, Humphrey, the British Government. Innocent lives are being set at risk by British arms in the hands of terrorists.
─Humphrey, we have to do something.
─With respect, Minister, we have to do nothing.
─What do you mean?
─The sale of arms abroad is one of those areas of Government that we do not examine too closely.
─I have to, now that I know about it.
─You could say you don’t know.
─Are you suggesting I should lie?
─Not you, Minister, no.
─Well, who should lie?
─Sleeping dogs, Minister.
─I’m going to raise this.
─No, Minister, I beg you. A basic rule of Government is: never look into anything you don’t have to; never set up an Enquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be…
─I can’t believe this! We’re talking about Good and Evil.
─A Church of England problem.
─No, Humphrey. Our problem. We’re discussing Right and Wrong.
─You may be, Minister, but I’m not. It would be a serious misuse of Government time.
─Selling arms to terrorists is wrong. Can’t you see that, Humphrey?
─No, Minister. Either you sell arms or you don’t. If you sell them, they will inevitably end up with people who have the cash to buy them.
─But not terrorists!
─I suppose we could put some sort of Government Health Warning on the rifle butts: “This gun can seriously damage your health.”
damn that was longer than I thought. still a great bit of dialogue
Much like VEEP, Yes, Minister was basically a documentary.
Can’t we just give peace a chance?
Creamed peas! Now I’m hungry.
Maybe Mexico should pay us to build a wall.
Maybe, just maybe, there plan isn’t working.
Just sayin’
Maybe they should try here plan instead.
…and they are producing drugs that Americans users can get at prices they can afford.
A two way Wal-mart.
Somebody feeling a little insecure?
UK opposition politicians accused JD Vance of disrespecting British forces after he said a US stake in Ukraine’s economy was a “better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
The UK and France have said they would be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peace deal.
Vance has since insisted he did not “even mention the UK or France”, adding that both had “fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx7w7q7qzro
Does anybody really think Russia will accept a deal where troops from NATO countries are placed in Ukraine?
Hmm I dunno. If they get Donbas and Crimea and such I would be satisfied as Russia and not really care about the ungovernable (for Russia) part of Ukraine. As Russia, I would be nervous that someone in the west sends troops eventually. They’re already getting weirdly close.
NEW – British nuclear weapons can protect Canada against Trump, Liberal party leader Chrystia Freeland running to replace leftist Justin Trudeau has said — Telegraph
https://x.com/disclosetv/status/1896850106428936276
Jesus Christ.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/03/03/british-nuclear-weapons-canada-trump-chrystia-freeland/
She’s taken to task for the statement. It’s a reaction to the repeated 51st state jab.
Trump needs to realize that Canadians are like feminists. Thin-skinned with no sense of humor.
Trump will slap a tariff on the Brits – that’ll show ’em!
Literally zero grip on reality.
British nuclear weapons can protect Canada against Trump, Liberal party leader Chrystia Freeland running to replace leftist Justin Trudeau has said
“Nobody move, or the nigger gets it.”
The Canadians have to worry about being protected from their own government.
“Nobody move or the truckers get it”
“they told me the Russian economy was weeks or months from collapse.”
And Putin was supposed to be dead from cancer by now too.
It’s a hill- let’s die on it
Senate Democrats voted unanimously to block a Republican-led bill Monday evening that would prohibit federally funded schools from allowing transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.
In a party-line vote of 51-45, Democrats filibustered the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. It fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance as Democrats dismissed it as a distraction and a cynical political move.
——-
“Sen. Tuberville is trying to churn the social wars about something that really doesn’t exist,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said after he voted to block the bill. Hickenlooper has announced he will run for re-election in 2026 and, despite his vote, said he does not believe transgender women should be able to compete in women’s sports if the other women object.
“I saw the ads,” Hickenlooper said of the election in 2024, when Trump highlighted the issue. “I think that’s the kind of ad that works once. I don’t think it’ll work again. It’s an infinitesimally small group of people that are really trying to find their ways.”
Keep a firm hold on that tar baby, Democrats. Don’t let go, no matter what.
And Putin was supposed to be dead from cancer by now too.
Yeah, that whole Putin’s poor health story just went poof somewhere along the line.