Happy Hour

Get happy

Sure Why Not

The annual GDP of the US is about $32 trillion.

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Anthropic is likely to tell investors that it sees its total addressable ​market (TAM) exceeding $30 trillion, ahead of the $28.5 ‌trillion estimate from SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

TAM is the annual revenue opportunity ​available if a product or service ​achieved 100% market share in its ⁠relevant market.

Because The Country's Gone Awry

You can imagine Canada might've even agreed, with some caveats, to this kind of thing, if it wasn't all currently at the whims of the Mad King and whatever AI slop he was seeing at 3AM.

Canadian negotiators had gone into the talks suggesting the ultimate goal should be to create a “Fortress North America,” as they called it, with ultralow or nonexistent tariffs inside its walls, namely between Canada and the United States, and aligned tariffs for outsiders.

The United States wanted Canada to apply U.S. tariffs to other countries, particularly when it came to steel, now and in the future: If the United States changed policy and place higher tariffs on certain goods from a third country, Canada would need to do the same, even if it already had a trade agreement in place, a Canadian official said.

Tariff alignment is one thing. Canada having to change their tariffs because an Italian comedian made a joke about Trump, or whatever, is quite another.

People

They were almost certainly kids, though they aren't going to release any additional information.

Two people have died in Pennsylvania from measles, the state health department said Tuesday. Both were unvaccinated.

These the first deaths related to measles within the state in 35 years, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the first deaths reported this year in the U.S.

 

Xi Ain't Reading All That

I suspect isolating China will be as easy as conquering Iran.

New York —  US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday vowed an “economic D-Day” for countries that buy oil from Iran. Experts say that means one country in particular: China.

Bessent didn’t name China on Monday, but he left little room for doubt.

Sure Why Not

Rich people, man.

Via the California Post, court documents reveal that York “responded to an ad on a known prostitution website in Columbiana County, Ohio and ‘arranged to have sexual activity with the female in exchange for $140.00.’”

Per the report, York went to the meeting location — a trailer park in East Palestine, Ohio. He was taken into custody after a law-enforcement agent from the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force determined that York had “in his possession his cellular device which was used to arrange the criminal act.” (Which apparently means that the “criminal tool” was the cell phone.)

The "heart" wants what it wants, I guess. 

Main Character Syndrome

The US has long had it, but I think once upon a time it was more justified. We are, much more than 30 years ago, just another country.  

One with a huge military (though that too has limits, as we see) and too much control over the international financial system, but no longer the center of everything culturally and economically.

To some extent that's because we "won." American influence is apparent in much of the world. But you don't need McDonald's franchises to have fast food chains.

The US is economically big enough that it matters, but the rest of the world doesn't need us to buy from them or sell to us nearly as much as "we" think they do.

Only about 4% of the world's population.

Morning

 Taco Tuesday.

Monday Evening

Relax.

Why Indeed

Genius Bessent admits he can't go through with his threats.

Asked why the US is threatening Iran’s business partners instead of penalising them, Bessent said: “Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behaviour. Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”

Or at least admitting the consequences of doing so. 

Sure Why Not

Pretty easy to draw the appropriate conclusions here.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — San Francisco 49ers owner John “Jed” York was arrested in the Valley over the weekend and found guilty of two misdemeanor charges.

York pleaded no contest Monday morning to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools. He was arrested Sunday in East Palestine and posted $5,000 bond.

WKBN requested a police report, which states only: “On August 23, 2026, the East Palestine Police Department assisted the MVHTTF on the arrest of John York.”

The police report lists the time and location of the arrest as 9: 35 a.m. at Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community off state Route 170.

The release from East Palestine police states all further information must come from the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force. WKBN reached out to the task force for further information and is awaiting a response.

Rich guy pleads no contest to lesser chargers, presumably. 

Doug Ford: We Sure As Hell Can, Bitch

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on a trade war with Canada: "There's no possible way it can really affect US well-being"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 24, 2026 at 5:20 PM

Much more than just electricity.

At Least The War Is Over

Our approach to all international disputes when anyone responds forcefully is "mommy he hit me back." I think most of even our dimmest jingoistic pundits have realized that isn't very convincing in this situation.

All of this began with the US murdering Khamenei and then blowing up a school for girls. I'm not sure what "taboos" are left that we can legitimately complain about.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Tehran would not bow to an escalating pressure campaign by the Trump administration, after one of the country’s top security chiefs threatened reprisals against countries that joined the United States’ “economic war.”

Everyone Should Scream At Alan Whenever They See Him

It's good fun.

Dershowitz and David got into an infamous altercation on Martha’s Vineyard in 2021 that resulted in the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld” creator calling Dershowitz “disgusting” to his face. Dershowitz, who was a member of Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein’s defense teams at various points in his career, confirmed the fight in a 2022 interview with The New Yorker and opened up again on his falling out with David in a new profile published by The Atlantic on Aug. 18.

“Larry David doesn’t talk to me anymore,” Dershowitz told the publication. “He screams and yells at me when he sees me.”

David responded by telling The Atlantic: “I don’t know why he’s still thinking and talking about me. I have lots of confrontations on my show but rarely in life. And then only if I think I can take them in a fight. Hence the Dershowitz dust-up.”

Alan's made lots of new friends recently. Isn't hanging with the MAGA crew enough for him? 

Haven't We Been Here Before

If they were smart, they would make Donald touch the stove.

TORONTO (AP) — Ontario’s Doug Ford tells AP Canada should be ready to cut electricity, critical minerals to US if trade fight worsens.

 

Trump still hasn't figure out what a trade deficit it is.  The quickest way to solve his problem is to refuse to sell things to the US.  Then he should be thankful!

Will We Though

Above my pay grade, like many things, but the global map of US military bases is always a horrifying thing to see and I suspect having fewer dots on that thing would be good.

In my judgement, the US Armed Forces have probably permanently lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases. Iran now poised to control access the Gulf States. US will have to negotiate new access in western Saudi Arabia, Israel, southern Europe. https://t.co/oG4aeEshab

— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) August 22, 2026

Sunday Evening

Monday is tomorrow! I am sure there will be many quality posts to celebrate the new week.

When Canada Is Dead And Gone

Not that there was much chance of Canada acquiescing to the Mad King's desire to have it be the "51st state," but we can see that this would not have been some sort of merging of equals with appropriate representation (how many senators does Canada get?), but colonial conquest.

I know it is silly even to engage such ideas, but I suppose there are some who still imagine something other than demented and malevolent intentions are possible.

Everyone Gets To Use A Pencil

The flip side of President Deals never sticking with his deals is nobody else is obligated to, either.

About Time Someone Said It

I'm no Carney superfan, but he does seem to have figured Trump out.

After opting against a trade deal with American counterparts, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada's government 'recognized from the start' that the U.S. has changed. 'We recognized that sometimes its signature was written in pencil,' Carney said.

It is very funny that one of the dealbreakers was the US demanding they trash their various French dual language requirements. Like asking the US to cancel football.