Good Resolutions

It is completely unclear just what the Trumpers would think is a good resolution. Maybe headline 2 1 is it?

(from cnn)

You Fucked Up, You Trusted Us

I remember that the response of centrist idol, Christine Todd Whitman, to earlier disclosures of the dishonesty about post-9/11 air quality was, basically, of course the air quality was garbage, you stupid fucks.

In the harrowing months that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center, New Yorkers were repeatedly assured that the air around the fallen towers was safe to breathe.

But 10 months later, health officials were still finding evidence of asbestos as much as half a mile away, according to a sample of air quality records being released on Tuesday.

Donald The Dove

Sure it's the right result for catastrophically wrong reasons, but one cheer for Donald, the peace president, if he manages to shrink our global military presence.

In offices across the military and in the intelligence community, there have been recent quiet discussions about cutting the number of people and facilities typically stationed in the Middle East if the Trump administration succeeds in ending the Iran conflict, six sources say. 

If those cuts happen, it would mark another shift in how the US national security apparatus treats a region that successive presidents have sought to leave behind.

How hard have those successive presidents really tried to leave it behind... 

Morning

Totally Tuesday

Tariff Day Already

Canada's retaliatory tariffs kick in at midnight tonight.

I'm not going to claim economists have been fans of Trump's tariff games, but I do know that when lefties propose tariffs, but leftily, a swarm of economists hit the media to explain why it is the most damaging policy ever imagined.

Tom Friedman would have published 8 columns per day. His life's work threatened.

The response has been... muted.

Lunch

Holiday posting schedule.

The Newspaper Shouldn't Be Complicated

I know that most journalists would defend this Haberman special  as obviously highlighting the absurdity of Trump's obsession with his little building projects, but readers shouldn't need a decoder ring for this stuff.

As the war with Iran grinds on, Mr. Trump finds reprieve by focusing on the minutia of an endeavor much more within his grasp: renovating Washington with ornate projects.

“He loves to build,” Mr. Lutnick said, shortly before an emergency hearing about Mr. Trump’s desire to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in his own honor. Mr. Lutnick added: “This is what he enjoys. So late at night, 11 o’clock at night, he calls me and wants to talk about things he’s building, because it’s fun for him.”

“If you sat with him, would you have a nice chat with him? No, you’d ask him about Iran, then you’d ask him about this, then you’d ask him about that,” he noted. “Everybody does that. And the one thing he likes to do during the week is construction.”

Writing it up as a piece about his charming eccentricities is a choice. There are other ways to write it.

 

Where's Mitch

It is quite reasonable to ask just how long a senator can be absent.

Morning

Holiday Monday funday.

Sunday Evening

 The fun starts again tomorrow.

How Low Can It Go

Often IRL friends ask me why Trump's poll numbers aren't lower. I explain that absent economic catastrophe, it is unlikely any president gets any lower than where Trump is now.

But implicit in their question is the belief that if his approval is low enough, then Something must happen. 20% approval would trigger... something.

And it really won't.

How Did They Mess This Up

This is a rhetorical question, of course, but given that the 45 year prime mission of the neocons was to conquer Iran, how did they screw it up this badly?

At Least The War Is Over

Escalating tit-for-tat is unlikely to lead to a anything good.

Morning

Sunday funday

Saturday Evening

Enjoy

People Who Pay Their Bills Are Suckers

Trump's beliefs about the losses from trade probably aren't entirely an extension of his core business practice, but I suspect they are not unrelated.

I also suspect that going after the rich guy from TV with a series of ads from people he had stiffed over the years would have been effective.

Good journalism angle, too, if we had any journalists anymore.

At Least The War Is Over

With Iraq, "everyone" agreed it was a glorious idea even though nobody could agree on why or what it was supposed to achieve.

I suppose most pundits basically agreed with Richard Cohen, whatever they said, that the "prudent [?] use of violence could be therapeutic." Afghanistan didn’t cure their wwr boners. 

Still the entire neoconservative movement had been building up to it and even they didn’t have a clear, generally agreed upon, purpose.

And that was complete clarity compared to whatever we have now with Iran.

Iran has grown more confident in its ability to attack targets in the Middle East and appears determined to continue the conflict for months to frustrate the United States, according to U.S. intelligence reports in recent weeks.

Probably the goal of their war now is to change the name of Tehran to Trump City. Actually he will probably tell google to do that tomorrow.

We all know that hippies and George McGovern humiliated America by losing  [it was a tie] Vietnam. Obama lost Iraq, Biden lost Afghanistan, and now President Emanuel will lose Iran.

That is how popular history is written.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

Friday Happy Hour

Ladies and gentlemen... The weekend.

Sure Why Not

New innovations in heterodox political economy.

President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to prevent the US from trading with many nations unless the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates.

 

“LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged ‘the President’ has an absolute right to do,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “IT’S BETTER THAN TARIFFS! The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart - BE PATRIOTS for a change.”