Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy

No, Seriously

I know I can be a smug car free person sometimes - I could enjoy living in a lot of different types of places but my one requirement* is I don't need a car for my daily needs - but I genuinely don't understand how housesholds which need one car per driving age adult manage to afford them.

*Yes I know that this isn't a realistic option for everybody, and that fortunate circumstances have made it possible for me, but my point is I would make a lot of sacrifices, if necessary, to obtain this.

Keeping Out The Canadian Menace

A Trump administration victory.

A drop in Canada-U.S. travel has led Calgary-based WestJet to cancel more flights south of the border.

The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App The airline says it is suspending flights from Vancouver to Austin until October.

Flights to other destinations, including Orlando, Los Angeles and Chicago will also be halted at different times between June and August.

Airline flight schedules aren't extremely difficult to change, but once they change they aren't necessarily going to change back.

Lunch

eat

Almost Did It

The Republican attempt to just steal the NC Supreme Court seat actually failed.

Republican challenger concedes a 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court election to the Democratic incumbent.

Stock Market Madness

China: We will never speak with this hideous pig-monster, Trump. We will do everything in our power to hasten the collapse of this foul nation, which we expect will take approximately 7 weeks.

Stock market: 😐

Bessent: We think China's going to remember our phone number soon!

Stock market: 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

America's Love Affair With Car Parts

I don't know how anybody affords to maintain car ownership.

That’s why a new round of auto tariffs – this time on parts – coming into effect Saturday could upend the industry, even more than previous levies on imported cars.

As of 12:01 am ET on Saturday, most auto part imports will come with a 25% import tax.

Insurance costs will rise, also, too.

Morning

There you go again.

Tuesday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Late start

Mr. Deals

Ah well

US President Donald Trump said he would dictate tariff levels for US trading partners looking to avoid higher duties, appearing to move away from the idea that he would engage in back-and-forth negotiations.

“We’re going to put very fair numbers down, and we’re going to say, here’s — what this country, what we want. And congratulations, we have a deal. And they’ll either say ‘great,’ and they’ll start shopping, or they’ll say, not good,’” Trump said Tuesday at the White House as he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

And then Rising Sun will come on the TV and he'll hit Japan with a 12000% tariff.

Seems Bad

Some things can be reversed, but it is hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

This spring, Vance is vice president, and President Donald Trump’s administration is imposing deep cuts and new restrictions, upending the very restoration efforts that Vance once championed. With the peak summer season just around the corner, Great Lakes scientists are concerned that they have lost the ability to protect the public from toxic algal blooms, which can kill animals and sicken people.

But That Wouldn't Be Sporting

Always happy to be wrong, but there's a good chance the Dems just obey the rules they think should be there instead of the ones that are.

Senate Republicans are about to make a terrible decision while simultaneously highlighting a tool Democrats can use to promote legislative accountability. News reports indicate that Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is prepared to overturn Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s ruling that the Senate may not use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn Biden-era waivers allowing California to ban the sale of gas-powered cars.

But there’s a silver lining here. If Republicans take this step, Senate Democrats could force Republicans to vote on a myriad of the Trump administration’s unpopular actions, while stymieing the Republican agenda—legislation and judicial appointments included. So if Republicans push forward and accomplish a short-term goal, they open the door to even more difficult votes in the future.

Lunch

eat

Are They Working, Son?

I am dumb and could be wrong, but it is difficult to see how a retail apocalypse - along with other effects - isn't almost inevitable at this point. What will Sean and friends say then?

America's Worst State Attorney Generals

Dana Nessel.

Nom Nom Nom

This is an excellent example of sanewashing, which is repeated almost without exception in American media. The full video of Trump is here, in which he talks about being a movie maker and Alcatraz escapes and sharks. He is mixing reality with Escape from Alcatraz, which happened to be on TV on in South Florida right before he got this wonderful idea.

The writeup pulls the only sane-sounding bit of the quote. Here's the full one (I pulled this off the subtitles):

Well, I guess I was supposed to be a moviemaker. We're talking, we started with the movie making. It will end. I mean it it represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, I would say the ultimate, right? Alcatraz, Sing Sing and Alcatraz, the movies, but uh it's right now a museum, believe it or not. A lot of people go there. It has the most violent criminals in the world. And nobody ever escaped.

One person almost got there, but they, as you know, the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up and uh it was a lot of shark bites, a lot of, a lot of problems. Nobody's ever escaped from Alcatraz and just represented something uh strong having to do with law and order.

We need law and order in this country and so we're going to look at it, some of the people up here are going to be working very hard on that and uh We had a little conversation.

I think it's going to be very interesting. We'll see if we can bring it back in large form, and a lot, but I think it represents something right now it's a big hulk that's sitting there rusting and rotting, uh, very, uh, you look at it, it's sort of you saw that picture that was put out sort of amazing, but it, it sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable we. It's got a lot of, it's got a lot of qualities that are interesting, and I think they, they make a point.

This is what PBS quotes:

It represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order.

Morning

It's Tuesday already.

Monday Night

Rock on.