Trump - Economy

In other words, "Donald, you better tell your minions to start making-up and pumping-out some good economic numbers" 

 

 

Trump - Gaza

Nice truce you got there.

Israel has violated Gaza truce nearly 500 times in 44 days, killed hundreds 

Netanyahu stresses Israel 'responsible for its own security' in Gaza amid ceasefire crisis
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the cabinet to discuss the ongoing military actions in Lebanon and in Gaza. He denied that Israel needed any approval but its own for defense. 

Like everything Trump does. He sells the sizzle but then ignores the steak. 

 

Also, How many times has Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire? Here are the numbers

One graphic..

 

Trump-Ukraine

Trump-Putin-Zelensky 

Maybe Putin does have that picture. 

Trump - Mamdani

Trump is so easily swayed by flattery, money, gifts, good looks, a good story, etc.  I imagine the back-office maneuvering of his staff is dangerous as hell. The tell-all books over the next few years will be best sellers.

'I'll be cheering for him': Takeaways from Trump and Mamdani's surprisingly cordial meeting 

Trump

Every one of these Trump signing pictures showing off his signature

needs to have the signature page replaced with this.

 

 

Car Insurance

Why car insurance costs have soared (and what drivers are doing about it)

This looks like a good place for my car repair story.

One morning every light on the dash was on on my 2016 Honda CRV. When I opened the hood a squirrel jumped out. We live in the country and this had happened before on other cars. I figured a wire was chewed up so started looking. I found several chewed spots and eventually found one connector under the engine that had the wires chewed out of the back. I was pretty sure this was the problem.

I think I could have fixed it. It was easy to reach but 1. I couldn't find the connector at any parts store. 2. With all the dash lights on, I thought there could be a computer problem or at least a diagnostic tool would be needed and 3. I wasn't sure this was the only bad spot in the wiring. So off to the Honda Dealer.

After a day or two they called me. Yep the chewed spot I found was the problem but Honda doesn't sell just the plug, that's the main computer line with all the safety stuff, anti-lock brakes, radar cruise, etc, you have to buy the entire harness.

Estimate to replace? $8,800 !!

Cost of the harness? $4,400 !! 

The harness was about 10 feet long, maybe. It had a lot of wires in it but couldn't have had more than 150 feet of light copper wire (18-20g) and maybe 10 or 12 connectors.  150 foot spool of 18g wire is about 65$ at the box stores, 20g would be cheaper. Each connector costs a few dollars and there is labor to put it all together, I could believe 500$ but $4,400 is corporate robbery. 

In the old days, whenever that was, they would have got the connector from a junkyard, spliced the wires and I'd have been back on the road for a couple hundred bucks.

But today... Corporate doesn't want greasy mechanics splicing wires in safety systems that could get someone killed. The dealer can't go around a Honda recommendation or they would be liable. After the car VIN hit the Honda repair system, I was afraid to fix it myself. I didn't want to be liable. and... my insurance would pay for it.

So, $8,800 it was. Insurance paid all but my deductible. 

Insurance, for most things today, just leads to a crazy inflation circle. Anyone getting paid by insurance jacks-up the bill as much as possible because they know the money is there. The consumer doesn't really care, insurance is paying for it. Which leads to higher policy rates for consumers which lead to pissed off consumers who then try to get all they can anytime they have an insurance claim. Prices just spiral out of control.

Next time, I fixing it myself. 

Fuck American Crapitalism. 

 

 

 

  

  

 

Free Speech

The right-wing approach to free speech is let you say whatever you want but listen-in and bust your ass over it when the time comes.  

Always Watching: How ICE’s Plan To Monitor Social Media 24/7 Threatens Privacy and Civic Participation 

Nikki Haley

Why Nikki Haley’s son went radical 

Where is Nikki Haley?  

She seems to be laying low, probably to avoid looking too Trumpy or too anti-Trumpy. She'll need a clean slate when she starts to emerge as a GOP front runner in 2028. She will of course, have full AIPAC support.  

The press should be getting her opinion on everything the Trumpies do just so she's on record one way or another. 

Exactly! - Health Care

Why Is Healthcare Expensive?

 ... we still pay a ridiculous amount for healthcare. We pay twice as much as the average for other wealthy countries, with little to show in the form of better outcomes. Our total healthcare costs will come to over $5.4 trillion this year, more than $40,000 per household, or $16,000 per person. By comparison, Germany and the Netherlands both spend around $6,000 per person for their healthcare.   

Exactly!

Worth reading it all. 

Is This Rock Bottom? America is broken. We need to fix it.

I keep waiting for someone in power or seeking it to say the quiet part out loud: the amount of work required to fix this country is far bigger than “beating Trump” or “restoring norms” or whatever line gets handed to Democratic donors and MSNBC panels. I keep waiting for someone to look the public in the eye and say: we’re not going to vote our way back to the America we think we used to have, because the America we think we used to have never actually existed for most people.

Here’s the reality: we are the richest country in the history of the world — not just now, but ever — and one in eight Americans needs SNAP benefits to eat. Not because of COVID. Not because of a recession. Because our economic structure literally cannot sustain the basic well-being of tens of millions of people without federal food aid.

We spend twice as much per person on healthcare as Japan or Italy, and yet we live shorter lives, get worse outcomes, and bankrupt people for getting sick. Medical debt is the number-one cause of personal bankruptcy, and 70,000 people a year die because they can’t afford care in time. That’s not a healthcare system. That’s an extraction machine.

So yes, the fights over SNAP, ACA subsidies, and shutdowns matter — but they’re symptoms, not causes. You don’t get 40 million people needing food aid and 100 million drowning in medical debt because of one bad president or one unlucky decade. You get there because the institutions that were supposed to protect the public spent decades serving somebody else.