MAGA My Ass

Fine job Trumpers.

From the posts below.

There is not a single region in the world - including the Americas - where the U.S. is better perceived than China.

Looking at individual countries, 76% of the 83 countries surveyed have a better perception of China, and most of the remaining 24% of countries that do lean towards the U.S. are really on the edge, more leaning neutral than true U.S. believers (Brazil being a good example of this).

From the map, there seems to only be 4 countries out there where the public remains genuine U.S. believers: Japan, South Korea, Israel, and Ukraine. That seems to be about it.

Even more stunning: the public in countries surveyed was also asked whether "the United States should have military bases in your country" and, there, the data is even clearer: it's a hard no for all 97 countries surveyed except for 4.

 

Last but not least, the most interesting insight from the report is the absolute collapse of global public perception of the U.S.

According to the report's ranking on this, the U.S. is now in the top 5 worst perceived countries in the world alongside Israel (the worst), North… pic.twitter.com/B0VvjXhKTo

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 10, 2026

Electricity Prices

Spain just became one of Europe's cheapest power markets. Here is how.

Note that Spain's prices are still above the US but they have reduced them compared to other European countries.

How did they do it? Well Mr. Trump, Iit wasn't by killing wind and solar projects, and promoting coal. 

Stupid Fuck.  

American Corrupitalism

Trump really is the perfect president for this era of American Corrupitalism.

Scams increasing and evolving; officials talk details  

The media blackout of Jared Kushner’s historic, ongoing corruption scandal

Trump airport branding deal opens new route to profit for family | Donald Trump | The Guardian 

How the Trump family's business deals could open the door for future presidents to profit from office 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Right Here ...

Wishy-washy corporate Democrats are what gave us Trump in the first place.

They need to go. 

Democrats Yearn for Pugilistic Populists

Democrats all over the country regard their party’s leaders as feckless in the face of Trump’s blustering authoritarianism. They are desperate to break up the power of the oligarchs arrayed around the president and believe Democrats have been too timid in pushing for sweeping reforms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crapitalism

Your Glasses Got Worse On Purpose

EssilorLuxottica is a Franco-Italian conglomerate headquartered in Paris. €27 billion in annual revenue. Over 18,000 retail stores. 600+ factories and 128 distribution centers across 150 countries. They are the largest eyewear company on the planet by a wide margin.

They own Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Costa Del Mar, and Vogue Eyewear.

They manufacture eyewear under license for Prada, Chanel, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany, Michael Kors, Coach, Valentino, and Tory Burch. The "Prada glasses" at your optometrist were not designed by Prada. They were not crafted in a Prada atelier. They were made in the same Luxottica factory complex as everything else, on the same production lines, with a licensing sticker applied to the temple. Prada collects a royalty. Luxottica sets the price.

They own LensCrafters. They own Sunglass Hut, with over 3,100 locations worldwide. They own Pearle Vision. They run Target Optical. They own Glasses.com and EyeBuyDirect. 

And they own EyeMed Vision Care, the second-largest vision insurance company in the United States, with 43 million members.

One company manufactures the product, owns the brands, controls the retail, and provides the insurance that pays for it. A columnist on 60 Minutes called it "an optical illusion." Fake competition. Dozens of brands on the wall, one company behind all of them. 

Fine Job MAGA

The Oil Supply Shock Will Scar the World for Years 

God I hope Not ...

Can the US-Israel ‘Special Relationship’ Survive the Iran War?

Public opinion data suggest that this perception is translating into a significant erosion of support for Israel. Recent Pew Center polling indicates that six in 10 Americans now hold an unfavorable view of the Israeli government, a striking reversal from the traditionally high levels of support of earlier decades. The shift is especially pronounced among younger Americans and Democrats, but its implications extend across the political spectrum. Even among groups that remain broadly supportive of Israel, such as Jewish Americans and Evangelicals, there is growing unease about the costs and consequences of the relationship. 

American Corruptialism

This Isn't Trading. It's Theft from Your Retirement. 

Third, we need to stop pretending we don’t know where the arrow is pointing. The pattern is consistent, it’s one-directional, and it reads like a screenplay. Surges of suspicious trading show up right before presidential actions that only the President and his closest circle could know were coming. The President’s own family holds financial interests in multiple prediction markets at the center of these scandals. The President’s own company — his name on the ticker — swings wildly on his own posts, posts he makes at moments of his own choosing, using words he personally selects. When every coincidence cuts in the same direction, it stops being a coincidence. It starts being a scheme. And you don’t need to be a prosecutor to see it. 

Trump - The Destroyer

 .. of the US.

From the Financial Times 

Trump’s roving banditry will undermine the US economy 

The US will seem a more fickle place to do business, pushing investment and trade elsewhere. American trade policy and the US corporate tax code have never been things of elegant simplicity, but this will seem like a golden age of stability compared to the era of politicised shakedowns now upon us. 

American Corrupitalism

 Billionaire backer sues Trump family's crypto firm over alleged extortion