Tariff Wars Back – Memorial Day: Travel, Teachings, and Trivia

by

Tariff Wars are back – in spades.  Trump recommends 50% tariff on European Union starting June 1 and along with that?  Trump tariff Apple iPhones not made in the U.S..

Obviously, the stock market didn’t like hearing it.  Dow futures were down more than -500 and the S&P was down more than 80.  Techs were down 350.  Which really gets us to the two biggest items of the day.

First, let me remind you that NONE of the downside today will (or should?) come as any particular “surprise” because I told you (quoting from the lead-in to the Peoplenomics report Wednesday of this week   “… And saving the worst for last? Our ChartPack this morning is the most dire I have written in more than 20-years.”

Yeah, well, we really did tell you, though even now you could remain skeptical because it doesn’t look all that bad yet…

If you look at the white arrow on the right, what’s it tell us?

“Um…we did just cross under the 42 day moving average on the futures….and that’s half of the 85 Day Moving Average work…but so what?”

Well, HERE’S WHAT!

This “replay of history” idea screams many things at us:

  • We could be going downhill for the next couple of years if we don’t stabilize.
  • And any new “crypto’s coming to save us” will turn into another inflation by another fiat scam.
  • And if we haven’t lit off WW III before, it’s almost a dead-ringer out in 2032 IF we survive a domestic Great Depression between now and then.  (Remember all those papers on the subscriber side referencing The Gaunlet on the way to 2050? Getting real-ish now…)

Honestly, we’re on the edge of our chairs already:  Will the U.S. Gov get into making a whole new stew of economic levers and paradigms now?  I mean S&H Greenstamps-like crypto and confiscating cash/coin of the realm?  The mind boggles.

What no one is mentioning is that with a govt. crypto every dime every time becomes traceable.  Spend it wrong and (knock, knock…) “We’re here to talk to you about your drinking habit because we notice you have bought more than 3 glasses a week worth….”

Orwell would be proud.  (Or just as scared as we are…)

Come “Miller Time” today, America will go “on hold” for three days for the (more or less)  real start of Summer.  Oh, sure, astronomers tell you it comes around June 21st.  But ask a cop?  More cars and more kids getting into mischief; because school is out and the devil (still) makes use of idle hands.

Memorial Day (General)

The Holiday essentials:

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, began in the United States in the late 1860s to honor soldiers who died during the Civil War. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, following a proclamation by General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, calling for the decoration of graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. The holiday’s roots trace to local commemorations, with one of the earliest recorded events in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1864, and another in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1866, where women decorated both Union and Confederate graves. By the 20th century, Memorial Day expanded to honor all American military personnel who died in any war, and in 1971, it was established as a federal holiday observed on the last Monday in May, emphasizing remembrance through ceremonies, parades, and placing flags on graves, particularly at Arlington National Cemetery.

It’s a weekend when I thank all of our friends, colleagues, and chums who have put it all on the line so we could continue to live under the siege of socialism.  Thank you.

We also crank up the tunes in the studio here.  Dire Straits and Credence come to mind. Followed by beating swords into high tech. Cue Starship.

Thank you for your Service and the Future it fought to preserve.  Such as we’ve done with that…

Memorial Day (News)

As a long-time reporter/news director, Memorial Day was always the first year’s “news creativity holiday” of the year.  Most years, there were enough horrific house fires and drunk driver stories to make a passable January.  February holidays came when legislators were still (pretending to) work. March brought seasonal weather stories, which led into April’s Tax Woes reports.

May normally took care of itself, but Summer would be coming.  It’s when “public affairs” shows had to be “banked” so long weekends could be had.  Occasional documentaries to promote the illusion the News Department was busy.  But mainly, there was “enterprising” – which was understood in “news-ese” to be “What kind of stories can we make up out of nothing today?”

The transition is early this year. Walmart issues fiery takedown of week-long boycott of chain as Target and McDonald’s now also in shoppers’ crosshairs.  Um, really?  Clue: People aren’t going to quit eating over summer.  The Filet-o-Fish will still appear but what we sense if a kind of “creeping socialism” trying to hop the next outbound freight since the effort to remove Donald Trump isn’t going anywhere.  Socialists need “followers” which explains why they never seem to have a cogent reason to be on one side of an issue (or the other).  It’s issues that matter; not the logic of what they’re up to or agitating for.

We aren’t going to cease eating, drinking, or having a good run through Life for anyone, thank you.

Memorial for The News

Unable to write as well as Mark Twain, I have giving up on plans to appoint myself a kind of Latter Day National Observer.  Which you may have never heard of before, so let’s fix that:

“The National Observer was a weekly American general-interest newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company from February 4, 1962, until July 11, 1977. Conceived by Bernard Kilgore, then president of Dow Jones, it aimed to provide a national audience with a unique blend of summarized news, in-depth analysis, and feature articles on topics like civil rights, education, and national trends, deliberately avoiding the financial focus of The Wall Street Journal. Initially published in Washington, D.C., and later in Silver Spring, Maryland, the paper reached a peak circulation of 500,000 in 1967 but struggled financially due to rising postal rates and challenges in defining its readership for advertisers. Despite its innovative approach and contributions from notable writers like Hunter S. Thompson, the paper ceased publication in 1977 after accumulating $16.2 million in losses, as its artistic success could not translate into commercial viability.”

Around here, at least a quarter-hour will be devoted this weekend to deep consideration of the “Fate of News” in the (somewhat more) Modern World.  Everyone today has an opinion, a collection of pronouns, a pocket full of causes, a website, a book deal, and has learned the art of making uncheckable bullshit claims with great precision.

It’s a time when we ponder why the “Good News” formats never succeeded on radio or television, why CNN has been such a good idea and so politically confused, and why Fox seems to be out at the edge of town *(with the socialists?) trying to find another train to ride.

It’s all quite entertaining; yet silly and pointless at the same time.

People inherently seem to understand that weather and radio waves tend to follow the inverse-square law. The farther away they are, the less they matter. Yet political sorts insist we believe the fairy tales about how important Europe is at the same time.  Two World Wars which would have been lost without the U.S. isn’t enough report card on failing regions?

It’s still a head-scratcher half a century-on.

Memorial Day (Travel)

Triple A’s Fuel Gauge Report begins to put it in perspective:

If it’s any consolation, Gas Prices (in our view) will be heading down soon based on historical data:

1929:
Nominal: $0.21
Inflation-adjusted (2025 dollars): $3.67
1934:
Nominal: $0.19
Inflation-adjusted (2025 dollars): $2.71
1949:
Nominal: $0.27
Inflation-adjusted (2025 dollars): $2.20
1971:
Nominal: $0.36
Inflation-adjusted (2025 dollars): $1.69

For whatever reasons, people still get pumped for three-day weekends…

Memorial Day (Teachings)

I learned just in the last day that a PDA is a Public Display of Affection.  Who knew?  Lauren Sánchez tones down PDA with Jeff Bezos after getting spanked on yacht.  Now that I know, I’m trying to figure out why anyone would care?

I plan to be studying math over the holiday weekend, by scanning X posts. aka on X: “It’s statistically impossible.

Meanwhile, our A.I. stacks are helping us cope with lingo-moprhic language:

  • Rizz: Short for charisma, referring to having the ability to attract someone.
  • Bussin’: Meaning “really good” or “amazing”.
  • Mid: Used to describe something that is okay, but not great.
  • The ick: Referring to a sudden feeling of disgust or repulsion.
  • Delulu: Short for “delusional,” used to describe someone who is living in a fantasy world.
  • Simp: A term used to describe someone who is overly nice or eager to please someone, especially in a romantic context.

Back in 1963 (or ’64?) a cousin of mine explained that a “Simp” (at Sealth Jr. High, in Seattle) was a simpleton. The term has been applied to me regularly, ever since. Proves language is cyclical. Ergo, so if finance.

Around the Ranch: Holiday Trivia

I get cravings around holidays.  Not like “pickles and ice cream.”  Nope, these are (estrogen-free) Man-Cravings.  With temps in the low 90’s, two that have struck are Roast Turkey and Cold Beer.

The Beer is easy:  We keep an assortment handy (Shiners’ and several others).  But the Turkey?  Well, that’s a problem.  In town, Brookshire’s didn’t have one, neither did Wal-Mart, nor Kroger.

Sure, you can get the “frozen, ready for oven turkey breasts” but my experience with these is that they are horribly over-seasoned.  The sliced Butterball at the deli counter could work, and it may come to that.

I was left fiddling with the problem this morning “Where do all the turkeys go in the summer?”  No clouds of migrating gobblers around…

Attention Egor and Stiks!

From my consigliere:  Man in Norway wakes to find huge container ship in garden

Have a great weekend and (as Rappin-4-Tay sang)  I’ll be around.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

68 thoughts on “Tariff Wars Back – Memorial Day: Travel, Teachings, and Trivia”

  1. Do you know the mail order company “American Science and Surplus”?

    https://sciplus.com/more-incredible-stuff/electronicals/one-of-a-kind-electronics/

    For probably 50 years they had the neatest catalogs, from rock tumblers, lenses/prisms and drop down google eye glasses to military electronics, jumping disks, $5 and $5K spectrometers, magic tricks.

    Well I got an email from them: “We are turning to our community for a little help. We’ve launched a GoFundMe to support American Science & Surplus through one of the toughest times we’ve ever faced. Rising costs, online competition, outdated systems, and heavy shipping fees have taken a real toll. ”

    You can tell from the esotericality of their merchandise there’s no hope, what teenager is going to buy that lens set or crystal set now?

    Just part of the general downfall reporting.

    73

  2. Good calls on the market.

    “War with China”

    Think about the Kenosha riots or any of the unrests. Some people always say, “Look at them burn down their own stores”.

    Two degrees up would be the U.S. bombing their Chinese factories or the Chinese bombing their U.S. outlets. I think it’s called a symbiotic relationship but didn’t run it by A.I. or anything.

    And another thing! Think about the new data campus that was awarded to Dubai. Linky below. This data center will be very valuable and pretty much guarantees safety of the Saudi lands for the duration.. Until the Americans possibly get tricked into financing the re-shoring like Intel.

    I did ask A.I. about the Iranian winds…. wind reports imply Iran can’t be nuked during certain wind periods.

    “Yes, Iranian winds can blow towards Dubai. Specifically, during certain weather patterns, like the Shamal winds, which are northwesterly winds blowing over Iraq and the Gulf states, including the UAE, they can originate over Iran and travel towards Dubai. These winds can be particularly strong and carry dust, according to a weather report from Arabia Weather.”

    US and UAE plan to build 5GW AI data center campus, run by G42 and American hyperscalers

    https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/us-and-uae-plan-to-build-5gw-ai-data-center-campus-run-by-g42-and-american-hyperscalers/

  3. B mf B!

    We dont need no water G, let the MFer BURN! the World that is.

    Times be getting Ruff out there as the Phishing Calls/emails and texts are like non stop this week – usually a sign of tightening conditions.

    Have already started to RIP the DIP, reloading Gold Miners Call options. Been a fairly lucrative exercise, speculative forays into some mining stocks including a BTC miner.

    *Seems a true painial rape of Americans when the orange jesus is sending all our tax dollars to fund the HCZ(head chopping zionists) in ME & black sea areas.
    This after CUTting social programs for the less fortunate here in the broke ass states of disarray.
    Yeah! ban farming in Colorado – another GENIUS idea frm brain dead o’bidenistas. Git er done prog. freaks, git er done.

    Seems we be the sandwich metal tween a fake front (orangejesus) and fake rear – (pile of dogshit obidenS). One bad penny fo shure.

    The filth of society= criminals(soc.elite/pols) STILL walking around free as ever – while people suffer.
    There is NO Justice in this World, if there ever was. – only DARKNESS .

    So lets mourn the 2 shot dead in DC, lower the flags and ignore the 20 THOUSAND CHILDREN slaughtered and heads CHOPPED OFF in past 19 months in Palestine…

    Cognitive DISSONANCE much ?

    Nerp =- KILL ALL the Pali Kids and let Ure god sort it out..bwahahahahahahahah

    • Would that be me buying the Bitcoin with 401K distributions of lunch money every payday?

      Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

    • Madeleine Albright thought 500,000 dead Iraqi Children, in her famous Barbara Walters interview, was an OK price to pay for our 1st Iraq War … so why should any American complain about Israel offing just a few 10’s of thousand Palestinian children? (to say nothing of the 650,000 civilian NON Combatants that the US killed in our 2nd Gulf War and occupation with Iraq – BBC numbers, range is 350,000 to 1,200,000 from other sources) (nor the 1 million PLUS Vietnamese CIVILIANS we killed during our adventure wrt Vietnam)

      Get with the program. The West just doesn’t care about how many civilians and children we kill when other “more important” issues are at stake. Been that way going back to when Europeans were colonizing the world, yep even from the late 1800’s and through the 1950’s — Belgium killed between 10 to 25 million with it’s adventures and conquest in the Congo,, and the British weren’t much nicer with their India adventures and conquest.

      Mass Killings are what those of European Extraction seem to do on a regular basis.

      • Historically the crusades ensured someone would win Jerusalem the center of three principal religions and economic spheres for last 5000 years. The idea of 10 commandments for those who do more than ritual attendance is first commandments..Love God… for other religions that is a felony and felony is punishable by death, individual, group, city, culture. Dresden was a felony in WW2, so was Hiroshima… Humans have the UN and Biden and agreed to felonies but nations do what they want.

      • Yeah I hear that – its the HEAD CHOPPING that gets me.

        *There is only 1 group of entities on the planet (over or underneath) that have practiced head chopping on the regular.

        “Them” and their worship cult.

        Saw it in Syria with Israhells Secret Intelligence Service, and now with Pali kids. House of saud practices it monthly as well..hmmmm

        Telling, very telling, imho

      • Follow up
        1) Mao of China killed 30 million for communism
        2) Stalin killed millions for same and Ukraine killed 5 million for uprising
        3) Putin killed 1 million for police action so far.
        4) Putin has 13 100 megaton bombs capable of killing many more.
        5) How to you send the ‘joker’ a message?

    • re: “Kiss the Sky”
      feat: “Castles in the Sand”

      BCP,
      Here is an “Aviation Safety Network” link to the webpage about the recent tragic loss of N666DS in San Diego (‘St. James’, the second disciple to die) following departure from Teterboro, N.J.

      https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/513483

      Apparently the jet fell in the vicinity of Tierrasanta (‘Holy Land’). The area was known as Kosa’aay (‘the drying out place) by its native population before the Spanish founded their second Californian mission, San Diego de Alcalá (‘St. James of the Citadel’?). San Diego (Saint Didacus) is associated with The Miracle of the Roses.

      The jet’s owner, from Homer, Ak., had co-founded a recording industry entity representing a number of musicians and bands. Anecdotal msm reports suggest a member of The Devil Wears Prada group perished in the crash.

      As chance would have it, music entertainer Jewel also grew up in Homer, Ak, and got her industry start in San Diego. It seems more recently that she appeared on season 6 of the tv show “The Masked Singer” disguised as the Queen of Hearts.

      Let’s prep for the weekend with a little help from DJ George and a trip to the backcountry. Here’s Jewel and her brother at the following Youtube link sending a note from Alaska on a simple stage beside a vase of roses:
      “Who Will Save Your Soul”.

      https://youtu.be/oD2tHrtgQ4M

        • re: Detroit mettle
          feat: batanga happy hour

          George,
          Thank you for putting up with my meanderings.

          The ASN webpage for the N666DS incident has been updated with the plane’s prior registrations including as a for instance N52FT. At that time the owner was a LLC, whose name coincides with an extinct South African antelope, headquartered in the increasingly Palestinian Christian Detroit suburb of Livonia, Mi. The official US government website “USA Spending” advises of 35 company transactions peaking in 2024 ranging amongst vehicles, aircraft, and guns. The company’s industrial suburban headquarters office is unmarked save for its street number. As chance would have it, the mapping car turned down the side alleyway provided for vehicle parking. Without any special viewer manipulation, licence plate pixelation ends during the course of the driveby. One such example, a Navy vanity plate, references the slang term for a cornish pasty. Apparently legend contends that the tasty treats warded off spirits for Cornish miners and mariners.

          As an aside, Livonia, Mi. is claimed to be named after Livonia, NY which itself is named after the Kingdom of Livonia. The latter peaked in the 1570’s under a Danish-born prince. It was a vassal state to Russia under Tsar Ivan IV perhaps more familiarly known as Ivan the Terrible. 16th century Livonia appears on the “Wikipedia” maps comprised of the modern day Baltics, Belarus, and part of Ukraine. Interestingly the security buffer zone that Russia has put forward for a new Ukraine borders with Odesa to be reunited with Russia leaving Ukraine landlocked may bear similarity to the Kingdom of Livonia’s southern border during Ivan the Terrible times.

          Here’s one last meander that didn’t quite fit on Thursday, but maybe makes more sense now speaking of Odesa. (By the way, thanks for listing the two J.W. Dunne books in your suggested reading list on December 1, 2017.) The only oil refinery in the Baltics is operated by Orlen S.A., a Polish government-controlled oil company. According to a “Wikipedia” allegation, Orlen has encountered a 2025 accounting situation with $230 million gone missing. Apparently a deal to buy Venezuelan oil fell through recently. A footnoted “Reuters” reference is now purged from the web. As chance would have it, a 2010 plan had Venezuela shipping oil to Odesa for transfer by the (now idle in 2025?) Odesa to Brody pipeline connecting onwards to Belarusian refineries. Can history repeat? Here is a UPI link to that story:

          https://www.upi.com/Energy-News/2010/11/02/33261288704569/

        • Folks,
          AI certainly has a thing for numbers. Yesterday was Jewel’s birthday.

          Today as chance would have it, AI highlights a search result for N52FT and a predecessor aircraft owner. Only one 22 minute flight from January 13, 2024 between San Antonio, Texas and Uvalde is recorded on the Korean side of FlightAware’s website. Apparently the homeland of the Korean language is Manchuria.

  4. ” Trump tariff Apple”

    Trump should direct dollar for dollar tariff $WMT and $AMZN and Auto Zone – all of ’em!

    Keep adding price to foreign goods until they’re on par with American priced goods. That’ll show these retailers! Rich bastards behind their ivory keyboards.

  5. Flotsam : floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo
    broadly : floating debris [per Merriam]

    I believe Mr Helberg should declare the NCL Salten his property and instruct the crane to start swinging out his booty. Arrange for a fleet of trucks to take his containers to market or, be claimed by the intended recipient for a slice of vig.

    Got Maalox? While attempts to pencil in worldwide calamity on a calendar may fail, remember … being right about the what is more important than when (and why is unknowable).

    Pondering dLynn and poker gaming: it’s often worth setting traps at your own expense to finally get an opening to make bank. IMO the same is setting up in global markets.

    Write when you get Rizz.
    Always, E

    ps – set a record transit MI to MN yesterday. Today is : play when awake and rest when the Little Master goes to nap. I used nap time to write you fine folks and, with you Happy Memorial Day. Remember them.

    • Not so. Floatsam must as some point have been afloat – absent the hull of a ship. Hand me my Admirallty Laws coursebook: Flotsam and jetsam are both types of marine debris, but they differ in their origin and legal status. Flotsam refers to wreckage or cargo that remains afloat after a shipwreck, unintentionally cast into the sea, and can be claimed by its original owner. Jetsam, on the other hand, is cargo or equipment deliberately thrown overboard from a ship to lighten its load, typically in distress, and is considered abandoned, with no specific owner retaining a claim.
      OtoH he could charge moorage at whatever the market will bear – and the cops would have to defend him from treaspassers seeking to steal him “impounded for lack of moorage fees” prize…

      • Thats some textbook silliness, G-dog.

        Real World – ANYTHING floating in open ocean is “fair game” and if youse gotz other ideas about that, you can argue with the AR toting boat crew about to take ownership of Ure water totes that floated away during the Hurricane.

        In Belize/Caribbean there is exception to this rule, the “White Lobsters” rule.
        If you come upon a rogue kilo of “white Lobster” floating upon the seas, know that the cartel still assume ownership, and they will find out. Country is so small and relatively poor by American standards, that any one who tries to keep found white lobsters and sell it for profit are found out real quick like.

        So if big stuff washes up on Ure beach..there is an unofficial # to call. They come and pick up parcels from beach, and you will mysteriously get a lil somethingsome along the way.

        Best bud had huge parcel of parcels wash up on his beach last year, I was right over to find out what was in it…hard NO – NERP. Big Dude, was force recon in viet nam, it was just the look he gave me..didnt need say a fucking thing to me, I knew right then and there, NERP, thats a Negatory !

        Seems them old Dudes(Warriors) got some very valuable knowledge and experience to share..

        • In Florida years ago on the beach at night.

          Several bales of “something” in the water and on the beach.

          Fast cars with numerous armed men were quickly on the scene.

          I was quickly off the scene…PHEW !

      • Hmm. Well, there’s no “a” in flotsam matey. And, it looks to me like the feller has a legit salvage opportunity:

        https://admiraltylaw.com/commentaries/salvage-and-wreck/

        Even were the Admiralty not on his side, well, the bows are on the man’s property. Remove your cargo and that which is below the high water mark but leave the bow? Good luck wit dat.

        This seems like a job for Lloyds.
        Egor

        ps – remember those who gave all

    • Yeah, We got Rizzmessage received , trouble is like cliff High, and davincij15, why was I not paying more attention earlier? The MtGox hack turned me away As”not ready for prime time”. Looking back at what we know of today’s history of questionable actions by officialdom and the FTX engendered rug pull design patterns and the MtGox”hack”. It was just another distraction. There will be more, and I don’t beleive there are many more green horns holding Bitcoin, your either retail long like Saylor and stacking paper chits and whatever payroll carve out you can muster into said new financial class, or as a buzz entity doing likewise. Last time there was one of these innovations was when the BoE introduced the bond to the financial system in circa 1694…. Yeah that’s the joy of a monopoly, you get to drag your feet for 330 years before getting off the dime and operating more efficiently, just like the lending covenants placed on working capital given to corps by same system. Strings attached….. must be why corps are adopting the Strategy strategy. Not advice. Please do you own homework home gamers.

    • “Pondering dLynn and poker gaming: it’s often worth setting traps at your own expense to finally get an opening to make bank.”
      .
      That is called a ‘bluff’. I don’t use it very often. When I do, it usually presents itself. On a rare occasion, I will set it up against one player in particular – one that I think needs to learn a lesson. Usually some arrogant prick that thinks he’s “all that !”. I will make the decision to bluff – then just wait for the opportune time to strike.
      – Have to admit.., I do love smacking some jerk around.

      • I saw a vid a couple days ago of a somewhat wiry, elderly individual being jumped by a largs, rather slovenly man.

        Mr. wiry grabbed the lummox with his left, jerked, and dropped him out cold with a single right cross — took about one second.

        I instantly thought of you…

    • Glad to hear you arrived safely and apparently in good spirits! The trek around Chicago must have gone well!! My experience with that Chicago circular trek is about 50/50 good/bad.

      If it goes well you wonder why you worried about it. If it goes bad …. well you have hours to contemplate it while you sit, and sit, and sit, while looking at the Chicago skyline.

      Have a great time with the kids and grandkids!

      • Out of Army basic training I had two weeks leave at home in Wisconsin. I bought a VW beetle and was learning to drive a stick & clutch. Day 3 learning, I began my trek to NJ early. Hit the Chicago rush hour on I-94 at 8:00am! Several hours later, finally deep in Indiana, I pulled into a truck stop for breakfast and coffee… and trembled for several hours before daring to get back into the car!

        • I learnt how to drive “Big Cities” and “Rush Hour” on the Dan Ryan and the Ike. I had a brother who worked in Chi-town and lived in West Chicago (many years before the Latin gangs moved in.) When we would come and visit, my folks would have me drive. They were elderly and neither trusted Dad’s eyes or reflexes in crazytown.

          I experienced that trembling thing several times. It’s a part of Chicago driving. I never wrecked a car in or around Chicago, though, and the experience hardened me to where I never batted an eye in Detroit or NYC, or DFW, or 50 other big cities, when I got to them.

  7. Good Feelings for the day!!

    I read a post on an odd ball website yesterday that warmed my heart! OMG it made me feel so good.

    Somebody drug out an old post from 2012 and apparently the poster was lamenting that he had bought 1600 Bitcoins at 6 cents each and was bemoaning the fact that when they had hit 80 cents each he had sold them … but if he had held on he could have sold them for $8 each!!, which he would have done!!

    As a person who was TOLD multiple times to buy Bitcoins when they were 9 cents each and didn’t (I couldn’t figure out how to do it and didn’t wan to jump through the hoops to figure out how to buy $100 worth just to get the person off my ass – which if they had been easy to buy I would have since I have spent more than that many times just to avoid getting crap from people).

    Alas … if that person had kept those 1600 as of a day ago they would have been worth NOT the $1280 he sold them for but would have been worth $176,000,000!! (even if he had sold 1/2 of those over time as the price went up so as to buy stuff 1/2 would still be worth $88 million)

    OMG … he was a bigger chump than I was since he had already bought them and owned them!! I just couldn’t figure out how to buy them so as to get the guy who was bugging me off of my ass.

    (it is not like I ever bought the Bitcoin Story early on … knowing myself I would have just bought them to get the guy off my ass and then did nothing with them, as I am want to do with anything I buy, just sat on them for virtually forever)

    Well … there is a BIGGER CHUMP than I am out there wrt Bitcoin. He actually owned 1600 Bitcoins and just couldn’t sit on his $100 he had invested in Bitcoins once he bought them.

    Feel good story of the day yesterday for me!! LOL

    • Yes Stephen too, the parable of Ron Wayne Applies here.

      https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/46-years-ago-this-forgotten-apple-co-founder-left-an-estimated-75-billion-on-table.html

      That home gamers is the art of the HODL. Pretend your coins are on HDD in a landfill somewhere….. that’s the majority of most retail crypto millionaires……

      That majic of 50% CAGR of holding BTC whether you chose spot ETF for KYC and easy audit trail or otherwise. The minute you sell it, you break that cycle. If you have an early core position, incremental additions via DCA dont dent your cost per share basis (minimally), hold for 4 years, watch the majic. Also be mentally prepped psychologically for violent corrections along the way to $1M per and beyond.

    • I owned 110 BTC in the sub-$10 range. Saw the makings of a virgin Elliot wave form up. At 5 waves up I started getting out… buying gold for BTC. I made a 50 bagger out of it in the end. No regrets about not being a multi-millionaire now. I probably would have died of a heart attack from the stress. Now I wouldn’t touch the stuff.

  8. Mark Twain, one of my favorites of his is the War Prayer, quite fitting for Memorial Day when we show our love of those we lost with pieces of colored fabrics representing our teams.

    Excerpted
    “Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work….

    An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. … he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. …

    The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside — which the startled minister did — and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

    “I come from the Throne — bearing a message from Almighty God!” …

    “God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two — one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this — keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

    “You have heard your servant’s prayer — the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it — that part which the pastor — and also you in your hearts — fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ … When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory–must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

    “O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”

    • (The odd reader – and most of ours here are in one fashion or another – often question the moderation role. Keeping a general spirited discussion among those assembled here. There are many who have privately written and suggested “this person or that” be banned from posting comments because of their particular politics, on a particular day, on some issue, or other.
      Yet I stand before you today pleased that even the most liberal (at times) among us, can also bring logs to the fire.
      thank you.

      • liberal? perhaps. i’m pro gun, pro death penalty in philosophy though not execution (seeing how it does seem to have racial bias, innocents have been executed and it takes way too long, but philosophically i’m not opposed), pro “nuclear” power, pro freedom, pro business and commerce

        to address the cancel culture cries of other commenters, i’d say that speech and the freedom thereof is vulgar. freedom of speech is ugly, disgusting and vulgar. freedom of speech isn’t pretty. freedom of speech should be offensive. it’s what it’s there for. freedom of speech isn’t for what everyone agrees on.

  9. National sales tax on Americans, cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP, cuts to government services including science and medical research, tax cuts weighted to those who need it least and $4,000,000,000,000 in new borrowing. Of course Noem, who has no idea what habeas corpus is, is now telling Harvard what to do. And RFK, Jr. is talking about millions of parts of aborted fetuses being in the MMR vaccine. Not sure who this all makes sense to. Not me.

    • We first need to be precise and not misleading in our thinking. Trumps Big Bill does not incorporate nor propose a National Sales Tax.
      President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, does not explicitly propose a national sales tax on Americans based on available information. The bill primarily focuses on extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), introducing new tax exemptions, and implementing spending cuts, among other provisions. Here’s a breakdown of the key points:

      Core Tax Provisions: The bill includes measures like making the 2017 TCJA tax cuts permanent, eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay, and increasing the standard deduction (e.g., by $1,000 for individuals to $16,000 and $2,000 for joint filers to $32,000). It also raises the child tax credit to $2,500 through 2028 and introduces a $4,000 deduction for seniors.
      No Mention of a National Sales Tax: None of the sources directly reference a national sales tax as part of the bill’s provisions. Instead, the legislation emphasizes income tax adjustments, deductions, and exemptions. For example, it includes a temporary deduction for car loan interest on American-made vehicles and expands the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap to $40,000.
      Tariffs as Revenue Source: Trump has suggested that tariffs, such as a 20% universal tariff on imports and higher tariffs on Chinese goods, could offset the revenue losses from tax cuts. These tariffs are described as increasing costs for consumers, effectively acting like a “hidden tax” on goods, but they are not structured as a traditional national sales tax applied directly to purchases. For instance, the Tax Foundation estimates these tariffs could equate to an average tax increase of nearly $1,200 per US household in 2025.
      Context from X Posts: A post from @KamalaHQ on October 18, 2024, referenced Trump’s broader agenda, including a “Trump Sales Tax” of 20% on everyday necessities, citing Project 2025. However, this claim appears to refer to the economic impact of proposed tariffs rather than a formal sales tax, and it is not corroborated as a specific component of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” in the legislative text described.
      Economic Impact and Criticism: Nonpartisan analyses, such as those from the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, estimate the bill’s tax cuts will add $3.3–$4.6 trillion to the national debt over a decade, with tariffs and spending cuts (e.g., to Medicaid and SNAP) intended to partially offset costs. Critics argue these tariffs could raise consumer prices, resembling a consumption-based tax, but the bill itself does not outline a direct national sales tax.
      Conclusion: The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” does not propose a national sales tax in the traditional sense. However, Trump’s reliance on tariffs to fund tax cuts could increase the cost of goods, which some critics, like Vice President Harris, have framed as a de facto “sales tax” on consumers. This effect stems from tariffs rather than a legislated sales tax policy within the bill. For the most accurate details, you can review the bill’s text or updates at sources like waysandmeans.house.gov or whitehouse.gov

      On the other hand, the net effect will be that goods not made in the USA will go up in price. And honestly, that’s as it should be. We need to reverse the offshoring and get back to making American Made products in all categories.
      The real beauty of the Trump bandwgon, is *(as the author of the book Downsizing which is being serialized over time on Peoplenomics) there’s nothing particu7larly bad about America doing a little “deconsumptioning.” And, if interest rates go up, that too is a good thing. For it will cause people to become more thoughtful in how they piss-away hard-earned income on nothing short of payoffs to the bankster class, which is the truth of interest. Oh, sure, once upon a time, stories were told of “interest is needed to offset the risk of losds” but lo, those days sunsetting decades back.

      Cuts to Medicare, Medicar,e SNAP are regrettable, but everyone who can carry a 1, should see medicare and social secrvices are not sustainable. All will be injured, suffer loss, and die too early.
      Near as we can calculate, however this has been occurring since we dragged our asses out of the sea to eventually walk upright.

      Contrary to the liberal nararive, the American Lqws, the melting pot, and the teamworkk that makes this (even now) such a kick-ass country, do not apply globally.

      The good news is that we have held no secrets. Our constitution laws and even our corruptions are terribly public. But should a country like China or Russia have a better play, let them publ;ish their whole unvarnbished reality so that liberal-curious like yourself can inspect their actuals versus their forwqard-looking statements.

      Trump is exactly right but it will be painful – and a secondm Depression may indeed result. But there’s an old saying apropos to weekends like this: That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. Getting rid of froeign goods is the first step in the direction of long-term quality, much as my son’s off building server farms where the mindset is “100-year buildings.”

      Find me THAT in imported goods?

      • one of the stupidest financial decision i ever made was not buying btc at $230 when some friends who were mining were trying to get me involved. i was thinking ‘uhh, maybe i should blow $2,000 and get ten.’ sorta like gambling. i didn’t understand enough about it so i bought a dog of a stock instead that is worth half what i paid. one of the smartest financial decisions I made, lucky really, was bartering with the same friends for some btc.

        • Someone had suggested it when it was less than a Nicole a btc. but when I researched it and seen that it was designed to hide the transfer of money for The silk road..
          https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/the-long-and-winding-story-of-silk-road-bitcoins-earliest-major-application
          even if it was a legitimate bank I wouldn’t invest because of the dark web connections. its one thing to borrow or drop money into a bank that loans money to regular people building a future than to an industry cloaked in dark web .. illegal transactions and human trafficking..
          I would have been rich.. fifty dollars worth then and the value now..but is a number truly worth it if its going to destroy someone else ? just my thought on it.. another’s misery isn’t worth my comfort via a number.. !!

  10. DIY low-fat yogurt or sour cream..
    I had someone ask.. about making their yogurt.. that when they try to make it with milk that’s becoming outdated that the yogurt turns out to runny.. I said you need to do it exactly how they do it..
    when preparing the milk take 1 teaspoon per quart of milk… put it in a bowl similar to making a Rue..and add milk mixing the gelatin in to let the gelatin bloom.. as you heat the milk to 180 degrees stirring add the gelatin and mix it in..
    once it has reached the temperature then set the milk aside and let it go down to 108 then add your culture to it.. set it in your warm ferment or or proofing bag for 8 hours ( I let the culture grow for 14.. its the same for making sour cream..
    chip dip..sour cream or yogurt..

    2 cups sour cream
    2 tablespoons dried minced onion
    1 tablespoon dried dill weed
    2 teaspoons dried parsley
    1 teaspoon garlic salt

  11. GSR still hanging tough at 100:1. Which side of the stack will get us back to 16:1?
    Is it better to have AG from $2.50, or AU from $85?
    Certainly better than the digits? More perfectly dependable. AG makes the modern world turn and burn. Seems the best side to bet on.
    Stiks

  12. The NOAA has forecasted an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season for 2025, predicting 13 to 19 named storms.
    – Main reasoning or the up-tick in storms is due to the rise of mid Atlantic Ocean temperatures.

    • They do every year. Like everything else in government, NOAA is neopolitical and they begin every projection from the viewpoint that we’re global warming ourselves to death. If you don’t drink Algore’s piss, your stay in the Agency is intolerably unpleasant. I know several top shelf meteorologists who’ve quit to go private, and a cousin who drinks whatever the PTB tell her, because she (and her hubby) get to jet all over the world several times a year on our dime, toss thousands of 9mm rounds we pay for through the SIG we buy her every year, every time she’s inclined to do so, and supply her with a paycheck that’s more than double, the average wage for the place she lives.

      NASA is the same way. My NASA friends/acquaintances ALL now work for Boeing, Lockheed, or Mr. Musk.

      They all (including my cousin) know the GW/GCC propaganda is pure BS. They tolerate it as long as they can, because the paycheck and bennies are hard to walk away from.

      • The US propaganda and agendas have been neo-Stalinist for so long that no one currently working in those sharp point-of-the stick jobs has ever heard anything else from their chain of command.
        Most of the family members who did those point of the stick jobs in prior generations had lasting health issues from chemical and rad exposures, along with the extreme physical stress. Not sure that I didn’t inherit some of it, based on work that some Nobel laureates did. I hope your cousin stays safe.

        • She’s only in the office about 7 months of the year.

          However, her office sits right on top of HAARP… ;-o

  13. A sub-shaft collapse in one of the largest gold mines in S Afrika has trapped 289 miners.
    Massive efforts are underway to rescue those trapped for over a day now.
    No communications have been established with the trapped miners.

  15. I am not often confused.., nor bewildered., not even left in a quandary. I can usually figure “things” out rather fast. Or, with help of my T.I. Scientific and few charts – and I’m ready to go.
    As a grizzled old mountain man said when a greenhorn asked him how is it that you don’t get lost up in the Rockies? – “Lost? Lost !? Well, I’ve been powerfully confused for a month, or so.., but never lost!”
    I have never been ‘lost’., physically, or mentally. I have always managed to figure it out.., given enough information / data – it’s usually pretty easy.
    Except.., this time.
    I do not understand Bitcoin., stable coin.., and all they other ‘coins’. Yes., I do understand the math – [ It’s not as fantastical as everyone would like to believe.] What I just don’t get is buying something that has no value., none.., except for what others says it has.
    As of February 2025 , the total market capitalization in U.S. Dollars of cryptocurrencies was estimated to be around $1.59 trillion. This figure represents the combined value of all digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many others.
    That is close to 64% of all U.S. Dollars sitting in cryptocurrencies as a store-of-value – how does effect the ‘Velocity of Money’ ?
    I understand the draw of “making easy money”. Yep.., the band wagon has been playing that tune for a long time., and people have been listening.
    To me.., it is the greatest – largest Ponzi Schemes in history. And it is working very, very well. What was touted as a digital currency for the masses., is now controlled by the five largest banks. [ just take a peak at the ETF’s.] ., and estimated that more illegal transactions globally the actual legal ones. Yep – it’s working great.
    The vulnerability of all these billions in digital format has been greatly understated, or outright ignored – but that is not yet up for discussion. No one what’s to hear it, nor talk about it. But, they will. Soon enough.
    I, personally, have no interest, enthusiasm, nor motivation in any of the multiple forms of digital currency. Not even in trading the ETF’s. And I also believe, that it will all end badly. Not anytime soon. But this house of cards will fall.

    • As Keynes I think it said “The markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”.

      I look at Bitcoin (and the earlier days of Tesla) … as “TRUE BELIEVER” investments (great book to read if you never have … explains a LOT about mass human behavior).

      Bitcoin is a first cousin to the Tent Revivals that my dad took me to as a kid, not for the religion but to stand in the back and observe how the Preacher up front could drive just with his voice – usually the dynamics of manipulating the volume and cadence – the emotions of the crowd. My dad was fascinated by public speaking, having grown up in the days before even Radio (born in the 1890’s), and wanted me to see how great public speaking worked with a crowd and since politicians didn’t do that anymore tent revivals were the only place he thought I could get educated in that realm.

      When you to to one of those things, actually better to go to several so you can catch onto the rhythm and cadence, you see how the system of drawing people in emotionally, leaving logic totally behind, works.

      Elon Musk did that with Tesla … it became a RELIGION, NOT an investment since it was for years basically a bankrupt company – at least until he could actually get the government money flowing his way which generated some “paper” profits.

      Bitcoin is the same thing … .it became a RELIGION. Logic had, and still has, nothing to do with it. Gold is the same … but that “Religion” has been around for centuries now, but it still rises and fall just like the crowd at the tent revival – just over a much longer time frame.

      Don’t believe me about Bitcoin and Tesla? Do yourself a favor this summer and go to several Tent Revivals that are put on by the TRAVELING preachers (not any local church /pastor, they don’t know squat when it comes to this dynamic of public speaking). After about 5 of them you will see the parallels between that Old Time Religion as practiced by an old style Tent Revival preachers and Bitcoin … and it will suddenly all make sense.

      OH … there was a great interview of Sam Kinison who started out in his family business of Tent Revival Preaching (he started preaching at the age of 11 or so) before turning to “comedy”. His family made their money, and a LOT of it, Tent Revivals and he learned young how to manipulate to crowd so as to collect money. I think that interview was on one of his appearances on Johnny Carson. (Johnny Carson reportedly called him and Rodney Dangerfield as the two greatest stand up comics of his age). Go watch the times he was on Johnny Carson and you will probably find the segment where Sam Kinison talks about his Tent Revival Preaching days … very enlightening.

      Bitcoin is a RELIGION! A religion of TRUE BELIEVERS … who now have the marketing power of Wall Street pushing that particular RELIGIOUS MESSAGE out to the masses.

      How long will it last? Who knows but the undercurrent of the public is now worrying that the Dollar itself will erode a way faster than they can make money to replace it’s declining value so they are starting to grasp onto whatever it is that “MAY” “save them” (just like believing in the Tent Revival Preacher and giving him LOTS of money may “Save” them)

      “Salvation” for the soon to be (financially) DAMNED!! THAT is the logic now behind Bitcoin.

      • A good(or great) auctioneer can do the same thing! I watched one liquidate 100 million in factory tools, tooling, and equipment in three days, after he bought the whole thing and finished the work in progress. Local farm and equipment auctions are both a social event and a way to buy brand new overpriced old junk to litter your yard! Again, volume, pitch, cadence and rhythm! I’ve no idea how to do it or I’d have less junk in my yard.

    • I seem to remember someone testifying that their sleep period spirit guide had told them that cryptos were sent here to teach the somewhat less hairy apes a lesson they wouldn’t ever forget. That makes as much sense as any other explanation.
      At a family get-together, there were zero crypto takers present. The group was not particularly thrilled with the whimsical tariffs either.

      While crypto pricing is based on consensus of a whole bunch of people and institutions you have never met, and probably would not want to, but in it’s defense, dollars are largely computerized balance sheets, whose value is based on consensus of a whole bunch of people and institutions you have never met, and probably would not want to. Greenbacks are the legacy window dressing to legitimize financial account computer reports. Pick Ure preferred master. The dollar is the devil you know.

    • Thank you for your feedback from the core repliers.
      I have again gleaned a bit of knowledge from your posts

      From yesterday, I do like the idea of a meet and greet with your Ureness,
      which from what I can remember did happen in a micro fashion several years ago.

    • No worries dLynn, they didnt believe Noah either at the time, and look at at em now, swimming wit da fishes..

  16. Businesses which rely on stable prices to bid work are being stung badly by the tariff roller coaster ride. We all know (or should have known) that tariffs are an extension of diplomacy by other means. The level of militarization of the tariffs and the associated Management by Whim (BMW) is starting to impact American business negatively. Fortunately, I still have a decent job heading into economic turmoil that is looking increasingly bad. Not sure who is advising the oval office on tariffs, but I’m thinking they need to lay off the sauce and self-medication, and get back on their witch doctor’s head scripts.
    With regard to cutbacks in social services, the cuts I am hearing about are cuts in Medicaid and services for non-citizens, not necessarily Medicare & SS per se. Maybe someone could explain the real impact of the cuts, and what sort of money we are talking about. Cuts that don’t affect US citizens don’t get much empathy from me. I have seen individuals paying with SNAP cards walk out to the grocery store parking lot and drive off in $80K cars. SNAP is a godsend for people without resources, but it gets abused.

    • trump imposed his national tariffs tax, is growing the deficit by $4,000,000,000,000 and doing a reverse robin hood moving money from the bottom to the top.

      “CBO estimates that household resources would decrease by an amount
      equal to about 2 percent of income in the lowest decile (tenth) of the
      income distribution in 2027 and 4 percent in 2033, mainly as a result of
      losses of in-kind transfers, such as Medicaid and SNAP (see the figure).3
      By contrast, resources would increase by an amount equal to 4 percent for
      households in the highest decile in 2027 and 2 percent in 2033, mainly
      because of reductions in they taxes they owe. The distributional effects vary
      throughout the 10-year projection period as different components of the
      legislation are phased in and out.” https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-05/61422-Reconciliation-Distributional-Analysis.pdf

      $500 billion in medicare cuts, 10,000,000 people will lose coverage
      https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-05/61423-PAYGO.pdf

      3,200,000 fewer people getting SNAP benefits. “In total, enacting all of the provisions in Subtitle A would reduce spending on SNAP by $285.7 billion over the 2025–2034 period.”
      https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-05/Klobuchar-Craig-Letter-SNAP_5-22-25.pdf

  17. .., damn – this going to get ugly.

    North Korea launched their new navy Destroyer – to a lot of fan fare to show the world that North Korea is a power worth recognition and with “The Great Leader” in attendance.

    The new Destroyer slid down the ramps and flopped over on her side. She never did keel-in.., just flipped over.

    Satellite images now show the ship still on her side, and completely covered in blue tarps.

    I can’t imagine how many heads will roll from this fiasco.

    • Was the hot Korean chick on Un’s arm his sweetie or his sissy? If it was the latter, zero heads rolled.

      However, hundreds of engineers and shipbuilders would have been crucified, upside down, on red fire ant hills.

      Yo Jong is one of the scariest people on the planet.

      There is a photo allegedly of Ri Sol-ju, Un’s alleged wife, but the NK “Ministry of Information” (or whatever they call their propaganda arm) has been actively trying for 20 years to erase every bit of known information regarding Sol-ju. Wackypedia even mentions that her true name is unknown and “Ri Sol-ju” may well be a pseudonym. IOW nobody actually knows anything about her.

      With that said, did I mention that Yo Jong is one of the scariest people on the planet? She likes killing people, and goes at it with an “unholy” creative zeal.

      I’ll bet the next warship totally kicks ass…

Comments are closed.