Normally, I’d start up a report with something economic – like this morning’s consumer price report which we’ll get to in a second – but the first thing out of the hopper this morning is to note the report from the American Radio Relay League (the ham radio society I’ve told you about umpteen times) that the “HAARP Facility Shuts Down.“
According to the ARRL report, the Gakona Alaska facility has been shut down since early May and while a new contractor may come along for some finishing up research this fall and winter, the diesel generators on site no longer meet Clean Air Act requirements….
All of which leads to an intriguing question: What about all the reports on the net about supposed “HAARP signals” impacting the mainland of the USA which seem to still be out there being reported this morning? I’m not hearing HAARP on my ham rig…
It leads to some uncomfortable conjecture about the alternative reality called the Internet.
I guess we’ll need to find some other means of constructing a portal for alien reptiles to enter this dimension. Hey! Wait! Isn’t that was CERN is for? And what about using HAARP for mind control programs? Does that mean we’ve been running out of control for two months now?
Time to double up on the meds….
Consumer Prices
OK, they came out this morning and as one might expect the continue to show modest inflation at the retail/consumer level:
“The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.5 percent in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.8 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The gasoline index rose sharply in June and accounted for about two thirds of the seasonally adjusted all items change. Other energy indexes were mixed, with the electricity index rising, but the indexes for natural gas and fuel oil declining.
The food index increased in June as the index for food at home turned up after declining in May. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent in June, the same increase as in May. Advances in the indexes for shelter, medical care, and apparel accounted for most of the rise, with increases in the indexes for new vehicles and household furnishings and operations also contributing.
The indexes for airline fares, used cars and trucks, and recreation all declined in June. The all items index increased 1.8 percent over the last 12 months, an increase from last month’s 1.4 percent figure. The index for all items less food and energy has risen 1.6 percent over the last year, the smallest 12-month change since June 2011. The energy index has risen 3.2 percent over the span, and the food index has increased 1.4 percent.
The small disconnect I see is with the food prices portion of the report is that it seems to have used data from another planet (or at least another state) from here in Texas where food inflation has been running over 10% in just the past year. Your milege may vary.
Although speaking of mileage, the report may actually overstate the gasoline prices since the Triple A Fuel Gauge report for today shows average gas prices are actually down a couple of pennies last year.
Reaction has been muted, except for oil which is sneak up on $107 per barrel and the market today looks to trade sideways around the open.
More After This…
ODA: Observations, Departments, and Analysis
The State of American “Justice”
As we sit around watching the media whip up emotionally-charged people into more acts of violence in the wake of the George Zimmerman acquittal, one of my “liberal” buddies called me yesterday to explain how the government would not go after George Zimmerman directly, but they would only ensure that the police had not found any evidence of Zimmerman abridging Trayvon Martin’s rights.
I didn’t have time to explain then (busy day) but again, as I wrote last Thursday, I thoroughly expect George Zimmerman to be tried again on some kind of federal charge.
Look: The NAACP is whipping up frenzy by invoking emotional terms like “modern day lynching” while in Baltimore a Hispanic man was beaten by youths saying “this is for Trayvon…“
And the innuendo against Zimmerman continues to mount with stories headlining assertions like “Jeantel: I told Trayvon Zimmerman might have been a rapist.”
So this morning I want to reassure my liberal friend that I still fully expect Zimmerman to be charged with something by the feds. There is simply too much media pressure to see any other outcome.
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The underlying concept in law is this (*from Wikipedia):
“Double jeopardy is a procedural defense that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following a legitimate acquittal or conviction. In common law countries, a defendant may enter a peremptory plea of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict (autrefois means “previously” in French), meaning the defendant has been acquitted or convicted of the same offence.[1] “
One could argue that the judge in the Zimmerman trial already double jeopardy by the judge tossing in the manslaughter charges toward the end of the trial, but that’s one for the legal scholars to debate.
A civil rights charge, it will be argued, would not be trial for the same thing, but is it? Doesn’t everything come back to events on one particular night where a shooting death shooting occurred?
I expect we’ll hear a decision before the week is out: The lynch-press will have it no other way even if it sets a dangerous precedent which could be cast by some as a kind of triple-jeopardy.
Speaking of Judicial Notes
Did you happen to see the case of a judge here in Texas who reportedly sent text messages to the prosecutor suggesting questions?
Seems to me that trial ought to be thrown out, since it made the proceeding a two-against-one affair, rather than a balanced effort to seek truth.
If we can’t trust the courts, what’s left?
Bankrupting Detroit
A couple of years ago I did a report after attending a conference in Detroit about how we would be keeping an eye on the motor city because it was a fine canary in the coalmine financially.
It’s been reeling, in punch-drunk fighter fashion, stumbling and bumbling…trying to get itself picked up but never quite finding enough jobs, enough energy to really get ahead of the power curve.
So this morning when we read on the CBS/Detroit sight that Detroit may be headed for bankruptcy in the next couple of weeks, it hardly comes as any surprise.
What’s key here is that Detroit was one of the most goods-producing of American cities. Folks up there actually made things and, being solidly working class, the glitz and glitter of the shopkeeper economy based on services and glam just didn’t take off. And one the “making things” failed, it was too late to roll out glam, glitz, and services.
To be sure, there are some companies that have made ballsy investments in the city (Quicken comes to mind) but again financial services, loans, and so forth are services.
But as I’ve often told you, when people are massively removed from making things (and what few jobs remain are outsourced) you get all kinds of distress in the economic system.
Obamacare Stresses. Too
As if cities like Detroit need more trouble, another trend which is digging in is restaurants and bars (hospitality sector) are switching to part-time jobs.
Which could explain why in recent polls, the Obamacare plans are becoming less and less favorably viewed.
Wargamer’s Notebook
Still flying and bound to fly some more…
The venerable B-52 bomber, affectionately called the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F***er) by those of us who flew her, is getting yet ‘another’ modernization overhaul which will take its lifecycle out to 2040. This upgrade will focus on the avionics and weapons delivery systems.
The very first XB-52 flight occurred in 1952, and the last of the currently flying turbofan powered ‘H’ models first flew in 1961, with the last ‘H’ rolling off of Boeing’s assembly line in 1963. That’s 50 . . . FIVE-0 . . . years ago. No other aircraft in aviation history can claim the consistent flight hours, amazing longevity and awesome weapons delivery capability of the might BUFF. Wikipedia has a decent history of the noble Stratofortress here:“
58 flying, 9 spares. Everything in government should work this long, hard, and well… Hell, how many cars make it to 50? Not a single TV I’ve ever heard or…not even an electric can opener…
The iPoop?
Neat product idea here: Take a soiled baby diaper once a day and scan the QR code with your phone and spot any chemical changes in urine which might tip off urinary tract infection, dehydration or developing kidney problems.
Crowdsourcing has raised almost $11,000 or an intended $25,000 funding level.
More after this….
