Belle

The general rule is 'always go with your starters'. But this is not a situation where that general rule necessarily applies.

Leadership now has to be bold and assertive, and able to maintain the enthusiasm of the people who handed them power. Schumer and Jeffries are good in the cloak room, and making deals, but they're boring AF, and they both seem to be stuck in a wistful nostalgia for the good old days of decorum and regular order.

I'm not interested in cutesy alphabet rhymes and sternly worded letters. We're in a brick fight, fellas - we need somebody who knows how to throw some fuckin' bricks.

At the very least, you have to get somebody out in front of the cameras who can explain it all to us as we go.

The current setup is failing. Both chambers have large communications operations that run all thru the joint - each caucus and committee and member have their own - but I have yet to see anything real come out of them in any meaningful way. Hell, I had to google it just to find out there are such things as House and Senate comms shops.

What are we paying those people for?

Belle

The guy who can't figure out how to end a 10-day war with Iran after 8 months - the guy who said he'd end the Ukraine war in 24 hours 700 days ago - that guy says he could've ended the war in Vietnam in a week, by bombing Saigon.

The Snark With Belle

Belle

Belle

Some of the damage Trump has done, and continues to do, is looking more and more permanent as we go.

Belle

"Trump's golden age is pyrite."

Belle

60% of us believe abortion should be legal.

Most Republicans have been voting straight down the line to make it as illegal as possible.

Belle

Belle

• Elective war
• Tariffs
• The One Big Beautiful Bill

Belle

Belle

The whole region saw Trump blink - again.

Belle

Thousands of books have been banned, with a new wrinkle - AI.

Falling Down

Back in the 70s and 80s, Trump inherited something like $415 million - a few hundred from his dad, and a coupla more hundred that he stole from his brother. If he'd parked it all in a plain vanilla investment account, and paid himself $300,000 a month, by the time he decided to run for president, he would've had almost $3 billion.

All he had to do was coast and enjoy life among the idle rich. But he couldn't. He had to fuck with it.

Then he slimes his way into the White House, inheriting an economy that Obama and the Dems put back together after the crash in 2008, and all he had to do was ride it. But he couldn't. He had to fuck with it.

He leaves us with the worst double-barrelled disaster that anybody could remember.

He's out for four years while Biden and the Dems fixed it all up pretty well, and comes back to an economy that's rebounded - and all he has to do is not fuck it up.

But of course, he couldn't not fuck it up, because fucking it all up is the only thing that son of a bitch knows how to do.

Belle

Why ain't that dog barkin'?

Belle

Texas declares Trump a disaster - without actually naming him.

Roads Not Taken

Trump is so now toxic, he's turned free money into a political negative.

Belle

Reports of the demise of the Republican Party are greatly exaggerated - but that don't mean it ain't comin'.

Belle

"... really cool World War II reenactments."

Belle

My Econ 101 class gave me a low-level understanding of the overall economy. Which, you may surmise, is almost nothing, so it puts on par with what Trump has in his tiny little pea-sized brain.

And it was 55 years ago, when they were still trying to figure out if it was OK that we'd been fully moved off the gold standard. 

So from what I can piece together:

• Producer Price Index (PPI) is a kind of "leading indicator" (ie: Prospective) because it hints at what we can expect to see at the grocery store.
• Consumer Price Index (CPI) is more or less a "lagging indicator" (ie: Retrospective) because it tells us what actually happened at the grocery store.

The two indices measure different - though very much related - aspects of the economy.

Producer Price Index (PPI)

• What it tracks: Wholesale prices received by domestic producers for their output.
• What is inside: Raw materials, intermediate goods, machinery, and exports.
• Taxes: Excludes sales and excise taxes because they are not revenue for the producer.Main use: To measure real output growth and act as an early sign of future consumer inflation.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

• What it tracks: Retail prices paid by typical urban households.
• What is inside: Finished goods, services, housing/rent, medical care, and imports.
• Taxes: Includes sales and excise taxes because consumers pay them.Main use: To measure changes in the cost of living.

Belle

Trump is losing the whole of the middle east.

I think the bad actors in Yemen and Iran and Saudi Arabia would've gotten around to acting badly anyway, but it's likely that Trump's ignorant bumbling would've led us into the same predicament we're in now no matter what. Put Trump's ignorance together with Americans' gullible malleability where oil and trade are concerned, and you've got exactly what's happening now.

And while Trump has never needed anybody's help to fuck things up, he's got lots of willing helpers on this project. Because for example, we always have to consider the probability that he's doing Putin's bidding by getting our asses completely blown out of the region.