Today's Belle

This just in: Trump is lying about Tren de Aragua. (I know - comes as quite a shock)

We've Done It Before

So let's do it again. 

And let's keep doing it until we don't have to do it anymore.

10 Things

1. Know stuff
2. Tell people about the stuff you know
3. Run for something
4. Volunteer to help somebody who's running for something
5. Join or actively support pro-democracy groups
6. Become a poll Watcher or a Poll Worker
7. Call / write / visit elected officials
8. Show up and vote every chance you get
9. Stay at it
10. Support independent media

Today's Dr Richardson

It's the corruption, stupid.

Also:

• DOGE hasn't saved us any money - in fact, it's cost us more
• Crypto is
• a scam perpetrated on regular people
• a money laundering scheme
• a way to bribe Trump

Gimme Re-Write

Overheard

Color me unsurprised.

When will it be enough?

The Trump State Department

tried to sneak $400M to Tesla.

They got caught.

Then, according to

Congressman Greg Casar,

they lied about it.

Reform, my dyin' ass -

that's straight up

bald-faced corruption.

D.A.R.V.O.

Brace For Impact

There's this thing they teach in Econ 101 (and any given Marketing Seminar) called elasticity.

Trump's tariffs are in effect, and the last un-tariffed cargo ship we're expecting from China sailed a week or two ago.

It takes 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 weeks for the goods to sail o'er the bounding main, and then another week or more to get the stuff from the ports to the local Walmart.

So we can expect interruptions and delays and shortages and higher prices beginning in a month or so.

But one other thing about elasticity: even if Trump manages to get his head out of his ass long enough to think up some bullshit story about how he won The Great Patriotic Trade War, shit doesn't just suddenly get put right, and we're back to normal overnight.

First, other countries in the world - some we call "friend" - have been itchin' for a chance to fuck us over for a very long time. New trade deals that exclude the US are being worked out right now, and there's more than a fair probability that the rest of the world takes this opportunity to hedge their bets and not "get back to normal" - not when the US can so easily become unreliable.

Second, Capitalism leans pretty heavily on the notion of "scarcity" to keep their prices high in order to maximize shareholder value. There's a whole big bunch of companies creaming their jeans over the prospect of milking this problem for every nickel they can squeeze out of it, and plenty of them will never go "back to normal" because they're learning that lots of us will just sit here and take it. So don't expect prices to go back down once this shit is over - because they're going to find a way to keep us hangin' for as long as they can.

Today's IG

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Building The Permission Structure

• 70% of us prefer diversity in religion and ethnicity
• 80% of us say the "melting pot" is a good thing (including 73% of Republicans)

MAGA is not the majority.