Roundup
(1) WEF founder Klaus Schwab is being investigated based on allegations in a whistleblower’s letter:
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the probe, said an anonymous letter sent last week to the WEF’s board raised concerns about its governance and workplace culture, including allegations that the Schwab family mixed their personal affairs with the forum’s resources without proper oversight.
Schwab denies wrongdoing.
(2) Illinois Senator Dick Durbin has announced he won’t be running for re-election in 2026. Durbin – who’s been in the Senate for nearly thirty years and is eighty years old – is one of the most abominable Democrat senators, but I would bet a large amount of money that his replacement will be a Democrat who is as bad or worse. In Illinois, there is virtually no chance of Republican victory.
(3) The government has filed RICO charges against members of the Tren de Aragua gang:
The Justice Department on Monday filed multiple federal charges against 27 members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang. The charges include racketeering, narcotics, sex trafficking, robbery, and firearms offenses. DOJ officials said in a press release that this marks the first time RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges have been filed against the Venezuelan prison gang.
Seems highly appropriate to me.
(4) Here’s the Trump administration’s peace proposal for the Ukraine War. I make no predictions except to say I’m not optimistic about it and I hope I’m wrong on that.
(5) Stocks closed up somewhat today:
US stocks rallied Wednesday after President Trump said he has “no intention” of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, easing Wall Street fears over the central bank’s independence. Meanwhile, Trump also softened his tone on tariffs, hinting that eye-popping duty levels on Chinese imports would ultimately be scaled back.
(5) The last two days have been a welcome bounce off of the lows. We’ll see if it lasts or even continues a bit higher.
I think there is a lot of concern over the bilateral very high tariffs between the USA and China. And when the Trump team said that the current situation is unsustainable, investors are hoping for a quick resolution. I don’t see a quick resolution, unless Trump gives in very soon.
Note that Sen. Dirtbag supposedly has a net worth of $10 million. He hasn’t practiced law in > 40 years. (He was prior to that a solo practitioner who also landed patronage from elected officials).
He was apparently aipacs replacement to charles percy who was very pro Arab that ended up not such a good bet
Among his more? notorious instances were crying for the 20th hijacker client future of justice jackson btw who would have burned down capitol hill to a cinder
Theres a certain irony there of course his staff was also in contact with the alexandria shooter, as was duckworths he pushed the investigation of the tea party by lois lerner a thoroughly disreputable fellow im guesing he wasnt expecting to win back the Senate
I think its a realistic proposal for historical reasons Russia would never give up Crimea
5)
All the leftys I follow were screaming about the Trump tariffs on China, now today they say. “See, he’s an idiot…can’t be consistent and backing off on tariffs.” As Trump said, he could cure cancer and they would denounce it. 50% of our population is in mass psychosis.
How card do you have to hit your skull to make those yahoo headlines make sense very hard
https://oaklandnorth.net/author/natalia-gurevich/
Well that explains that,she had no sense then so she moved to economics
He was apparently aipacs replacement to charles percy who was very pro Arab that ended up not such a good bet
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No, Charles Percy was replaced by Paul Simon. Durbin was Simon’s replacement.
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Durbin ran in 1982 as a pro-life Catholic against Rep. Paul Findley (R). Findley was from 1978 onward the most obtrusive promoter of the Arab cause in Congress contra Israel. In his last years, it was the issue to which he devoted the largest bloc of time. He was also an irritant to those opposed to abortion. The blawger Donald McClarey (normally an inveterate Republican) put in time on his campaign that year IIRC. Durbin was playing the anti-abortion activists for suckers.
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Findley in his later years was willing to collaborate with the likes of Alison Weir and Philip Giraldi.
I stand corrected alison weir how is she connected
do you mean phillip weiss, there are so many varmints
I see Durbin’s net worth is estimated from 2.5 to 10 million. He is either more honest than most of them, not very good at investing or not very good at money laundering.
People speculate about what Trump’s real strategy is viz a viz China, and many are prepared to criticize him based on their projections.
Very few people know. I hope that Trump is one of the few.
One thing I project is that to get China’s attention you need to go at them hard. If I were to guess, I would say that metaphorically Trump wants to see if China can take a punch; and will adjust based on the evidence. The United States has played the ‘can’t we be friends?’ game with China since the Reagan years. It has not worked. Genghis Trump does not intend to kowtow to Communist China anymore than the Khan did to the Jin Dynasty. It remains to be seen if the core of the Middle Kingdom is as weak as it was in those earlier yeas.
Mis-educated Darlings on the Left have prated about ‘changing the world’ for decades now. They learned that it is not easy. Trump has set out to change the world. It will not be easy. I am one who believes that it is worth some sacrifice.
China buys very little from us. We buy A LOT from China. We should tariff the hell out of them until they cave, which is inevitable.
“50% of our population is in mass psychosis.” physicsguy
Upon what basis should those suffering from mass psychosis retain the voting franchise?
5) S&P 500 still down 15% from February’s high; DJIA still down 11%; NASDAQ composite still down 20%.
My advice on any stock market news is go look at a chart covering at least the last month or two, never just read people’s words describing recent changes, they will always be spinning a narrative.