So now Rand Paul wants to block tariffs, along with other Rep Senators. They really really want Dems to win. I wish the Rep would grow a spine of steel. And are they supporting Trump on DOGE and expulsions? Doesn’t seem like it to me.
Paul honestly is against tariffs i think they are a powerful tool used soaringly
It won’t be easy to find alternatives to America’s voracious consumers. The U.S. is by far the largest single-country buyer of China’s exported goods, accounting for roughly half a trillion dollars of products, or about 15% of China’s goods exports, last year, according to Chinese customs data.
About a fifth of China’s goods exports to the U.S. have a high dependency on the U.S., Oxford Economics found.
This is in fact asymmetric warfare.
Have you missed the Trump Tally updates since my banishment almost two months ago? Apparently that banishment has been lifted—a discovery made the other day, thanks to mkent. I have been posting the Tally updates on my blog and then reposting them on my X account. Am also reposting here, but without a lot of the formatting and links—since I don’t want to spend time editing it with HTML for here. X has formatting issues so I only add a few BOLDs here ‘n there, with a list of links at bottom of that post—they really have formatting issues! Here is the Logo for this post. NOTE – Grok was used for the opening part of Tally to soften my tone for readers here in the Pod, i.e., humble me is no Fuddy-duddy fearful of such…
Trump Tally – April 29, 2025: First 100 Days
It’s hard to trust anything from legacy or new media these days. As a frequent reader of Conservative news and blog sites, I skim and/or read the comment sections of only three to five of them. Truth seems irrelevant there—protecting President Trump is the sole priority.
A quick glance at legacy, Progressive, and other Democrat-leaning news and blog sites reveals why ‘Right-Peas’ feel compelled to shield Trump, even at the expense of truth. The Left’s obsession with demonizing him fuels this defensive reflex.
Both Republicans’ TCS (Trump Cultist Syndrome) and Democrats’ TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) are equally nauseating to those of us outside the GOP and Dem echo chambers.
That said, President Trump and his administration have delivered an impressive performance over the last 100 days!
Thinking about future Tally updates: Will store shelves be empty? Will the price of my new glasses increase after this week?
CRINK—the growing axis of authoritarian states (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea)—poses a serious challenge. Trump was soft on Russia and Iran during his first term, and this weakness has persisted into his first 100 days this time.
Trump is finally waking up to the fact that Putin has been playing him during negotiations. Worse, he’s foolishly blamed Ukraine for starting a war that was already raging during his first term, while repeatedly condemning, threatening, ridiculing, and insulting President Zelenskyy.
Iran remains a sticking point. Trump touts peace, but words are cheap, and I’m skeptical. The growing influence of CRINK, Putin’s ‘tapping’ Trump along, and stalled Iran peace efforts land this issue at #8 in the “Weak” category of this Tally update.
Strong:
1) Pre-Jan 20 was very well organized w/ Trump quiet. CoS Susie Wiles has done a great job!
2) Quickly picked Admin & staff pre-Jan 20.
3) Inauguration Day 2025 shows total preparation made by good leader – unlike being unprepared during his first term.
4) Moved fast on illegal immigration promises – plus lots of helpful EO’s.
5) Have to give Trump a Strong on his choice of Pete Hegseth as SoD – and solid work by the GOP Senate to get him confirmed!
6) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to expose government waste, cutting regulations, and restructuring federal agencies. Early impact has been *AMAZING*!
7) Trump calls Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) a “fantastic guy,” and I also like him. Hey, we think our Far-left dissidents are bad, but compared to Saudi Arabia’s dissidents ours are closer to a Mother Teresa. Trump bringing MbS in to host a summit between himself and Putin is a great move. A great move that builds a stronger relationship with MbS, empowers MbS, whilst also opening negotiating ‘Doors’ for talks with Russia and Iran.
8) Has stood by his Team during the Signal disaster so far, which I respect, so am adding this to the Strong category on 3/30/25. In his first term Trump was quick to blame and to dismiss, but has been more composed this time—other than the Russia/Ukraine war. The Team was made up of mostly inexperienced people, so some early slip-ups are to be expected.
9) 4/6/25 update: Tariffs roared onto the scene last week, as a massive addition to Trump’s playbook—and they’ve got both sides of the aisle sweating. Republicans are jittery, split down the middle, with many clutching their pearls and warning of a midterm “bloodbath” if the Tariffs backfire. Democrats, meanwhile, have unleashed their “Hands Off!” movement, rallying around cries of “funding cuts and a spiraling trade war.” Those cuts are torching the DEM’s secret cash reserves & hidden vote buying money, leaving them desperate and praying for Trump’s Tariff gambit to flop. But here’s the kicker: I’m taking their protests and pleas as glowing proof that Trump’s Tariff agenda is hitting all the right nerves—an indicator that many DEMs fear that Trump’s Tariffs are going to work.
10) Immigration and Judicial Overreach have been festering problems, long overdue for a reckoning—and Trump and his administration have finally stepped up to the plate. They’ve zeroed in on both whilst looking for “fixes” that will shakeup the status quo to its core. On immigration, Trump’s team is doubling down, tightening borders and slashing loopholes that have been exploited for years, much to the chagrin of open-border advocates. Meanwhile, the Judicial Overreach crackdown is targeting activist judges and bloated court rulings, aiming to restore balance and rein in decades of unchecked oversteps. These moves aren’t just Band-Aids—they’re sledgehammers to a broken system, and the howls of protest from the usual suspects only prove how badly these reforms were needed.
Weak:
1) Failed to end Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours.
2) Re-designates Iranian-backed Houthis as terrorists – lets Iran continue to back them!?!
3) neo called it an “unforced error” on Trump’s part. Most commenters agreed. ‘Twas an internet vision of Trump starring as the Hare in ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’. Horrid response to Air collision above the Potomac – horrid response to a National Tragedy. Probably doesn’t bode well for confidence in his future response/s to a National Emergency…?
4) Still early into the Breaking News about ‘Second Buddy’ Putin and President Trump opening negotiations on Ukraine’s future; however, if this is Trump’s opening move in the negotiations, it is an incredibly ill-informed and/or naive one. Thusly, such an opening deserves a spot under the Weak category on the Trump Tally…Geez!?
5) President Trump may have been a *BIG* ‘wheeling-dealing fish’ in the New York pond, but it is starting to look like he is outta his league in bigger waters. His opening negotiations with Putin has earned him a comparison to Neville Chamberlain—an unfortunate comparison that seems to be sticking. To make matters even worse, ‘US officials have backtracked’ – that will be President Trump backtracking on his ridiculous opening negotiation offer to Putin of ‘Nato membership and US security guarantees were off the table for Ukraine’.
6) This one will remain in bold—a 100% disaster for America. Have never saw such horrid American Diplomacy—Trump & Vance were both disaster, with Vance leading the way, but both showed their Aggressive, Loud, Rude, Angry, and Undiplomatic sides. The video from that link shows what a disaster it was for America and the Free World.
7) His handling of the Russia/Ukraine negotiations has continued to be a disaster. Ukraine has been fighting Russia’s aggression for over 10 years now, so hopefully they can recover from Trumps horrid mistakes. The CRINK Axis has showed Trump’s flaws – in that he attempts to coddle Russia whilst warning Iran—and to some degree North Korea also. Maybe Trump has finally realized that Putin is Playing him in these negotiations… (NOTE: new 3/30/2025 add to Weak category)
8) 4/29/2025 update: President Trump has continued to show weakness towards Russia and Iran over his First 100 Days in Office. Meanwhile, CRINK—the growing axis of authoritarian states (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea)—poses a serious challenge. Fortunately, he has finally realized that Putin has been ‘tapping’ him along – maybe soon he will also realize that Iran is doing the same. He needs to stop helping Putin rebuild the failed Russian military, i.e., give Ukraine the long range weapons they need and increase the other weapons & ammo that Ukraine has been receiving. Even Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) realizes the folly in trying to negotiate with Iran—telling Trump he should ‘Waste that shit’ – in reference to Iran’s nuclear facilities whilst he still has time.
Get your own blog. Again.
Why he really came back; to generate traffic for himself.
Here is a little more info on Daguerreotype portraiture.
With some of the innovations, exposures could be as low as a few seconds. One innovation was fast lenses. The preferred lens for still life images was about f/14, whereas some improved lenses were as fast as f/3.6. Though those lenses had distortions in the edges of the pictures. And there were faster chemistries used.
I am all for a base line 10% tariff on all imports.
This nation had tariffs in it’s early days.
We regulate and tax our internal industry and then import things from nations that do not oppress their own businesses the same and that have way lower wages.
about that carrier mishap, honestly don’t they tie those aircraft down,
maybe top gun was really as make believe as they pretended to be,
Karmi was never banned, from what I can tell. He flounced rather than apologize to neo, and now he’s dramatically back, like flouncers typically have done for as long as I’ve been online.
Perhaps he really was banned, tearfully apologized and promised reform; but if so I’m not sure it’s sticking.
Step into the earliest days of photography and witness the oldest generation ever captured on camera — brought to life through advanced AI colorization and animation.
I was wondering. AI can do nifty stuff.
I have a photograph of my grandmother circa 1920. Same posed portrait, same gilded frame.
Not to pick on Powerline, but another crap take on stocks:
As we hit Day 100, legacy media are desperate to declare Trump 2.0 to already be a failure. But as I go about my day-to-day life, I just don’t see it. Perhaps my optimism arises from seeing the first signs of spring finally arriving here at the 45th Parallel.
Or, perhaps, because the stock market (S&P 500 index) managed to eke out a gain at the close of trading. The market has moved steadily upward for the past week straight and is up over 8 percent for the past twelve months.
Yeah, you cherry-picked a low from twelve months ago because you want to help Trump, but can we leave narrative-mongering to legacy media and live in reality?
I support most of what Trump has been doing to, but I’m not going to pretend that the stock market has liked it, and it’s dumb to try when it’s obviously not the case and anyone with a 401K knows that.
miguel cervantes, yes they are tied down, but the plane was being moved by a tow, either going up to the flight deck, or into the hanger bay for maintenance. It might have been on an elevator. The Carrier did a very fast maneuver, turning hard, causing a list. My Brother on the Midway told me about an A-4 going over, taking a sailor with it. It happens.
over in Iran, however things seem to be cooking not only at ports but at strategic nodes like isfahan,
Re: AI and jobs
According to David Shapiro it’s going to be bad:
_________________________________
Let me state this as clearly and plainly as possible:
We’re staring down the barrel of a double-barrel shotgun of blue collar and white collar job attrition unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and we’ve got less than a decade to brace for impact.…
We’ve already seen this happening over the last couple decades. A Millennial graduates with a Master’s degree but ends up flipping burgers anyways. High-skilled worker taking a low-skilled job.
High intelligence developers are going to lose their jobs, reskill to become plumbers, mechanics, and electricians, and dislocate all but the most skilled and experienced skilled tradesmen….
It’s basically the Great Depression on steroids, but instead of being caused by banking leverage, it’s caused by technological deflation. And it’s all coming too fast for the population (or government) to adapt. Even worse, most people don’t believe it’s coming.
So now Rand Paul wants to block tariffs, along with other Rep Senators. They really really want Dems to win. I wish the Rep would grow a spine of steel. And are they supporting Trump on DOGE and expulsions? Doesn’t seem like it to me.
Paul honestly is against tariffs i think they are a powerful tool used soaringly
https://www.nysun.com/article/leslie-stahls-ridiculous-question-to-jewish-hostage-may-have-sealed-60-minutes-bosss-fate-scott-pelleys-rant-reveals?l
If you want to sell someone like Rand Paul on tariffs here’s how you do it.
WSJ: Chinese Manufacturers Are Scouring the World for New Buyers
https://archive.md/YtA9M
This is in fact asymmetric warfare.
Have you missed the Trump Tally updates since my banishment almost two months ago? Apparently that banishment has been lifted—a discovery made the other day, thanks to mkent. I have been posting the Tally updates on my blog and then reposting them on my X account. Am also reposting here, but without a lot of the formatting and links—since I don’t want to spend time editing it with HTML for here. X has formatting issues so I only add a few BOLDs here ‘n there, with a list of links at bottom of that post—they really have formatting issues! Here is the Logo for this post. NOTE – Grok was used for the opening part of Tally to soften my tone for readers here in the Pod, i.e., humble me is no Fuddy-duddy fearful of such…
Trump Tally – April 29, 2025: First 100 Days
It’s hard to trust anything from legacy or new media these days. As a frequent reader of Conservative news and blog sites, I skim and/or read the comment sections of only three to five of them. Truth seems irrelevant there—protecting President Trump is the sole priority.
A quick glance at legacy, Progressive, and other Democrat-leaning news and blog sites reveals why ‘Right-Peas’ feel compelled to shield Trump, even at the expense of truth. The Left’s obsession with demonizing him fuels this defensive reflex.
Both Republicans’ TCS (Trump Cultist Syndrome) and Democrats’ TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) are equally nauseating to those of us outside the GOP and Dem echo chambers.
That said, President Trump and his administration have delivered an impressive performance over the last 100 days!
The Trump Tally – 4/6/2025: The Triumphant Trio of Tariffs, Immigration, and Judicial Overreach post remains a key indicator of Trump’s early second-term priorities. These complex issues will take time to resolve, for better or worse, so no new additions fall under the “Strong” category in today’s Tally update.
Thinking about future Tally updates: Will store shelves be empty? Will the price of my new glasses increase after this week?
CRINK—the growing axis of authoritarian states (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea)—poses a serious challenge. Trump was soft on Russia and Iran during his first term, and this weakness has persisted into his first 100 days this time.
Trump is finally waking up to the fact that Putin has been playing him during negotiations. Worse, he’s foolishly blamed Ukraine for starting a war that was already raging during his first term, while repeatedly condemning, threatening, ridiculing, and insulting President Zelenskyy.
Iran remains a sticking point. Trump touts peace, but words are cheap, and I’m skeptical. The growing influence of CRINK, Putin’s ‘tapping’ Trump along, and stalled Iran peace efforts land this issue at #8 in the “Weak” category of this Tally update.
Strong:
1) Pre-Jan 20 was very well organized w/ Trump quiet. CoS Susie Wiles has done a great job!
2) Quickly picked Admin & staff pre-Jan 20.
3) Inauguration Day 2025 shows total preparation made by good leader – unlike being unprepared during his first term.
4) Moved fast on illegal immigration promises – plus lots of helpful EO’s.
5) Have to give Trump a Strong on his choice of Pete Hegseth as SoD – and solid work by the GOP Senate to get him confirmed!
6) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to expose government waste, cutting regulations, and restructuring federal agencies. Early impact has been *AMAZING*!
7) Trump calls Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) a “fantastic guy,” and I also like him. Hey, we think our Far-left dissidents are bad, but compared to Saudi Arabia’s dissidents ours are closer to a Mother Teresa. Trump bringing MbS in to host a summit between himself and Putin is a great move. A great move that builds a stronger relationship with MbS, empowers MbS, whilst also opening negotiating ‘Doors’ for talks with Russia and Iran.
8) Has stood by his Team during the Signal disaster so far, which I respect, so am adding this to the Strong category on 3/30/25. In his first term Trump was quick to blame and to dismiss, but has been more composed this time—other than the Russia/Ukraine war. The Team was made up of mostly inexperienced people, so some early slip-ups are to be expected.
9) 4/6/25 update: Tariffs roared onto the scene last week, as a massive addition to Trump’s playbook—and they’ve got both sides of the aisle sweating. Republicans are jittery, split down the middle, with many clutching their pearls and warning of a midterm “bloodbath” if the Tariffs backfire. Democrats, meanwhile, have unleashed their “Hands Off!” movement, rallying around cries of “funding cuts and a spiraling trade war.” Those cuts are torching the DEM’s secret cash reserves & hidden vote buying money, leaving them desperate and praying for Trump’s Tariff gambit to flop. But here’s the kicker: I’m taking their protests and pleas as glowing proof that Trump’s Tariff agenda is hitting all the right nerves—an indicator that many DEMs fear that Trump’s Tariffs are going to work.
10) Immigration and Judicial Overreach have been festering problems, long overdue for a reckoning—and Trump and his administration have finally stepped up to the plate. They’ve zeroed in on both whilst looking for “fixes” that will shakeup the status quo to its core. On immigration, Trump’s team is doubling down, tightening borders and slashing loopholes that have been exploited for years, much to the chagrin of open-border advocates. Meanwhile, the Judicial Overreach crackdown is targeting activist judges and bloated court rulings, aiming to restore balance and rein in decades of unchecked oversteps. These moves aren’t just Band-Aids—they’re sledgehammers to a broken system, and the howls of protest from the usual suspects only prove how badly these reforms were needed.
Weak:
1) Failed to end Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours.
2) Re-designates Iranian-backed Houthis as terrorists – lets Iran continue to back them!?!
3) neo called it an “unforced error” on Trump’s part. Most commenters agreed. ‘Twas an internet vision of Trump starring as the Hare in ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’. Horrid response to Air collision above the Potomac – horrid response to a National Tragedy. Probably doesn’t bode well for confidence in his future response/s to a National Emergency…?
4) Still early into the Breaking News about ‘Second Buddy’ Putin and President Trump opening negotiations on Ukraine’s future; however, if this is Trump’s opening move in the negotiations, it is an incredibly ill-informed and/or naive one. Thusly, such an opening deserves a spot under the Weak category on the Trump Tally…Geez!?
5) President Trump may have been a *BIG* ‘wheeling-dealing fish’ in the New York pond, but it is starting to look like he is outta his league in bigger waters. His opening negotiations with Putin has earned him a comparison to Neville Chamberlain—an unfortunate comparison that seems to be sticking. To make matters even worse, ‘US officials have backtracked’ – that will be President Trump backtracking on his ridiculous opening negotiation offer to Putin of ‘Nato membership and US security guarantees were off the table for Ukraine’.
6) This one will remain in bold—a 100% disaster for America. Have never saw such horrid American Diplomacy—Trump & Vance were both disaster, with Vance leading the way, but both showed their Aggressive, Loud, Rude, Angry, and Undiplomatic sides. The video from that link shows what a disaster it was for America and the Free World.
7) His handling of the Russia/Ukraine negotiations has continued to be a disaster. Ukraine has been fighting Russia’s aggression for over 10 years now, so hopefully they can recover from Trumps horrid mistakes. The CRINK Axis has showed Trump’s flaws – in that he attempts to coddle Russia whilst warning Iran—and to some degree North Korea also. Maybe Trump has finally realized that Putin is Playing him in these negotiations… (NOTE: new 3/30/2025 add to Weak category)
8) 4/29/2025 update: President Trump has continued to show weakness towards Russia and Iran over his First 100 Days in Office. Meanwhile, CRINK—the growing axis of authoritarian states (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea)—poses a serious challenge. Fortunately, he has finally realized that Putin has been ‘tapping’ him along – maybe soon he will also realize that Iran is doing the same. He needs to stop helping Putin rebuild the failed Russian military, i.e., give Ukraine the long range weapons they need and increase the other weapons & ammo that Ukraine has been receiving. Even Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) realizes the folly in trying to negotiate with Iran—telling Trump he should ‘Waste that shit’ – in reference to Iran’s nuclear facilities whilst he still has time.
Get your own blog. Again.
Why he really came back; to generate traffic for himself.
Here is a little more info on Daguerreotype portraiture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype#Portraiture
With some of the innovations, exposures could be as low as a few seconds. One innovation was fast lenses. The preferred lens for still life images was about f/14, whereas some improved lenses were as fast as f/3.6. Though those lenses had distortions in the edges of the pictures. And there were faster chemistries used.
News from the 15th century
https://x.com/ghostofhellas/status/1917219084623609988
The grid outages in Portugal and Spain inspired me to update and rerun my post Coupling:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/73917.html
I am all for a base line 10% tariff on all imports.
This nation had tariffs in it’s early days.
We regulate and tax our internal industry and then import things from nations that do not oppress their own businesses the same and that have way lower wages.
the other explanation,
https://x.com/FahCubeItches/status/1917028284757352511
about that carrier mishap, honestly don’t they tie those aircraft down,
maybe top gun was really as make believe as they pretended to be,
Karmi was never banned, from what I can tell. He flounced rather than apologize to neo, and now he’s dramatically back, like flouncers typically have done for as long as I’ve been online.
Perhaps he really was banned, tearfully apologized and promised reform; but if so I’m not sure it’s sticking.
Step into the earliest days of photography and witness the oldest generation ever captured on camera — brought to life through advanced AI colorization and animation.
I was wondering. AI can do nifty stuff.
I have a photograph of my grandmother circa 1920. Same posed portrait, same gilded frame.
Not to pick on Powerline, but another crap take on stocks:
Yeah, you cherry-picked a low from twelve months ago because you want to help Trump, but can we leave narrative-mongering to legacy media and live in reality?
Neither S&P 500, NASDAQ, nor Dow Jones Industrial Average have recovered to where they were from December to February, still down about 10%.
I support most of what Trump has been doing to, but I’m not going to pretend that the stock market has liked it, and it’s dumb to try when it’s obviously not the case and anyone with a 401K knows that.
miguel cervantes, yes they are tied down, but the plane was being moved by a tow, either going up to the flight deck, or into the hanger bay for maintenance. It might have been on an elevator. The Carrier did a very fast maneuver, turning hard, causing a list. My Brother on the Midway told me about an A-4 going over, taking a sailor with it. It happens.
meanwhile back on the home front
https://x.com/CherylWroteIt/status/1917262835467383014
over in Iran, however things seem to be cooking not only at ports but at strategic nodes like isfahan,
Re: AI and jobs
According to David Shapiro it’s going to be bad:
_________________________________
Let me state this as clearly and plainly as possible:
We’re staring down the barrel of a double-barrel shotgun of blue collar and white collar job attrition unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and we’ve got less than a decade to brace for impact.…
We’ve already seen this happening over the last couple decades. A Millennial graduates with a Master’s degree but ends up flipping burgers anyways. High-skilled worker taking a low-skilled job.
High intelligence developers are going to lose their jobs, reskill to become plumbers, mechanics, and electricians, and dislocate all but the most skilled and experienced skilled tradesmen….
It’s basically the Great Depression on steroids, but instead of being caused by banking leverage, it’s caused by technological deflation. And it’s all coming too fast for the population (or government) to adapt. Even worse, most people don’t believe it’s coming.
–David Shapiro, “The ‘Great Dislocation’ will be more painful than anyone realizes”
https://daveshap.substack.com/p/the-great-dislocation-will-be-more
Thank you to commenter Tommy Jay for actually commenting on Neo’s very fascinating post on Daguerrotype portraiture.
Basherte1:
Don’t forget me!
@huxley 1:51 pm