Roundup
(1) Colorado enacts an extreme anti-gun law.
(2) We’ve got our high-flow showerheads back – for now:
Trump changed the definition back to what it used to be. The Times brands this some kind of activist invasion into people’s right to have low water pressure in their showers.
California has stringent low-flow rules for showerheads, and I remember – now it can be told? – that Gerard circumvented that by installing some sort of black-market showerhead in his rented house in Paradise. I wonder whether the showerhead survived the fire; I don’t recall seeing it in the ashes, although I saw the twisted satellite dish and the metal legs of the ironing board.
(3) Kamala Harris is talking about establishing a policy institute.
(4) Another day, another illegal alien sex offender busted:
… Immigrations & Customs Enforcement has just picked up an illegal alien and convicted child sex offender in Fairfax County, Virginia – after a county judge suspended his sentence and set him back out on the street. ICE detainers for this goblin have been ignored by county authorities.
I can’t imagine that Virginia’s position is highly popular.
(5) German freedom of speech – an oxymoron? See this:
In Germany, a newspaper editor has been fined and sentenced to seven months in prison for posting a meme:
“The Bamberg district court in Bavaria sentenced Deutschland-Kurier editor David Bendels this week to seven months in prison on probation and a fine of nearly sixty per cent of his annual income, or 210 ‘daily rates’, for posting an image on social media of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser holding an altered sign.”
And what did the altered sign say? Why, “I hate freedom of speech”.
I guess truth is not a defense in Germany.
So at the moment, the trade war seems to be with China
Accent on the phrase “at the moment.” But I do think it’s highly possible that was the intent all along.
China announced on Friday that it will raise tariffs on U.S. imports from 84% to 125%, further escalating the trade war between Washington and Beijing.
The move is largely symbolic. As former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox News host Larry Kudlow on Thursday night, once tariffs hit 50%, further increases have limited practical impact. At that point, Ross explained, leaders effectively signal that they no longer seek a trade relationship. …
China expert Gordon Chang joined Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning to discuss the mounting conflict between China and the U.S. Chinese President Xi Jinping, he claims, is in an increasingly difficult political position because he can’t do what “absolutely” must be done which is to open up the lines of communication.
“Picking up the phone and calling President Trump would be the economically rational thing to do,” Chang said, “but Xi Jinping has configured the Chinese political system so that only the most hostile answers are considered to be acceptable, which means he’s boxed himself in.” …
“The Chinese don’t have any cards in this,” he explained. “They’re only holding a pair of twos and Trump has a royal straight flush. The Chinese think they can intimidate Trump, they can coerce him into surrendering preemptively.” But Trump is not backing down. …
According to the report, the U.S. and Panama have formally entered into a new defense and security agreement designed to strengthen oversight of the Panama Canal—an initiative Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as essential for countering China’s expanding influence in the region.
Is Chang correct? I don’t know. This is not my field of expertise, as I’ve often stated. But it makes sense to me that the goal – or at least one big goal – is to put the squeeze on China. Much of what we get from them is shoddy consumer goods, but there’s also rare earths (do I hear Greenland? Australia? or even the US itself see this) and pharmaceuticals (do I hear India?).
NOTE: See also this.
And our resident condescending British friend has been talking about the bond market. For those who might be curious about that, please see this for some background in terms of the Trump/Vance administration.
Open thread 4/11/2025
The House was busy today
It passed the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, plus the removal of non-citizens from voter rolls.
I’m not 100% certain that this law will stand – even if it manages to pass the Senate, which is a big “if”. States have usually been the arbiters of voting rules, although Congress has some say in federal elections and this bill is merely an amendment to a previous voting act passed by Congress. So if it passes in the Senate it might very well become the law.
Just a few short years ago its elements would have had wide bipartisan support. No longer, although it has nominally bilateral support because four Democrats voted yes: Rep. Ed Case (HI), Rep. Henry Cueller (TX), Rep. Jared Golden (ME), and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA).
In other actions, the House passed a budget resolution:
The House of Representatives passed a budget resolution, which gives President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill its first win.
However, it once again shows Republicans are not as committed to cutting spending as they claim.
NOTE: DOGE has also been busy – very very busy:
Here’s what the investigation revealed:
24,500 people, allegedly over 115 years old, claimed $59 million in benefits.
28,000 supposed children between the ages of 1 and 5 claimed $254 million.
9,700 claims from people with future birth dates totaled $69 million.
On tariffs: what is Trump thinking?
Trump: genius, or not-so-amiable dunce?
In my opinion – somewhere in-between but so far in terms of results on all fronts closer to genius and definitely an unusual person. The left and all his other enemies either don’t understand Trump at all or pretend not to in order to portray him as a complete dummy as well as very dangerous. Maybe he is very dangerous to them, if their specialty is grift-by-government.
But it’s also true that Trump takes risks, which is often frightening even to those who don’t hate him. And it’s also true that to win in The Art of the Deal you can’t make your intentions completely known, because if at times you’re bluffing you must seem as though you’re not. After all, that’s what bluffing is about.
When Trump put a hold on huge tariffs yesterday (except for China), the MSM headlines were all about him capitulating, blinking, being weak. Then again, the action may have been (and probably was) part of his plan, which at the moment seems focused on squeezing China. See this for a fuller explanation. See also this for the way the MSM and the left are managing to frame it.
And this thread has a lot of revealing reactions. For example from Bill Ackman:
This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump. Textbook, Art of the Deal.
And from Greg Price:
Yes, totally caved by… *checks notes*…. successfully using his leverage to bring the nations of the world to the negotiating table for fairer trade deals while realigning global trade against China.
From Peter Schiff:
It looks like Trump has already surrendered in what may go down as the shortest global trade war in history. I guess once he saw how badly the U.S. was losing, he needed to find a graceful way to save face.
Does Schiff really think Trump expected that his opening move would be the end of it? I very much doubt it. But even if Schiff is correct, the fact that Trump could and would back down and change course somewhat in the face of a bad result would be a good sign, wouldn’t it?
I’ll give the last word to Ted Cruz, on the “angels and devils on the president’s shoulder” – one of them being himself (the portion I’ve cued up is just a couple of minutes):
NOTE: In somewhat related news, inflation reports are good.
For those who this Easter season are mourning the demise of Russell Stover pectin jelly beans
They were the best, the very best. And now they’re gone.
I’m speaking, of course, of the world’s best jelly beans, IMHO the only type of jelly bean worth eating. I’ve written about the original Russell Stover version here. But a couple of years ago they became difficult to find, and by last year it was clear they were no longer being made. They’re still not being made, and I doubt that will change.
But these are almost the same. Maybe they even are the same. I don’t know, because I’m going on memory, and memory can play tricks on us. But even if not exactly the same, they’re close enough – although significantly more expensive and only obtainable through online order.
I bring you the pectin jelly beans from the Vermont Country Store:
The ones in the photo are mine, safely arrived and prior to the big feed. You can order some here. And no, I don’t even get a commission, just the joy of spreading the word as a public service.
An astute and kindly reader also let me know the pectin jelly beans are available here as well. They’re even a little less expensive – but alas, they’re out of stock for this year.
Enjoy. Your dentist will thank you.
Open thread 4/10/2025
Closing time for Gerard’s blog – plus an update on the poetry book
I knew it had to happen, although I’d been delaying it: closing down Gerard Vanderleun’s blog. For one thing, he left instructions to me to leave it up for two years and then to take it down. So it was his wish. I’ve been tending it by posting photos and open threads three days per week as its once-robust readership dwindled, and now it’s been two years and two months since Gerard’s death.
So it’s time to do it – really, past time to do it. But still difficult. That blog was his lovingly tended work, full of photos and essays and poetry and humor. There were over five thousand posts there, and the number was only that small because he’d gotten rid of everything prior to 2017 except some old favorites. Gerard could be ruthless that way; he was always pruning the blog.
If you go there now you’ll see a message that it’s closed (some strange code has snuck in, too, and I don’t know how to get rid of that so I’ll let it be). I’m busy canceling the autopays and after that the site will probably give forth a basic 404 message. But I’ve edited the essay book and I’ve got the poetry book in the works, with the latter probably due to appear in the next month or two. I’ll announce it here when it’s available for purchase.
But before I closed Gerard’s blog down I copied a bunch more of his essays into another document and I may – accent on the may – decide to put out a second essay book of his. I’m not sure yet if I will, but I’m considering it.
One of Gerard’s readers has also started a new site so that whoever wants to can continue to post and talk: here it is, in case you’re interested.
Gerard really liked the poem The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. And so do I. So for this occasion, I’ll close with a verse from it that seems appropriate:
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
The increasingly colorless world
Here’s part of an essay Christopher Cook wrote yesterday:
I occasionally point this out to my wife as we’re driving along. Why have car colors become soooooooo boring?
The rest of the essay explores ideas about what the reasons might be, and why it also is true in architecture and clothing.
But you heard it here first: fourteen years ago, to be exact. The following was the entire 2011 post of mine on the subject:
Whatever happened to car colors?
It seems these days that gray’s the thing, in every possible shade and tone: silver, metallic, charcoal, light, dark, middling, and every type of gray in between. Much more gray than I care to look at.
I ask you: whose decree is this, and why?
The comments there are quite interesting as well.
But here’s an update: it’s only gotten worse. And yes, clothing is involved too. I know many people – and we’re talking women here, not men in gray flannel suits – who only wear neutrals like black and beige. My closet is very colorful, but maybe that marks me as a dinosaur, fashion-wise.
But perhaps the worst offender in recent years has been interior decoration. For quite a while everything was gray – except for kitchens, which were white. I used to sometimes put a house remodeling channel on TV while I was working, as a sort of background babble, and it featured young couple after young couple looking at perfectly lovely kitchens and saying they of course had to be totally remodeled, with everything white except for silver appliances.
I know some of it has to do with the idea of resale value, and that blandness is inoffensive to most people. Well, it’s pretty offensive to me.
I’ve been looking for a new couch. My old one is uncomfortable (and when I write “old” I mean about 25 years old) and it wasn’t much to begin with. It is a pretty color green, though, and that’s what I want for my new one, too. It can be done, because fortunately there are usually many fabrics from which to choose.
But the salesroom of the store I entered? Everything was beige or gray. And I mean everything. It was uncanny and unsettling, and I even mentioned it to one of the salespeople. She said they were going to be getting a new decorator and more color. Perhaps a trend? If so, it’s one I’d welcome.
Netanyahu explains
I haven’t actually watched this interview with Netanyahu yet, but I’ve seen it highly recommended by several people, including Scott Johnson at Powerline, who writes:
In the interview Netanyahu walks us through all the major decisions that shaped the Iron Swords war thus far. The interview is conducted in Hebrew and posted with English subtitles. This is a remarkably illuminating document on the crucial decisions [he] has had to make in the course of the war so far. Among other things, he frankly describes his interactions with President Biden and other Biden administration officials … [It is a] living lesson in the art of statesmanship.
Here’s the interview: