2024 Election Post Mortem, Part 2. What's going on?

Well of course, it's hard to tell.

November 11, 2024

And indeed, there are already those, who pollyannish like insist that maybe this time Trump will be different, and not carry through with all his claims, promises, and threats.

I listed to all three weekend shows this week, and they're well worth listening to.  For the most part, with one exception, Democrats have realized that latching on to far left social issues sank them. Even Bernie Sanders seemed to agree.  The exception really seemed clueless.

A scary former Trump ambassador to Japan seemed, now in Congress for Tennessee, seems intent on cutting off all aid to Ukraine.

Susie Wiles will be Trump's chief of staff.

On that, there are already noting how that's "historic" as she's the first woman to be appointed to that role.  No it isn't.  Frankly, once Barrack Obama was elected President most of the claimed "firsts" are really meaningless.

Trump has apparently instructed Republicans in Congress to hold up Biden judicial nominees.

cont:

And now we know the "Border Czar" will be Tom Homan, who in a recent interview with 60 Minutes, supported deporting kids who were born and raised in the US to undocumented immigrants, stating: “Families can be deported together.”

Homan had stated at a Nation Conservatism conference: "Trump comes back in January, I'll be on his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. They ain't seen shit yet. Wait until 2025."

How charming.

cont:

Elise Stefanik has been chosen to be Ambassador to the United Nations.

November 12, 2024

Former Green Beret, Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a China hawk, will be National Security Advisor.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem will head the Department of Homeland Security

Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York will run the Environmental Protection Agency.  He's expected to go after environmental regulations, and be hostile to climate policy.

Somebody, or some group, is clearly advising Trump on these picks.  But who is it?  

Marco Rubio will be Secretary of State, a position that he undoubtedly will be unable to retain throughout a second Trump administration.

Russian television, which is presumed not to run items without Putin's permission, ran nude photos of Melania Trump.  This is interesting in that Trump has a weird relationship with Putin, and you have to wonder what the message was supposed to be.

Cont:

Tom Homan:

The illegal animals coming across the border... 31% of women that make their journey get raped by criminal cartels.

Children get raped. I've talked to little girls as young as nine that have been raped multiple times.

These cartels are animals. And that's why President Trump's gonna take 'em off the face of Earth.

[Trump] will use them full might of the United States Special Operations to take 'em out.

 Trump in fact asked about doing something of this nature in his prior term.

Cont:

John Ratcliffe will serve as CIA director.

November 13, 2024

Fox news commentator Pete Hegseth, a National Guard officer, has been chosen by Trump as Secretary of Defense.

Seems like a poor choice.  Maybe even a bit of a scary one.

Former Arkansas Governor and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, a very strong supporter of Israel, perhaps even one that might be regarded as extreme on the point, has been chosen as Ambassador to the country.

This will not be good for peace in the Middle East.  Arab Americans who abstained from voting will no reap the fruits of that action, and they'll be bitter fruits.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been appointed to something that will be called the Department of Efficiency.  I don't see this lasting.

These picks look a lot like what a lot of people expected, and feared.

Cont:

John Thune (R-S.D.) will be the next Senate Majority Leader.

Cont:  

Secretary of Defense putative nominee has apparently stated "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles." Frankly, that's my view as well, and that view is widely shared within the military itself.  This is interesting, however, as this would normally probably be a disqualifying viewpoint.  We'll see if it had any impact on his chances of being confirmed.

We'll also see, of course, if he acts on his view.  A large number of the views Trump expressed in his 2016 campaign of this type never saw the light of day in his administration.

I actually have a long and very old draft of a post on women in combat I've never completed.  I ought to, but now I'm reluctant given that I don't want to be seen leaping on board the incoming administration's bandwagon.

Cont:

Trump has nominated Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General of the United States.

My prediction is that even the Republican Senate won't be able to stomach that.

What a joke.

November 14, 2024

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Security.

John Barrasso, Senate Whip.

Gaetz, who was the topic of an upcoming ethics investigation, has resigned from Congress.  

Cont:

When he (Gaetz) was accused of sleeping with an underage girl, there’s a reason why no one in the conference defended him. We all saw videos he was showing us on the House floor of girls he slept with & brag how he would crush ED medicine so he could go all night.

Sen. Mullin, R. Oklahoma.

Cont:

Republican Senator John Cornyn is going to ask the House Ethics Committee to release the findings of the Matt Gaetz investigation.

Cont:

And now RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services.

With this appointment and Gaetz, Heath May put it best.  "Another day, another dumb ass"

November 15, 2024

Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior.

This is again an interesting choice.  Only 3.9% of North Dakota is Federal land.  However, users of Federal land in the West might take some cautious optimism out of this as Western politicians, completely contrary to the views of those they serve, have taken on the land grabbing mindset illustrated  by Utah's effort to grab Federal lands in court, which has been sadly supported by Wyoming.

Cont:

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson regarding the House ethics investigation report for Gaetz:

I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report.

Cont:

Governor Gordon Commends Selection of Governor Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior 

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has issued a statement following the announcement from President Trump that North Dakota governor Doug Burgum will lead the Department of Interior.

“I congratulate my friend Doug Burgum and I commend President Trump for his selection of Governor Burgum as Secretary of the Interior. Since almost half of Wyoming’s surface land and 67% of its mineral resources are managed by the federal government, the Secretary of the Interior is integral to Wyoming’s economic well-being and future. It is good that we have a friend in that office.

Doug has a deep understanding of the importance of energy development while maintaining valuable wildlife and outdoor recreation opportunities. He and I have worked together on these issues for the past six years. We see eye-to-eye on the importance of a domestically focused, all-of-the-above energy policy for public lands and minerals. I know personally his love of the outdoors. I am confident that under his leadership, future decisions regarding land management and wildlife issues in Wyoming will not utilize a top-down, DC-driven approach, but rather be made cooperatively, with local interests at the forefront. I look forward to working with him.”

-END-

---

November 16, 2024

Karoline Leavitt, age 27, as press secretary.

Cont: 

Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, secretary of the Department of Energy.

November 18, 2024

Mitch McConnell has stated there will be no recess appointments.

November 19, 2024

Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce.

Cont:

Mehmet Oz to serve as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Truly, this is the most pathetic set of appointments, ever.

November 23, 2024

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for Surgeon General.

Pam Bondi to replace Gaetz, who withdrew.

Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary.

Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for Secretary of Labor.

Scott Turner, for the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

November 24, 2024

Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture.  She's a Texas A&M trained lawyer with an undergraduate in agricultural development.

Dr. Marty Makary, Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

Rep. Dave Weldon, a Republican from Florida, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Russell Vought, a co-author of Project 2025, to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

December 2, 2024

Joe Biden pardoned Hunter Biden.

cont:

Trump proposes to replace the currently serving head of the FBI, whom he appointed in the first place with Kash Patel.

This is absurd.

December 9, 2024

Trump was interviewed on Meet The Press (I guess a longer transcript of the interview is elsewhere on NBC).

While presented with a very flat aspect, Trump interestingly basically stuck with his promises, putting in some plausible deniability between himself and carrying them out.  In other words, if his political enemies are prosecuted, that's the decision of other people, he'd have it, not him.  He also left room for failure if things don't go as he promised.

He didn't back down from mass deportations, and in fact double downed on them, save for the "Dreamers", for whom he expressed a desire to find a solution.  It's pretty clear that support for Ukraine is going to be decreased.

December 10, 2024

Sen. Lummis will be on the "DOGE Caucus".

December 11, 2024

Sigh . . . 

Kimberly Guilfoyle Is Appointed Ambassador to Greece.

cont:

FBI Director Christopher Wray is going to resign at the end of the current administration.

Kerri Lake as head of Voice of America.

December 13, 2024

Mitch McConnell about indications that there may be Trump Admin vaccine dipshittery, on the polio vaccine:

Like millions of families before them, my parents knew the pain and fear of watching their child struggle with the life-altering diagnosis of polio. From the age of two, normal life without paralysis was only possible for me because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love. But for millions who came after me, the real miracle was the saving power of the polio vaccine…

The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.

Frankly, messing with childhood police vaccines is criminal at an epic level. 

December 21, 2024

Congressman Hageman will chair the Article One Task Force which has as its mission going after regulatory agencies in favor of Congress, based on the conservative concept that regulatory agencies have usurped Congress.

December 24, 2024

Wyoming Senator Lummis is joining the newly formed U.S. Senate caucus led by Kansas Republican Dr. Roger Marshall that will work to promote legislation in line with the agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is widely regarded as a gadfly.

Last edition:

2024 Election Post Mortem, Part I. What the heck happened?

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The Times more or less locally, Part 4. A return to Pre Covid status

US incomes have returned to their 2019 level, adjusted for inflation.

The adjusted rate of inflation was 2.9%.

While people will continue to complain, this is pretty close to being back to the economic status of 2019.

Oil dropped yesterday to $69/bbl.

September 25, 2024

Delta To Pull Out Of Casper Airport, Last Flight Is Dec. 3

Delta To Pull Out Of Casper Airport, Last Flight Is Dec. 3

November 17, 2024

Boeing is commencing layoffs.

November 26, 2024

In a monumentally bad idea, President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he will issue executive orders imposing new tariffs on all imported goods from China, Mexico and Canada. with the rates being 25 percent tariffs would be imposed on Mexican and Canadian merchandise and 10 percent on Chinese goods.  This was tied, oddly, to his immigration goals.

December 2, 2024

President Elect Trump threatened 100% tariffs against Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. 

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia if they act to block the US Dollar ast he global reserve currency.

December 3, 2024

From a Fox News broadcast:

We are told that when Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump joked to him that if Canada can't survive without ripping off the U.S. the tune of one hundred billion dollars a year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor.

Apparently this was said by Trump in jest by our boorish embarrassment of a President Elect. 

December 11, 2024

$24B merger between grocery giants Kroger, Albertsons blocked by federal judge

Continuous arabica coffee futures on the ICE rose 4.1% to $3.44 a pound beating a record set in 1977 even before it is adjusted for inflation.

December 12, 2024

An Ontario message to Donald Trump from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

We need to be ready to fight [on] January the 20th. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin. I don't want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole since we're the largest province. Let's see what happens as we move forward. But we'll use every tool in our toolbox, including cutting them off energy that we're sending down there.

Frankly, a lot of New York will freeze in the dark without Canadian hydroelectric.

On groceries, the item that a lot of Trump voters naively believed Trump could make the price of "go down":

It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.

Donald Trump.

D'uh. 

There was no earthly way that Trump was ever going to be able to get the price of groceries to go down and a person would have had to have been bereft of economic knowledge to have believed that.  Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in fact bereft of economic knowledge.  As we've noted here before, that would require deflation, and deflation if prolonged, causes a Depression.

Trump back on November 4, 2024: “A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.”

Nope, they won't be.

So, now that he's been elected, this promise joins the one to end the war in Ukraine 24 hours after he's elected.  I.e., it'll be broken.

December 13, 2024

Pope Francis.

Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace

I. Listening to the plea of an endangered humanity

1. At the dawn of this New Year given to us by our heavenly Father, a year of Jubilee in the spirit of hope, I offer heartfelt good wishes of peace to every man and woman. I think especially of those who feel downtrodden, burdened by their past mistakes, oppressed by the judgment of others and incapable of perceiving even a glimmer of hope for their own lives. Upon everyone I invoke hope and peace, for this is a Year of Grace born of the Heart of the Redeemer!

2. Throughout this year, the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee, an event that fills hearts with hope. The “jubilee” recalls an ancient Jewish practice, when, every forty-ninth year, the sound of a ram’s horn (in Hebrew, jobel) would proclaim a year of forgiveness and freedom for the entire people (cf. Lev 25:10). This solemn proclamation was meant to echo throughout the land (cf. Lev 25:9) and to restore God’s justice in every aspect of life: in the use of the land, in the possession of goods and in relationships with others, above all the poor and the dispossessed. The blowing of the horn reminded the entire people, rich and poor alike, that no one comes into this world doomed to oppression: all of us are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father, born to live in freedom, in accordance with the Lord’s will (cf. Lev 25:17, 25, 43, 46, 55).

3. In our day too, the Jubilee is an event that inspires us to seek to establish the liberating justice of God in our world. In place of the ram’s horn, at the start of this Year of Grace we wish to hear the “desperate plea for help” [1] that, like the cry of the blood of Abel (cf. Gen 4:10), rises up from so many parts of our world – a plea that God never fails to hear. We for our part feel bound to cry out and denounce the many situations in which the earth is exploited and our neighbours oppressed. [2] These injustices can appear at times in the form of what Saint John Paul II called “structures of sin”, [3] that arise not only from injustice on the part of some but are also consolidated and maintained by a network of complicity.

4. Each of us must feel in some way responsible for the devastation to which the earth, our common home, has been subjected, beginning with those actions that, albeit only indirectly, fuel the conflicts that presently plague our human family. Systemic challenges, distinct yet interconnected, are thus created and together cause havoc in our world. [4] I think, in particular, of all manner of disparities, the inhuman treatment meted out to migrants, environmental decay, the confusion willfully created by disinformation, the refusal to engage in any form of dialogue and the immense resources spent on the industry of war. All these, taken together, represent a threat to the existence of humanity as a whole. At the beginning of this year, then, we desire to heed the plea of suffering humankind in order to feel called, together and as individuals, to break the bonds of injustice and to proclaim God’s justice. Sporadic acts of philanthropy are not enough. Cultural and structural changes are necessary, so that enduring change may come about. [5]

II. A cultural change: all of us are debtors

5. The celebration of the Jubilee spurs us to make a number of changes in order to confront the present state of injustice and inequality by reminding ourselves that the goods of the earth are meant not for a privileged few, but for everyone. [6] We do well to recall the words of Saint Basil of Caesarea: “Tell me, what things belong to you? Where did you find them to make them part of your life? … Did you not come forth naked from the womb of your mother? Will you not return naked to the ground? Where did your property come from? If you say that it comes to you naturally by luck, you would deny God by not recognizing the Creator and being grateful to the Giver”. [7] Without gratitude, we are unable to recognize God’s gifts. Yet in his infinite mercy the Lord does not abandon sinful humanity, but instead reaffirms his gift of life by the saving forgiveness offered to all through Jesus Christ. That is why, in teaching us the “Our Father”, Jesus told us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses” ( Mt 6:12).

6. Once we lose sight of our relationship to the Father, we begin to cherish the illusion that our relationships with others can be governed by a logic of exploitation and oppression, where might makes right. [8] Like the elites at the time of Jesus, who profited from the suffering of the poor, so today, in our interconnected global village, [9] the international system, unless it is inspired by a spirit of solidarity and interdependence, gives rise to injustices, aggravated by corruption, which leave the poorer countries trapped. A mentality that exploits the indebted can serve as a shorthand description of the present “debt crisis” that weighs upon a number of countries, above all in the global South.

7. I have repeatedly stated that foreign debt has become a means of control whereby certain governments and private financial institutions of the richer countries unscrupulously and indiscriminately exploit the human and natural resources of poorer countries, simply to satisfy the demands of their own markets. [10] In addition, different peoples, already burdened by international debt, find themselves also forced to bear the burden of the “ecological debt” incurred by the more developed countries. [11] Foreign debt and ecological debt are two sides of the same coin, namely the mindset of exploitation that has culminated in the debt crisis. [12] In the spirit of this Jubilee Year, I urge the international community to work towards forgiving foreign debt in recognition of the ecological debt existing between the North and the South of this world. This is an appeal for solidarity, but above all for justice. [13]

8. The cultural and structural change needed to surmount this crisis will come about when we finally recognize that we are all sons and daughters of the one Father, that we are all in his debt but also that we need one another, in a spirit of shared and diversified responsibility. We will be able to “rediscover once for all that we need one another” and are indebted one to another. [14]

III. A journey of hope: three proposals

9. If we take to heart these much-needed changes, the Jubilee Year of Grace can serve to set each of us on a renewed journey of hope, born of the experience of God’s unlimited mercy. [15]

God owes nothing to anyone, yet he constantly bestows his grace and mercy upon all. As Isaac of Nineveh, a seventh-century Father of the Eastern Church, put it in one of his prayers: “Your love, Lord, is greater than my trespasses. The waves of the sea are nothing with respect to the multitude of my sins, but placed on a scale and weighed against your love, they vanish like a speck of dust”. [16] God does not weigh up the evils we commit; rather, he is immensely “rich in mercy, for the great love with which he loved us” ( Eph 2:4). Yet he also hears the plea of the poor and the cry of the earth. We would do well simply to stop for a moment, at the beginning of this year, to think of the mercy with which he constantly forgives our sins and forgives our every debt, so that our hearts may overflow with hope and peace.

10. In teaching us to pray the “Our Father”, Jesus begins by asking the Father to forgive our trespasses, but passes immediately to the challenging words: “as we forgive those who trespass against us” (cf. Mt 6:12). In order to forgive others their trespasses and to offer them hope, we need for our own lives to be filled with that same hope, the fruit of our experience of God’s mercy. Hope overflows in generosity; it is free of calculation, makes no hidden demands, is unconcerned with gain, but aims at one thing alone: to raise up those who have fallen, to heal hearts that are broken and to set us free from every kind of bondage.

11. Consequently, at the beginning of this Year of Grace, I would like to offer three proposals capable of restoring dignity to the lives of entire peoples and enabling them to set them out anew on the journey of hope. In this way, the debt crisis can be overcome and all of us can once more realize that we are debtors whose debts have been forgiven.

First, I renew the appeal launched by Saint John Paul II on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 to consider “reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations”. [17] In recognition of their ecological debt, the more prosperous countries ought to feel called to do everything possible to forgive the debts of those countries that are in no condition to repay the amount they owe. Naturally, lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness, a new financial framework must be devised, leading to the creation of a global financial Charter based on solidarity and harmony between peoples.

I also ask for a firm commitment to respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person can cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to a future of prosperity and happiness for themselves and for their children. Without hope for the future, it becomes hard for the young to look forward to bringing new lives into the world. Here I would like once more to propose a concrete gesture that can help foster the culture of life, namely the elimination of the death penalty in all nations. This penalty not only compromises the inviolability of life but eliminates every human hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation. [18]

In addition, following in the footsteps of Saint Paul VI and Benedict XVI, [19] I do not hesitate to make yet another appeal, for the sake of future generations. In this time marked by wars, let us use at least a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global Fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change. [20] We need to work at eliminating every pretext that encourages young people to regard their future as hopeless or dominated by the thirst to avenge the blood of their dear ones. The future is a gift meant to enable us to go beyond past failures and to pave new paths of peace.

IV. The goal of peace

12. Those who take up these proposals and set out on the journey of hope will surely glimpse the dawn of the greatly desired goal of peace. The Psalmist promises us that “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss” ( Ps 85:10). When I divest myself of the weapon of credit and restore the path of hope to one of my brothers or sisters, I contribute to the restoration of God’s justice on this earth and, with that person, I advance towards the goal of peace. As Saint John XXIII observed, true peace can be born only from a heart “disarmed” of anxiety and the fear of war. [21]

13. May 2025 be a year in which peace flourishes! A true and lasting peace that goes beyond quibbling over the details of agreements and human compromises. [22] May we seek the true peace that is granted by God to hearts disarmed: hearts not set on calculating what is mine and what is yours; hearts that turn selfishness into readiness to reach out to others; hearts that see themselves as indebted to God and thus prepared to forgive the debts that oppress others; hearts that replace anxiety about the future with the hope that every individual can be a resource for the building of a better world.

14. Disarming hearts is a job for everyone, great and small, rich and poor alike. At times, something quite simple will do, such as “a smile, a small gesture of friendship, a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed”. [23] With such gestures, we progress towards the goal of peace. We will arrive all the more quickly if, in the course of journeying alongside our brothers and sisters, we discover that we have changed from the time we first set out. Peace does not only come with the end of wars but with the dawn of a new world, a world in which we realize that we are different, closer and more fraternal than we ever thought possible.

15. Lord, grant us your peace! This is my prayer to God as I now offer my cordial good wishes for the New Year to the Heads of State and Government, to the leaders of International Organizations, to the leaders of the various religions and to every person of good will.

Forgive us our trespasses, Lord,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In this cycle of forgiveness, grant us your peace,

the peace that you alone can give

to those who let themselves be disarmed in heart,

to those who choose in hope to forgive the debts of their brothers and sisters,

to those who are unafraid to confess their debt to you,

and to those who do not close their ears to the cry of the poor.

From the Vatican, 8 December 2024

December 17, 2024

Canada's Finance Minister resigned.

This of course gave the chance for our bratty twelve year old president elect to make another one of his snotty tweets.

The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!

Where this conduct comes from, and why its tolerated is another question.

December 18, 2024

Elon Musk is campaigning against the bill that would provide stop gap funding until the next Congress convenes.

December 19, 2024

The Fed is cutting interests rates.

December 20, 2024

After tanking one continuing budget resolution, following his super wealthy "DOGE" appointees, Trump supported a second, which tanked last night.

And here we enter interesting territory.  In spite of widespread public belief to the contrary, Trump was set to inherit a strong economy.  Now he's tanking it.

EMERGENCY VIDEO! SHUTDOWN??

December 21, 2024

A CR passed but House Republicans defied a Trump request to raise the debt ceiling.

Why would Trump want to raise the debt ceiling if he intends to be true to the spirit of his campaign?

And now Trump is threatening the EU with tariffs if they don't up oil and gas imports, which are already at capacity.

Related threads:

September 10, 2024. Pearls Before Swine.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part 3. The Decarbonizing the West and Electronic eartags Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, Agriculture, Alcohol, Canada, Cattle, Climate Change, Coal, Computers, Disease, Economics, Health, Internet, Labor unrest, Railroads, technology, Unions, Wyoming's boom and bust economy

Thursday, December 14, 1944. The tragedy of Lupe Vélez.

The great Mexican actress Lupe Vélez, pregnant with the baby of her recent fiance,  Harald Ramond (Harald Maresch) committed suicide after a dinner with friends in Los Angeles, leaving this note:

To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him. – Lupe.

How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time, you didn't want us? I see no other way out for me, so goodbye, and good luck to you, Love Lupe.

Ramond confessed confusion, declaring that even after their recent break up he had promised to marry her.  In spite of the official ruling of suicide, there has been ongoing speculation about her death.

She had, at one time, been married to Johnny Weismuller.

May God rest her soul, and that of her child.

The Japanese murdered 150 Allied Prisoners of war near Puerto Princesa in the Philippine province of Palawan to prevent their liberation by American troops.

The Japanese attempted, but failed, to mount a large scale air attack on the U.S. Navy's invasion task force heading to Mindoro.    The U.S. Navy hit airfields on Luzon.

The HMS Aldenham was sunk in the Adriatic by a mine.  It was the last Royal Navy destroyer lost in World War Two.

Congress authorized the five start senior officer rank to address American commanders technically being junior to high ranking British ones.

The Germans banned the use of electricity in Holland.

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 13, 1944. USS Goshen commissioned.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1947, 1960s, 1968, 1970s, 1973, Battle of Kesternich, Battle of Metz, Battle of Mindoro, Blog Mirror, boats and ships, Imperial Japanese Navy, U.S. Navy, Weather, World War Two

Getting the Economic Dope Slap

The law of unintended consequences is a frightful thing.

It's possible, with things lining up the way they are, that Wyoming populists are about to get the biggest economic dope slap in the state's history.

Of course, the rest of us will get it too.

Wyomingites drank the populist kool aid and went back for more bucket sized additional helpings.  Shoot, the average Wyoming voter was practically drunk on the stuff, having started imbibing about a decade ago.  In going for Trump, they were voting for a return to an imaginary 1950s, sort of, combined with an imaginary 1930s, combined with an imaginary 1960s.  Full employment for all "real" Americans, none of these Spanish speaking brown folks, a uniting of our economic extractive needs with a concept of science as we want it, not as it is, and the sexual morays of the mid 1970s, really.

Average Wyoming candidate on campaign trail.

Wyomingites don't really want to go back to the past as it really was, particularly on some of the things the way I feel they should be.  Divorce isn't going to be hard to get, for example, and there's not going to be a criminal penalty for screwing around.    No hyperinflation either, and no economic depressions.

Well. . . 

The past so many envision, and there's some truth to the depictions,  and what we imagine we want again, except with tattoos and only the laws we actually like and think we remember.

Donald Trump, fresh from his political recovery thanks to a Democratic Party that couldn't get a clue and the rise of malevolent populism is threatening to throw a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and a 10% one on goods imported from China.  Apparently we can p.o. the Chinese, but not as much as we can Mexico and Canada, safely.

Or maybe not p.o. the Chinese at all. During the campaign Trump talked about 60% tariffs on China.  10% on China combined with 25% on Mexico and Canada actually conveys a trading advantage on  China, while raising the costs of prices at home.

The United States is the largest goods importer of goods in the world.  China was the top supplier of goods imported into the United States, followed by Mexico ($454.8 billion), Canada ($436.6 billion), Japan ($148.1 billion), and Germany ($146.6 billion).

The United States is the world's second largest goods exporter in the world, behind only China.  Canada is the largest purchaser of U.S. goods, around 17%.

That's probably about to change.

What do we import?  Well, darned nearly everything, even food from Mexico.

What do we expert, darned near everything, including even petroleum.

We're going to be paying more for everything, and we're going to be exporting less of everything, as we get hit with retaliatory tariffs.

And that's assuming our neighbors are nice.  They might not be.  If I was the P.M. of Canada, I'd tell Americans living in Canada to pack up and go home.  A lot of them are up there on business.  And I'd end cooperation with the US on defense.

And oil?  Well, the Saudis are seriously threatening to drop the price per barrel to $49.00, which would wipe out most U.S. production.  Again, if I were the Canadians, and the Mexicans, both of which produce a lot of oil, I'd join them.  They probably won't, but that's what I'd do.

So, Wyoming populists, even without retaliation, you are going to pay more for absolutely everything. We all are.

And a lot fewer of you are going to have jobs. Same for us all.

Well, at least you can be happy about deportation. . . and a lot of you will, at long last, be deporting yourselves to your own states.  You'll have to. There won't be any work here.

Monday, November 10, 1924. Henry Cabot Lodge passes.

He was a giant of American politics.

The Tientsin Conference opened in China between warlords Zhang Zuolin, Feng Yuxiang, and Lu Yongxiang.   Former president Sun Yat-sen, the ongoing head of the Kuomintang and the government sitting in Canton, organized the meeting to discuss the ongoing civil war.

Ranch property belonging to Mexican president elect Plutarco Elías Calles was expropriated by the state in accordance with Mexican agrarian laws.

Chicago mobster Dean O'Banion, leader of Chicago's North Side Gang, was gunned down in his florist shop, making the cover of The Casper Herald.  His murder was nearly inevitable as he'd grown crosswise with one of the Italian mob families in Chicago.

Last edition:

Saturday, November 8, 1924. Declaration from Honolulu.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Honolulu Hawaii, Japanese Empire, Korea, Syngman Rhee

2024 Elections In Other Countries.

Taiwan

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party returned an historic third Presidential victory in a blow to the People's Republic of China.

The party regards Taiwan as de facto independent, which it should be.  President Biden, following the election, stated the US didn't support Taiwanese independence, which it very much should.

January 14, 2024.

Hungary

The President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, age 46, has resigned due to a scandal involving the pardoning of an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case.

February 11, 2024.

Ireland

I had a post on the Irish referendum to amend its constitution, and was frankly way off 

Blog Mirror: On marriage, family, and the Irish constitutional referendum.

The referendum failed massively.  Actually two proposals, the one that sought to expand the definition of family from a relationship founded on marriage to include other durable relationships, failed 67.7% to 32.3%.  The one to replace language surrounding a woman's duties in the home with a clause recognizing the role of family members in the provision of care was rejected 73.9% to 26.1%.

This deserves its own thread.

March 10, 2014

Russia

Putin.  Gee, what a surprise.

March 18, 2024.

South Africa.

The ANC lost the majority of parliamentary seats so, if it is to stay in power, it needs to form a coalition with minority parties.

Mexico

Claudia Sheinbaum won the presidential election, becoming the countries first woman elected to this office.

She is a protégé of the incumbent populist Manuel López Obrador and served as his pro oil environmental minister, in spite of having a degree in the field.  Mexican presidents may only serve one six year term.

June 3, 2024

European Union

Far right parties gained overall in EU parliamentary elections over the weekend, although in Scandinavia, the far left did.  President Macron dissolved the French parliament as a result, and France will now have elections.  Poland's governing conservative party came out on top for that country, edging out the further right wing party that had governed Poland before it came to power last year.

June 10, 2024

France

In round one of a snap French election, the far right Le Pen RN bloc took 33.15% of the vote, the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition came second with 27.99% and President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance took 20.76%.  Voting concludes next week, but it's clear the far right is going to take the most votes, but not enough to form a non coalition government.

And so the far right, globally, continues its rise.

July 1, 2024.

United Kingdom

Labor won the recent election and Sir Keir Starmer will become Prime Minister.

July 5, 2024.

Iran

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election.

July 7, 2024.

France

In an amazing one week long rally, the French left and Macron's Ensemble stages a comeback with the left wing NFP now having the majority of seats in the French Assembly and Ensemble the second largest.  

None of the parties have enough seats to form a government, and nobody is certain what will occur.  If a government is to be formed, it will have to be a coalition government.

July 8, 2024.

Venezuela

Both sides have declared victory in the election for the nation's president, with the incumbent having the current reigns of power.  The election has been accused of having irregularities.

July 30, 2024.

Georgia

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party has likely won a simple majority in the Georgian parliamentary election held on October 26, 2024, according to preliminary results. Partial preliminary results released by the Georgian Central Election Committee (CEC) on October 26 indicate that the Georgian Dream party will likely win the majority of seats in parliament, but the results are neither complete nor final.[1] The results suggest that Georgian Dream will form the new Georgian government, but that it will not have the 113 seats required to obtain the  “constitutional majority” it needs to pursue some of the goals it has outlined, including outlawing nearly all opposition parties.[2] The CEC reported that voter turnout was nearly 59 percent- the highest since 2012 when Georgian Dream first came to power.[3]

Institute for the Study of War.

October 26, 2024. 

Moldova

Pro Western President Maia Sandu has won a second term against a pro Russian opponent.

November 4, 2024

Monday, October 4, 1824. The first Mexican Constitution.

Mexico's first constitution was enacted on this day.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 16, 1824. Death of King Louis XVIII.

Labels: 1820s, 1824, France, Monarchy, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleonic Wars

Friday, September 25, 1874. The Act of September 1874.

Tilmahtli from the 1531 apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico.

Mexico enacted  The Act of September 25, 1874 making the provisions of the Reform Law constitutional.

The act provided "liberal" reforms basically on the French model, following the results of the bitter Reform War of the late 1850s, and were hostile accordingly to the Church in certain ways.  They provided:

• The State and the Church were independent of each other.
• Congress could not enact laws, establishing or prohibiting any religion.
• Marriage was a civil contract.
• No religious institution could acquire real property or capital taxes on them, with the sole exception established in Article 27 of the Constitution.
• A promise to speak the truth and to fulfill contracted obligations replaced a religious oath.
• No one could be compelled to give personal works without their full consent. 
• The State could not allow any contract, covenant or agreement that provided for the loss or irrevocable sacrifice of the freedom of man, whether due to work, education or religious vow.

Anti Catholicism as an element of Mexican politics dated back to its earliest independence movements, and like the rise of protestantism in France and England, a desire to appropriate the property and wealth of the Church had a great deal to deal with it, although taking over the Church's obligations to the poor on the other hand were typically left to political theory, save in England where it was simply ignored.  Mexico's first Constitution (1824) provided that it was to perpetually be a Catholic state, but hostility set in by 1857 when Benito Juárez attacked the property rights and possessions of the Church. Many of the figures of the 1854 1855 Revolution of Ayutla had been Freemasons and anticlericists.  

This had caused the supporters of tradition and religion to back the Second Mexican Empire, which of course turned out badly.  Anticlericalism was moderated under Porfirio Díaz, but revived during the Mexican Revolution, save for the followers of Zapata.

Ultimately, this would lead to the Cristero War, but even with its end, the Mexican government remained strongly hostile up until very recent years to the Catholic Church, having an overall impact on the practice of the faith in Mexico.  Open repression mostly ended with the election of Catholic Manuel Ávila Camacho (1940–46) and most of the remaining official repressive statutes ended under  President Carlos Salinas in 1992.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 22, 1874. 1874 Hong Kong Typhoon.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, China, Disaster, Hong Kong, Weather