Pump and Dump

The folks who gloat over the about-face on tariffs this week—who say that maybe he has learned his lesson, and is chastened—have missed the point.  

It's a variation on he classic 'pump-and-dump', perfected in the days before securities regulations, to move money from investors to insiders.  There is money to be made on stocks, whether they are going up or down.  The trick is to know which way they are going, and when.  

Though sharing or receiving, and acting on, inside information for a single stock has earned high-profile individuals a few high-profile stretches in jail (Martha Stewart, for example), there isn't much in the way of precedent for going after those with inside information on the timing of tectonic shifts in the entire economy, and the timing of their reversal.  Trillions of dollars were made and lost in the recent boomerang announcements of crippling tariffs, followed by their postponement.  The opportunities for an insider for sudden wealth would be irresistible - assuming such an insider intended to resist in the first place.  The person who can pull these economic strings would be in a position to make or break fortunes, and demand loyalty from the wealthiest people on the planet.  

He has indeed learned a lesson - a lesson he intends to repeat over and over again, until he perfects it.  He has nothing to lose.  He's playing with house money.

Imagine, if You Will

Imagine, if you will ...

You wake up in a world in which this youngster, Anthony, is now the nation's leader. He has never been disciplined, and demands that his every whim be manifested in the world. 

Political and business moguls, long thought of as powerful, are revealed to be mere ass-kissers and boot-lickers.  At the leader's command, international bodies of water are obediently renamed, and annual celebrations and remembrances disappear from calendars.  All that displeases him is made to go away.  

Where do these lost things go?  Better to ask, what kind of Twilight Zone remains behind.  

Twilight Zone - It's a Good Life Excerpt

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

Like many Americans, I had not heard of Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde until she led the service at the National Cathedral on the day of the recent inauguration. And, though I admire her courage in speaking truth to power; and preaching kindness and mercy to one from whom it will be most needed, but is unlikely to be forthcoming.

But she is not New in this post, and this is not the first time she has used that office to show mercy where it is sorely needed. This post showed up in my feed this morning - and I find that I admire her even more.

Bishop Budde & Matthew Shepard

Emergency Response

There may be no time that offers a better window into the character of an individual, a leader, an organization, or a nation, than how they respond to an emergency.  

It has been so gratifying to see communities around southern California, northern California, and throughout the west, from Oregon and Washington to Utah, and as far east as Houston Texas, respond to the tragic wildfires in Los Angeles in the spirit of shared humanity, and instinctive sacrifice and heroism.  Resources from Canada, Mexico, and other nations have likewise joined the effort to ease the loss, and make these communities whole once again.  Even Ukraine has offered to share from their hard-pressed resources to pay back a people they feel have done so much to protect them..  

I have nothing but admiration for these men and women.  

Then there are those who sit on the sidelines, contributing nothing, yet mercilessly critiquing those who help.  They are like middle-aged football fans, who scream insults at their televisions, when an elite athlete can't quite haul in a down-field pass, then grunt like a swine as they haul their lard-asses out of their appropriately-named Lazy-Boys, to trudge off to the fridge for yet another beer.  

Teddy Roosevelt spoke of these folks, and their shallow, lazy, meaningless critiques of 'doers' in his short piece, 'The Man in the Arena'

The Man in the Arena

2024 for the WIN!!!

The year 2024 is now on record as the hottest year on record.  

It was neck and neck going into the final month, but 2024 edged out 2023 by a nose.  

I don't know what the Las Vegas betting line was, but those who placed their money on 2024 hit pay dirt.  

In the sporting world, they say 'records are meant to be broken' - and for better or worse, I think this one will be moved off the podium before long.  

Like most people, I'm tired of seeing this same news from NASA year after year.  In an ironic sense, then, it will please many that NASA is likely to stop sharing this news for a few years now.  I mean, why bother people with facts and data and stuff.  

For those few nerds, who want to see behind the curtain, we have (for now at least) these further underlying data.  But we are likely to soon be less troubled by this annual release as well, and will be able to continue on our blissful way, without all the conflict and confusion these generate.  

NOAA historic data

Cult Discipline

Trump could have pulled the plug on the bipartisan, bicameral short-term budget agreement well before negotiations were complete.  

So why didn't he?  

By waiting, and letting everybody involved think they had reached a deal, he was able to demonstrate his power when he quashed it.  

This wasn't a lesson for the Democrats; it was a discipline lesson for Republicans, showing just how little freedom of action they now have.  Humiliating them, including house speaker Mike Johnson, reinforces that he alone is in charge, and they should do nothing but follow his orders, and must be ready to meekly change direction immediately when his whims change.  

This defines a key early stage of an emerging dictatorship.  And he will make an example of that handful of Republicans who dared to defy him.  

Welcome to the future.   

The Reckoning

 An opportunity for reflection; author unknown, but shared by my friend John Ross.  

As we read this, and see the author's accusing finger pointer at the guilty and the gullible, it is worth remembering that, though he won a plurality of the votes this year, he did not win a majority - so over half of voters chose somebody else.  For whatever solace that offers, this may not apply to you; but we will all experience the consequences nonetheless.   

The Reckoning-

I cannot let this day slip by

without shouting into the void of my disappointment.

The charges are gone, swept like dust under a gilded rug,

and yet the truth remains, burning:

He was guilty.

You know it.

I know it.

The weight of it presses against my chest,

how a man so stained could hold the reins again.

He ran for power to shield himself,

a crown to escape the scales of justice.

He will pardon himself,

stand smug on the green of manicured lies,

a golf swing on our dime,

while we watch,

while we ache.

Do you remember?

He told them to march.

I saw it.

I was there, and the echoes of that day

still ricochet in my mind.

I will not forget.

I will not forgive.

Not the man who lit the match,

nor the hands that handed him the flame.

You who cast your vote,

for cheaper gas, for eggs, for promises spun from deceit,

or worse—

you, who saw the ugliness and shrugged.

He is a bigot, and it didn’t stop you.

He is cruel, and you let it slide.

You looked away, silent, complicit.

And in that silence, the cracks widened.

The grave error was yours,

but I do not have the breath left

to plead with you to see.

I will watch as it unfolds,

as the curtain lifts on this tragedy we have built,

brick by brick, with our denial.

And when the moment arrives—

when the mask slips and the monster stands revealed—

it will be too late.

Do you see the bodies yet?

The ones already fallen,

the ones to come?

They are part of the price,

written in the fine print of your choices.

There is no blanket thick enough to hide under now,

no silence deep enough to escape the echo of what is coming.

None of us will walk away unscathed.

Not even you.

Author Unknown