Tuesday, August 31, 2021
'Let's Dream'
Defends
Washington Post: Biden defends U.S. departure: ‘It was time to end this war’ By Rachel Pannett, Ellen Francis, Miriam Berger, Paulina Villegas and Sammy Westfall
“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit.”
Snake Oil
NY Times: The Snake Oil Theory of the Modern Right by Paul Krugman
We’re seeing a surge in sales of — and poisoning by — ivermectin, which is usually used to deworm livestock but has recently been touted on social media and Fox News as a Covid cure.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 6:05 a.m. ET DOW futures are +86; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
Monday, August 30, 2021
Choices
That outcome stunned top U.S. officials, several of whom had been on vacation when the weekend began, having expected the pro-Western government to hang on for weeks, if not months or even years longer. Afghans were no less astonished by the speed with which their government crumbled. Even the Taliban was surprised.
Prevent
Washington Post: Opinion: How to prevent the next Jan. 6, as revealed in an important new analysis Opinion by Greg Sargent
We’re talking about revising the Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887. That may sound dry and unexciting, but it would shore up hidden weaknesses that made the 2020 breakdown possible.
Ida
Washington Post: Ida weakens to tropical storm as it moves to Mississippi with destructive winds, heavy flooding
Forecasters warned that flooding from storm surges will continue through Monday morning in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. As Ida’s center moves into southwestern Mississippi, damaging winds could cause more power outages.
War And Global Warming
Parts of Afghanistan have warmed twice as much as the global average. Spring rains have declined, most worryingly in some of the country’s most important farmland. Droughts are more frequent in vast swaths of the country...
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 6:50 a.m. ET DOW futures are +24; the market is poised to open moderately higher.
Friday, August 27, 2021
Weekend!
'Finding Peace of Mind'- The Dalai Lama
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 7:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +85; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNBC: Education Department will cancel student debt for 115,000 borrowers by Annie Nova
Thursday, August 26, 2021
Health
Average global temperatures rivaled the hottest. Mysterious sources of methane sent atmospheric concentrations of the gas spiking to unprecedented highs. Sea levels were the highest on record; fires ravaged the American West; and locusts swarmed across East Africa.
Hospitalizations
Washington Post: Hospitalizations hit 100,000 in United States for first time since January By Bryan Pietsch, Jacqueline Dupree and Adela Suliman
More than 17,000 people are hospitalized with covid-19 in Florida, which has the most hospitalizations for covid-19 of any state in the country, followed by Texas, which has more than 14,000.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 7:00 a.m. ET DOW futures are +20; the market is poised to open slightly higher.
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Betrayed
I’m not here to absolve the Afghan Army of mistakes. But the fact is, many of us fought valiantly and honorably, only to be let down by American and Afghan leadership.
Launched
Washington Post: Opinion: Democrats just launched a missile at the GOP’s fortress of minority rule Opinion by Greg Sargent
...on Tuesday, they (Congress) also passed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Tucked inside that bill are provisions that take direct aim at minority rule, but not in an obvious way.
Present
Guardian UK: Q&A: did the climate crisis fuel Henri and the Tennessee flooding? by Oliver Milman
...the fingerprints of the climate crisis are undoubtedly present to some degree...
Plan
...including huge investments in education, child care, health care, paid leave, and tax increases on wealthy people and corporations...
Sore Loser
...the Arizona recount stands as an object lesson about the embarrassing damage to democracy that one party can inflict when led by a sore loser who still manages to scare people.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 6:35 a.m. ET DOW futures are +19; the market is poised to open slightly higher.
CNBC: The economy could be getting help from positive news on the delta variant by Jeff Cox
Big
When you don’t address something early on, there’s a good chance you’ll harbor negative emotional energy and become so upset that you eventually have a hard time being in the same room with person who “wronged” you...
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Cotton Candy Ice Cream Fruit Burrito, Rainbow Cotton Candy - Korean Street Food
Secret
Washington Post: CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar By John Hudson
...the discussions likely involved the impending Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. military to conclude its airlift of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies.
Governor Kathy Hochul
In her 14-year trajectory from county clerk to congresswoman to the upper echelons of state government, Ms. Hochul has stood out for her affable personality, deftness in retail politicking and demanding travel schedule...
Perspective
NY Times: The Afghanistan War Was Lost Before Biden Ended It By Michelle Goldberg
But for America to remain in Afghanistan, Biden would have had to renege on Trump’s deal with the Taliban. More American troops would be required, and fighting, including American airstrikes, would almost certainly ramp up.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 6:00 a.m. ET DOW futures are +39; the market is poised to open moderately higher.
Monday, August 23, 2021
Finance
Lawfare: The Challenges of Understanding Taliban Finance By Jessica Davis
The opium trade is a particularly lucrative source of funds, and reports suggest that the Taliban’s involvement varies significantly, from one of simple taxation to using fighters to harvest poppies to demanding protection money from opium traffickers.
Comment - Uncle
Last night I watched footage of a Proud Boys rally and riot in Portland. The group moved through areas of Portland, brutally beating on people, and all this occurred without the slightest concern of the Portland Police. In fact the police let it be known that they were keeping out of it.
Meanwhile the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, in a brutal way of course, and Biden is being blamed for the chaos even though America had no business being there for the last 20 years. One might think that if the US was nation building, that after 20 years of pumping all kinds of military hardware into a country, that the newly formed Afghanistan military would have at least tried to fight back once. The joke going around is this, there are lots of Afghanistan weapons for sale on Ebay, they're in perfect condition and have only been dropped once.
Top it off, Covid is still gaining, and then the real deep problem, global warming, is ringing the bell but good this year. We've had fires, droughts, floods, unbelievable heat waves, and profoundly obvious changes to the environment. Even with all this, I'm leaving out the fact that a solid 35% to 40% of Americans would happily, in a heartbeat, rush to Donald Trump, and they believe that a malevolent deep state conspiracy robbed him of the election. Now the GOP is pretending that a record election turnout in urban areas did not happen, and so they need to 'fix' the voting rules in this country, rather than address the fact that GOP policy is extremely unpopular. And by the way, calling conspiracy grade lunacy, a policy, is a wee bit of a stretch.
I'm pounding on the mat, uncle, I give.
Reality
NPR: The Floods In Tennessee Aren't Freak Accidents. They're A New Reality by Rebecca Hersher
...hotter air can hold more moisture.
Hotter air also dries out soil, which makes it less absorbent. When a lot of rain falls in a short period of time, it can't soak into the ground, and runoff overwhelms pipes, dams and other drainage infrastructure.
Enough
Washington Post: Opinion: The Afghanistan outcome is ugly. Biden was still right to say: Enough. Opinion by E.J. Dionne Jr.
With al-Qaeda routed and Osama bin Laden killed, Biden reiterated Friday, the original mission was accomplished long ago. Now, he said, there is a greater terrorist threat “in other countries … than there is in Afghanistan,” and that’s where our nation’s attention should turn.
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 6:40 a.m. ET DOW futures are +158; the market is poised to open significantly higher.
Friday, August 20, 2021
Weekend!
Mozart - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra K.466 - Uchida
Extreme Risk
...heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Betrayal
Washington Post: Opinion: Govs. DeSantis and Abbott, in denial and risking lives, have betrayed the public trust Opinion by Michael Gerson
Their actions will lead, directly and predictably, to deaths in their states. This constitutes a betrayal of public trust so grave — a violation of moral responsibilities so depraved — that I am not sure there is a word for it.
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 6:30 a.m. ET, DOW futures are -118; the market is once again poised to open significantly lower.
CNBC: Education Department will cancel student debt for more than 320,000 borrowers by Annie Nova
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Infrastructure
The 55-year-old Clausen, a patrol officer since 2003, drives Vail Pass on his way to work from Breckenridge to Vail. Even on sunny days, he knows he could be pulled away on a moment’s notice to head up to a crash on the pass.
Why
Guardian UK: Why is life on Earth still taking second place to fossil fuel companies? by George Monbiot
Almost everyone is now at least vaguely aware that we face the greatest catastrophe our species has ever confronted. Yet scarcely anyone alters their behaviour in response: above all, their driving, flying and consumption of meat and dairy.
Rejects
After the Trump administration approved the drilling, Alaska Natives and environmental activists sued to stop it, resulting in a preliminary injunction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in February.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 7:20 a.m. ET, DOW futures are -302; the market is once again poised to open significantly lower.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Suspended
Washington Post: Jack Morris suspended indefinitely after using accent as Shohei Ohtani came to bat By Cindy Boren
“Be very, very careful,” Morris replied, using pronunciations that many found offensive. In the ninth inning, Morris said on the telecast that he had not intended any offense.
Alabama
Washington Post: Alabama has ‘negative’ ICU beds free as U.S. hospitals struggle with surge of cases By Bryan Pietsch
Hospitals in the South have for weeks been overrun by covid-19 patients as cases surged across the Sun Belt. But now, health-care workers across the country are also struggling to manage the waves of cases brought on by the delta variant.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 6:35 a.m. ET, DOW futures are -105; the market is poised to open significantly lower.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
How
There is little indication that the Taliban are equipped to govern the cities — or the country as a whole — on their own. Afghanistan’s social complexity is more nuanced than a simple urban-rural divide...
Vehicle Of Choice
This is a segment of a picture that appeared in the Washington Post showing the Taliban in a Kabul market. Notice the make of the truck.
