POKING AROUND ON THE WINTER SOLSTICE 2024

From the Department of In Case You Were Wondering: It turns out inflation is still with us, as I discovered this morning when I went to order more cat food and supplies from WalMart, the cheapest source for these. Prices on each item ordered were roughly 20% more than two weeks ago when I last ordered. This prompted a search around the site, looking at other items I have ordered and remembered the last prices on. The price increases were between 15-20% throughout. Then I thought what prices were going to look like after the undocumented workers at those factories went missing, after tariffs are added on, etc. At that point I gave serious consideration to a good stiff drink, but 0745 is really too early for such.

Department of This Is A Big Fucking Deal: President Biden announced yesterday the cancellation of student loan debt for 55,000 more Americans. The individuals eligible for forgiveness under the this latest round have served at least ten years in public service, which includes teachers, nurses, law enforcement officials, and more. That brings the total number of Americans who had their student loan debt canceled by Biden to 4 million. However, the administration also announced it was withdrawing a proposal to cancel student debt for roughly 38 million Americans, which the Education Department said was due to “operational challenges,” stating further, “With the time remaining in this administration, the Department is focused on several priorities including court-ordered settlements and helping borrowers manage the final elements of the return to repayment.”

Department of Dumb Fucking Bimbo Gets What’s Coming: Nancy Mace has been called out by far-right influencer Jack Posobiec, who reminded his huge following that she was one of the few Republicans who voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress, which ultimately sent him to prison. Mace was quick to respond, trying to justify her vote by saying she did it so she could later justify holding Hunter Biden in contempt if he failed to appear for a deposition. But he did appear, so that argument didn’t work. Posobiec: “You sided with Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi to send Steve Bannon to jail. That’s all anyone needs to know about Nancy Mace.” When Mace responded that Posobiec is obsessed with her and probably wants to sleep with her, wife Tanya posted: “Honey, he’s not going to rent a Honda Civic when he’s got a Ferrari at home.” These people...

From the Department of Of Course: The Financial Times reports Trump’s team has told European officials he will demand all NATO members increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, at the same time saying he will continue aid to Ukraine. The big question is whether aid to Ukraine will be conditioned on increased defense spending by NATO countries. None of them spend 5% and it is highly unlikely any would. It’s very possible this demand - which Trump knows European countries will never accept - will be his excuse to cut off all aid to Ukraine and pull out of NATO.

From the Department of Kicking Cans Down The Road: House and Senate approved the CR last night and President Biden signed it this morning. The can has been kicked down the road 84 days until March 14. It funds the government at current levels, extends the farm bill for one year and appropriates billions of dollars in disaster relief and assistance for farmers. Elon Musk proved he can screech with the best, but he’s now three for three on not getting what he wants, which is what happens when you’re an uneducated lout (his “college degrees” are all phony) who thinks you’re a genius because there’s an actual connection between your brain and the speculative stock value of your tinny toy company. Hakeem Jeffries won because there was no debt increase included. That’s what happens when you’re not an uneducated Unreconstructed Afrikaner lout. However, several Democratic-favored provisions included in the initial package were cut, including language pertaining to prescription drugs pricing control and pandemic preparedness and response programs. (Pediatric cancer research funding was approved in a separate bill) Those provisions are unlikely to clear the chambers over the next two years. The big loser overall was TEMU Emperor Palpatine Felon34, whose power over the Party of Broken Toys was revealed to not be so powerful when 38 of them killed the proposal he favored. He also lost on the debt limit, meaning that fight will come in March, when he’s trying to fund the Fourth Reich and give tax breaks to his billionaire lackeys.

From the Department of Things Are Not Always What They Seem To Be: Last night’s vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, was initially thought to be the work of yet another Islamic Terrorist. However, as of this morning, German authorities investigating the incident have confirmed that the individual - a doctor from Saudi Arabia - was granted refugee status in 2006 because he stated he feared Saudi religious laws because he was an opponent of Islam. He ran a website where over the past year since October 7, his posts have been pro-Israel. He also condemns Islam for the repression of women, and in recent days had posted accusations that the German government was allowing the proliferation of Islamization in the country and of persecuting female Saudi asylum seekers. It turns out he is a political supporter of the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party that was recently the recipient of public support by Elmo. How and why all that made him target a Christmas market is one for the psychiatric examiners. (H/t Rigid Thinking Substack)

I’ll leave with this:

Photos from space of the world’s biggest airshow, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Air Venture. It was held July 19-29 and attracts airplane folk from around the world to come to Steve Wirman Field in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (I went one time back in 1978, and I’ll never forget the transcontinental flight in a 1947 Ercoupe, or the show). The rarest airplanes - like my friend Dorian Walker’s 108-year old restored DH-4 - show up. This year, 642,000 people attended, (which is a pretty normal attendance figure). They brought 10,000 airplanes with them. At Wittman, there were 16,807 aircraft operations in the 11-day period, which is an average of approximately 127 takeoffs/landings per hour. The airplanes that came to be shown off totaled 2,758, including 1,057 homebuilt aircraft, 939 vintage (antique) airplanes, 400 warbirds, 188 ultralights and light-sport aircraft, 105 seaplanes, 62 aerobatic aircraft, and 7 in other categories. This has nothing to do with anything else, but I can assure you every last one of those 642,000 people left the show happy.

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