[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] You do you in the privacy of your own continent, guys. We’ll just carry on as we have been, because it works for us.
[FoxNews] A new report released Friday from the Congressional Budget Office is surprising, even stunning. The "CBO" is not thought to be a friend of Republican presidents and Congresses. Questions always arise from "supply-siders" about whether CBO rejects serious "dynamic scoring" of developments in the law and in major regulatory actions. Whatever the agency’s methodology, it issued a report on the Trump tariffs at the close of last week.
"We project that increases in tariffs implemented during the period from January 6, 2025, to August 19, 2025 will decrease primary deficits (which exclude net outlays for interest) by $3.3 trillion if the higher tariffs persist for the 2025‒2035 period," Phillip Swagel, CBO’s director wrote. "By reducing the need for federal borrowing, those tariff collections will also reduce federal outlays for interest by an additional $0.7 trillion. As a result, the changes in tariffs will reduce total deficits by $4.0 trillion altogether."
The report is here.
Free traders should be scratching their heads as they review all the data, including that in this CBO "Update." Inflation has not spiked. Growth has not plummeted. The revenue from tariffs is enormous. An international trade war has not broken out.
"One of these things just doesn’t belong here, one of these things just isn’t the same," goes the old "Sesame Street" song’s refrain.
So maybe, just maybe, we free marketeers ought to consider that perhaps, just perhaps, President Trump has been right about tariffs, America’s strength relative to that of our trading partners, and the impact of non-tariff barriers-to-trade?
I checked in with an old friend and free-market economist, Dr. Richard McKenzie, Gerken Professor of Economics, Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine’s The Paul Merage School of Business. He is following the data, but is unconvinced. For the moment, however, he does "agree that Trump could make world trade freer by his threats."
"On your broader question about general acceptance of tariffs," Professor McKenzie replied to my query on whether free market economists might blink at the CBO’s numbers? "No, tariffs (and minimum wages) have long been used as a litmus test for market economists, but their commitment has always been conditioned on the strategy President Trump has employed: The threat of the imposition of tariffs can be used to lower the tariffs of other," McKenzie continued.
"But the argument I think Trump has used, that somehow ‘my tariffs will offset your tariffs’ to make a level playing field, doesn't play broadly, at least not in Friedman types: they compound the damage done."
"The tariffs," McKenzie continued, "if they end up being consequential, will diminish domestic (and world) incomes from what they would otherwise be —further reducing IRS revenues from what they would be."
Then Professor McKenzie pulled out the Thor’s Hammer of "Friedman types": "A tariff is a tax, is a tax, is a tax! The CBO’s estimates of trillions in additional federal revenues and reductions in budget deficits are testimony to that fact of accounting. President Trump seems to believe that he can wear the mantle of a tax cutter while raising tax revenues on the sly. His threats to impose heavy tariffs on countries that don’t lower their tariffs on U.S. goods is also testimony that he understands the damage that can be done by tariffs. Such threats could work to promote freer world trade (Canada just lowered tariffs in response to Trump’s threat), but don’t count on that to be the case across the board, after the policy dust settles."
No doubt President Trump’s senior advisor on trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, would differ. Navarro and McKenzie were colleagues for decades on the same graduate school faculty at UCI. I have no idea when they last spoke —probably before 2016?— but Navarro has always been a man of the political left and McKenzie of the political (and economics) right. Navarro has embraced tariffs, at least against China, since his 2011 book "Death By China."
Their very different views are part of a long-running debate among economists, and those whose views about tariffs are informed by economists. I’ve reflexively been against tariffs since first absorbing the long-standing conventional wisdom about the 1930 Hawley-Smoot tariffs, something I first was taught over 50 years ago in "Economics 10," and then subsequently inhaling free markets/free minds arguments from the era of President Reagan forward.
How exciting! It’s not often the world sees an academic debate settled definitively in real life.
#1
Like many, we physically shop Wally World among other stores for normal items.
Has anyone else noticed, that WW has been discounting just about anything, but food items, the last 4 weeks during their massive remodeling & new layout efforts?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko
[REGNUM] In Sweden, a story unfolds that begins as a clown show, ends in tragedy, and ends in a clown show again.
Indecent photographs of Tobias Thyberg, a high-ranking Swedish diplomat who once represented the kingdom in Ukraine and was photographed with Volodymyr Zelensky, have appeared online.
During the investigation of this case, the police captured another high-ranking official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who committed suicide.
And the powerful gay lobby stood up for Tiberg.
HONORED EXTREMIST
In May, the Swedish government's press service announced that the National Security Council (NSC), which operates under the Cabinet of Ministers, had been expanded with a new member: Tobias Thyberg.
49-year-old Olof Tobias Sebastian Thyberg is a well-known and influential person. He is a career diplomat who previously worked in the Swedish embassies in New Delhi, Moscow, as well as in the Kingdom's representation to the European Union in Brussels and in the EU delegation to Georgia. He then headed the Swedish embassy in Afghanistan.
Finally, from August 2019 to August 2023, he was the Swedish ambassador to Ukraine. And it was during his work in Kyiv that Tiberg organized a scandal that was quite noticeable at the time.
On May 17, the EU celebrated the "International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia." In connection with this, the Swedish embassy in Kyiv raised a rainbow flag over its building on the eve of this date in 2023. At the same time, Tyberg posted a demand on social media that Ukrainian homosexuals " be immediately allowed to enter into partnerships."
This caused a strong negative reaction among many Ukrainians - and not only them.
Swedish mercenary in the Ukrainian Armed Forces Mikael Skillt said that now even Ukrainian gays have something to worry about besides raising rainbow flags. " Sweden, as always, knows how to stand out! The only rainbow flag in Kiev is hanging on the Swedish embassy," Skillt said indignantly.
The ambassador's zealous attitude towards sexual minorities is explained simply: he himself belongs to them and openly lives with his "husband" Florian Fuchner, a German citizen.
From the point of view of the Swedish authorities, literally obsessed with “protecting the rights of LGBT*”, Tyberg’s homosexuality is an additional plus to his professional qualities. Therefore, they decided to introduce such a valuable employee to the National Security Council, which operates under the government.
However, just a few hours after this appointment, a certain “well-wisher” sent photographs of the new member of the NSC to the government and major Swedish media outlets.
THEY DIDN'T LET ME WORK IN PEACE
In the photographs obtained by journalists, a naked Tyberg was showing his genitals and committing other obscenities. It turned out that these photographs were originally taken for a special closed dating site intended for homosexuals. Naturally, their owner did not expect that the shameful pictures would become public property.
It was not possible to keep the incident a secret, and a commotion began.
Tiberg's scheduled working visit to Norway had to be cancelled at the very last minute. The man involved in the scandal began to repent : " These are old photos from my dating account. I should have reported them, but I didn't."
Excuses did not help him at the time, as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson accused Tyberg of irresponsibility.
Kristersson found out that the incriminating photos were taken before 2019, but were not deleted in time. " Since then, he has been given several different positions in government agencies. For example, he was the Swedish ambassador to Ukraine," the prime minister was indignant. In his opinion, Tyberg's behavior could "pose a threat to the country's security" since he himself gave himself a reason to disgrace himself.
What if they started blackmailing him, threatening to make incriminating evidence public?
As a result, Tobias Thyberg had to resign: not because he was homosexual, but because he had neglected security measures, making himself a potential victim of blackmail.
The authoritative Swedish security expert Patrik Oksanen loudly declared that the omnipresent Russian special services were certainly involved. In support of his point of view, he cites the fact that the defamatory letters were sent from the ProtonMail mail service, which has a message encryption function. And who can use this service, created, by the way, by employees of the European Organization for Nuclear Research?
Of course, only Russian special services, even a baby would understand that.
Although it is much more likely that the scandalous mailing was carried out by one of the Swedish homosexuals who registered on the dating site and for some reason had a grudge against Tiberg.
MYSTERIOUS DEATH
In the next act of this story, the Swedish Security Police (SaPo) began searching for the “perpetrator” who dared to so cruelly defame the reputation of a high-ranking official.
The "Saposhniki" conducted a search in the house of a certain employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a man in his fifties - his name has not yet been reported. A few hours after this search, the man was found dead - according to the Expressen publication, he committed suicide.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of its employee, but did not provide any additional information. However, the unflattering details that the Foreign Ministry wanted to hide soon began to emerge.
It turns out that the day before his death, this man was not only searched, but also arrested on suspicion of espionage. But he was soon released due to lack of evidence, although the charges were not dropped.
Immediately after his release, the diplomat sought medical attention and filed a police report of violence and misconduct by security service officers. Despite assurances from SaPo members that the arrest and search were calm, witnesses to the incident claim that this was not the case at all.
Several masked men broke down the diplomat's apartment without warning, yelled at him and beat him. Swedish Foreign Ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were very upset by the death of their colleague. One of them cried and said: "They killed him."
According to media reports, the diplomat's arrest was connected to Tobias Thyberg's intimate homosexual photographs and his hasty resignation.
Apparently, SaPo suspected the deceased of being the one who sent out the letters with the photographs that undermined the diplomat's career. Moreover, the Security Police suspects that this MFA employee was a Russian spy on a mission.
It was then that such a hardened Russophobe as former Prime Minister Carl Bildt stood up for the deceased, saying that he valued the deceased very much, since he was “a very talented, qualified and valuable employee.”
So the deceased was not seen as a person who had been the subject of espionage. A minute of silence was observed in the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Some of the deceased's colleagues cried at the funeral service. According to the employees, an atmosphere of panic reigned in the ministry.
ORIENTATION SAVED ME
The actions of the Security Police officers are being investigated by the prosecutor's office, but nothing has been reported about the results yet. There are also no official versions about who actually sent out the photos.
And recently a new chapter was added to the scandalous story.
In August, it was revealed that Tobias Thyberg was back in his former position as head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia department at the Swedish Foreign Ministry. He was said to have undergone extensive security checks and been found fit for duty.
The reason why Tiberg managed to get away with it so easily is, of course, again due to his orientation.
After all, if anything happened, he could have declared that he was being “oppressed” as a gay man, and then the authorities would have faced long and unpleasant proceedings.
And Sweden continues to actively bring LGBT “ideals” to Ukraine.
The Prime Minister recently supported Thyberg's demand from two years ago and, on behalf of his country, demanded that Kyiv change the law and allow same-sex marriages. According to Ulf Kristersson, this is one of the most important demands for rapprochement with the EU. He made it clear that if Kyiv does not abandon the traditional concept of marriage, Sweden will vote against Ukraine's admission to the EU.
Moving from words to action, the Prime Minister organized a reception for representatives of the gay community* right in his official residence, Sager House. Ukrainian servicemen who had come to Sweden to discuss cooperation issues were also invited.
According to the Swedish prime minister, young Ukrainian soldiers are not only "part of the resistance against Russia", but also "a living expression of the liberal values for which Ukraine is fighting".
Since all of these statements by Kristersson caused far from only a positive response, the government of the kingdom decided that it was time to back down a little.
The Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, Jessica Rosenkrantz, tried to downplay her boss’s words. She was forced to admit that “EU legislation does not require its member states or candidate countries to include in their legislation exactly the same concept of LGBT* marriage (as in Sweden. — Author’s note).”
However, there is no doubt that the EU will continue the work begun by Tiberg – “bending” Ukraine to the standards of same-sex tolerance: as we can see, there are no obstacles to this at all.
[NYPOST] Friday's ''famine in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... '' announcement by a UN-backed agency is simply the latest effort to preserve Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... ' rule over the territory on supposedly humanitarian grounds as Israel reluctantly begins to go after the terror group's major enclaves in Gaza City.
Note how the ''experts'' of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification outfit claim to have sufficient ground-level access to ordinary Gazooks to determine, for example, that 30% of children are severely malnourished — by measuring the upper-arm widths of a statistically significant random sample of the kids! — even though somehow no one is able to produce photographic examples of Gazook starvation that stands up to elementary fact-checking.
Not to mention all the double-talk about Israel refusing to allow international aid to enter the war zone, when in fact it's only insisting that supplies go in with armed guards to prevent immediate seizure by the terrorists.
More deception: ''News'' that Hamas is willing to return the remaining hostages in a ceasefire agreement.
Yes, if Hamas is willing to turn over the living hostages now, some deal may be possible.
Short of that, it has nothing real to offer, and Israel should proceed with taking Gaza City and wiping the terror group from the earth.
Time and again, Hamas has taunted Israel by offering the release of its captives, but inevitably on unacceptable terms, namely that Israel agree to leave it in power in Gaza, with security guarantees and UN backing.
No country in the world but Israel would be expected to allow a death cult dressed up as a normal state to operate on its border: The Oct. 7, 2023, attacks should have ended forever the fantasy that the Jewish state can coexist with Hamas.
All the Western leaders sanctimoniously vowing to recognize a Paleostinian state forget that a ceasefire was in place on Oct. 6; Hamas broke it by murdering 1,200 innocents and kidnapping hundreds.
And in the nearly two years since, the terror group has savaged the people of Gaza — violating all the laws of war against exploiting civilians; stealing their food; slaughtering those who try to evacuate or acquire rations; targeting those who dare protest against it.
Hamas' own videos, from the GoPro'd atrocities of Oct. 7 to the sick filming of starved-next-to-death captives forced to dig their own graves, testify to its evil.
Now the forces of Evil are supposedly saying a deal is possible if it comes with some guarantees of establishing a Paleostinian state, except that Hamas has never been about Paleostinian nationalism: It is strictly an murderous Moslem Islamist resistance faction, albeit happy to seize control of any territory supposedly intended for some future Paleostine.
Territory it then ''develops'' not as any nascent country, but as a network of militarized bases shielded by civilian housing, schools and hospitals.
Hamas is still aiming to get back to its power of Oct. 6 so it can someday launch another Oct. 7 — and any end to this war that doesn't involve Hamas' exit from Gaza is granting that wish.
The forces of Evil can end the fighting instantly: Free the hostages and accept exile.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can accept a ceasefire that frees the hostages, not a deal that preserves Hamas' rule — and any world power that truly wants a free Paleostinian state should be demanding that Hamas, not Israel, give up this fight.
Israel's safety and any hope for Gaza to ever be free require Hamas' expulsion; if that means an invasion of Gaza City, the civilized world should have Israel's back
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2025 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
