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Friday’s Forum
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35 responses to “Friday’s Forum”
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Can Trump be trusted?
NEARLY A CENTURY AGO, our European allies evacuated their gold to America to safeguard it from the Nazis. Today, some European countries are taking it back—apparently to protect it from Donald Trump.
I wish this were a gag about our president’s garish tastes.
It is not.
In a frightening sign of just how much trust has been lost between the United States and its erstwhile allies, billions of dollars of gold reserves are being repatriated or otherwise moved out of Trump’s reach.
Not just gold, cash reserves as well.
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I was just watching a video about it.
Notice this Youtuber claims the movement of assets out of the US started in 2022 when the Biden administration froze Russian assets in the US.
I’m a bit skeptical of this claim, because Russian assets were frozen in other countries as well.
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Apparently, Bartiromo’s firing was due to Fox’s lawsuit vulnerablility.
Fox News abruptly parts ways with scandal-tarred star Maria Bartiromo
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blockquote>Fox News abruptly announced Thursday that it is parting ways with longtime host Maria Bartiromo, whose close ties to President Trump helped propel her ratings but also ultimately unraveled her Fox career.
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Those close ties ultimately helped to enmesh Fox News in a spectacular scandal, however, after she embraced and promoted Trump’s lies about being cheated of victory in the 2020 race for the White House. She was named as a defendant in two multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuits against Fox for her treatment of Trump’s baseless allegations.
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Bartiromo’s earlier decision to spread unfounded theories of conspiracy fraud helped to land Fox in court.Her shows featured prominently in a defamation case against Fox brought by the voting technology company Dominion Voting Systems. Fox settled the case for more than $787 million just as the trial was about to begin.
Bartiromo also features heavily in a second multibillion dollar defamation suit. That one was filed by Smartmatic, another voting software company, also against Fox News over statements it broadcasted about the 2020 vote. That case is ongoing.
Until Thursday, Bartiromo was the only individual defendant in the Smartmatic case still working at the network.
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@Scott – more info from Puck:
Maria Bartiromo wanted to pursue a story related to China and 2020 election voting conspiracies… a major sensitivity for the network given its Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits.
A Fox Business executive sent a text to Fox Business producers informing them that that story could not go to air.
Bartiromo took a screen shot of the guidance and sent it to senior White House officials.
Fox News leadership learned about that after receiving a call from the White House, which they viewed as a fireable offense.
Fox pulled Bartiromo from air after Aug. 9. She was fired today. I have also learned that her executive producer Patrick Ignozzi was also fired after the announcement.
Bartiromo may compete with Scott Jennings to be the next press secretary.
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IMHO it partly reflects the continuing reasonable returns of US corporations, and the massive investment surge of the data-centre boom.
Partly because a lot of people still want or must have a lot of dollars on hand, and with the bond market a bit queasy, shares are one obvious alternative to park them. -
In addition to what others have said, as more and more wealth becomes concentrated in the 1%er investor class it’s to be expected.
Bartiromo, btw, strikes me as someone who shamelessly represents a particular 1%er mind-set: The only thing cared about is lowering taxes for themselves. Nothing else matters. Utterly selfish and proud of it. They can’t expect a better POTUS than Trump. As his star falls their fear will rise.
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Apparently, the WSJ has an absolutely brutal article out about Fetterman. It does NOT sound like he’s getting the mental health help that he clearly needs.
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I’ve been using the term “feudalism” to describe, the Slave South, the Jim Crow South, and what the billionaires are (so far successfully) attempting to impose on modern day USA. Steven has taken issue with this term, at least insofar as it applies to modern day USA, pointing out that the definition of the word and the way it is used in academic circles necessitates a land and farming based economy. Does anyone have a term that would apply better to our modern economy where the sources of wealth and means of production aren’t based on land?
I could make the argument that regardless of the definition, the system arises when a small number of elites own a very significant portion of the sources of wealth and the means of production and are free to impose their wills and desires on everyone else without repercussions from any but a fellow member of the elite. In what we traditionally think of as feudal times, that was land and farming, but in our modern times that is the mega-corporations and the elite finance sector. In this argument, “feudalism” works, even today. But I’d be more than happy to use a different, more acceptable term. So – does anyone have a term for the system our billionaires are attempting to impose, i.e. one in which they control virtually all the sources of wealth and means of production, and they keep that control by enforcing a rigid social hierarchy, setting groups against each other, and the government (in this case, the Republicans) are primarily there to enforce the hierarchy and protect their patrons, and advancing the lot of the general public is a bad thing, because upward mobility makes it harder to enforce the necessary social hierarchy?
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Oligarchical? A little clumsy with harsh consonants.
As stated, feudalism implies land and farming. It also implies a private means of enforcement. Now if our economic overlords start amassing private law enforcement (like Pinkertons in the late1800s) and used them to impose social and economic order then that would describe more like it is today. Back then, the economic Gilded Age “titans” were called monopolists, robber barons, industrialists. But was there a term equivalent to feudal system. Nothing comes immediately to mind.
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It also implies a private means of enforcement.
The billionaires are relentlessly pursuing control of government, and at the moment the highest levels of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch act essentially as errand boys and girls for them. And in many red states and some blue, they have similar control. I would contend this essentially fulfills the “private means of enforcement” criteria, since these government agencies act at their behest.
That said, I would be more than happy to give up on “feudalism”, given the baggage. I agree that “Oligarchy” is not really what I’m looking for, since I think the thing that differentiates “feudalism” form other types of small group authoritarianism is the imposition and enforcement of a rigid social hierarchy and the setting of groups against each other in order to enforce it. We just don’t seem to have a modern word for that. Maybe I’ll just go with “Neo-Feudalism”.
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Oligarchy would be my suggestion. We’ve always been a plutocratic country, but we’re moving into oligarchy. The distinction being that plutocrats were a large, diverse, disorganized class. The oligarchs are a small, nameable, group with more concentrated power. Not well organized, but smaller and with well recognized shared interests.
Feudalism never had elections. Electoral autocracies seem to be all the rage among plutocracies these days.
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I keep coming back to the idiotic assumptions of the tech-bro political guru, Curtis Yarvin.
That monarchic states and feudalistic hierarchies can protect property and uphold markets.When any basic consideration of history makes it plain that such systems enable arbitrary power to expropriate property, to override free exchange, and to degenerate into scrambles for power among the ruling elite.
ftlog, Locke and the English gentry realised that from painful experience out back on the 1600’s.British society in the early 1700’s was perhaps even more radically unequal economically and politically than the modern US.
But even the grand aristocrats had the common sense to realise that a monarchic/feudal system of private law and royal absolutism was too dangerous to their own longer term security to be safe.
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Taste tests and the verdict on the second attempt at pan pizza are in:
I overcooked the crust.
Oh, well. Other than that, the sauce was exactly as I planned it. It’s not a traditional pizza sauce. Here’s the recipe:
1.5 large onions (or two small ones)
6-8 cloves of garlic. About 80% thinly sliced and the rest minced.
Turkey chorizo (or regular, or soy, or chicken)
500 gr. tomato pure
1 cup water
1 tsp powdered chicken bouillon
2 tbsp Worcestershire
paprika
oregano
black pepperFirst caramelize the onions. this takes long enough you can prepare the dough in between stirring the onions. When they’re almost done, add the garlic and keep cooking for a minute or two. Next move everything to the side of the saucepan, add oil if needed, and try to brown the chorizo, flattening and flipping it as needed.
Add the tomato pure, water, and chicken bouillon . Stir well and bring to a simmer. Add the Worcestershire and spices. Keeps simmering until you reach the consistency you want.
This makes enough sauce for two pizzas. I froze half of what I made for latter use.
I also need better cheese. I got some cheap mozzarella slices from a store. It works well enough for what it is, but I need the real thing. I’ll look around for next time. I used pepperoni for the topping, and sprinkles a mix of ground parmesan and oregano on top.
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I’ve done a lot of experimenting with pizzas. My recommendation on the cheese is to buy the “dry” whole milk mozzarella that comes in bricks and then shred or crumble it yourself. Fresh buffala mozzarella, stored in brine, is too wet.* If you do prefer to use the fresh, my recommendation is to slice it, pat it dry with paper towels, and then let it dry further in the fridge for a few hours.
-*When we went to Italy, the fresh mozzarella was almost always used as a last-minute topping, rather than the “foundational cheese.” The pizza prep areas had large vats of mozzarella that looked like gravel (e.g., not shredded, but this tiny delicious rubble).
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I keep coming across dry whole milk mozzarella in recipe videos and blogs. the issue is finding it. I think I saw it at Costco. So now I have to find it whether it can keep in the freezer. You know Costco sizes…
In any case, I don’t expect to make it again for several weeks.
One thing I failed to mention, is that I’ve a hard time with dough. Last month, one of the housemates got a Ninja blender, that has a food processor which fits in its base as well. And it came with dough blades (plastic, not sharp).
I tried it, and it made the premix dough in 30 seconds. I just had to knead it. I may even try making biscuits again next week.
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Prez Dimbulb is threatening to cut off trade with our biggest partners if the Fed doesn’t cut rates. His backers say he uses tariffs as leverage against furrinners. This is real “I’ll shoot the ni-clang.” stuff.
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What the hell is that dimwit thinking of this time?
First, Warsh can’t cut rates much if at all in the current inflation outlook, or he’ll totally vape Fed credibility with the markets.
Second, cutting trade like that would drive inflation UP (assuming he could actually get it done).Trump really is quite ineffably stupid.
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I don’t understand concerns about trade deficits. The UK sends us bottles of Oban 18; we send them pieces of colored paper. I think we are getting the better deal here. Oh, I see that it is past 4:00 in my time zone. I going to pour myself a good slug of that stuff and wish you all a nice weekend.
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Meanwhile in the UK, Reform has been caught being a bit naughty about funding, again.
What a shame, eh? -
Trump’s convention site was hacked and now redirects to the Justice Department’s Epstein files:
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Cotija melts? I’d no idea. It’s dry and salty. I don’t use it much, but some places like putting it on top of enchiladas or chilaquiles. it’s really good that way, but it’s sprinkled on the cooked dish. I’ve never seen it melted.
I considered provolone as well. It does melt, but it’s less gooey. On the other hand, smoked anything adds a lot of flavor to everything.
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