K-9

It isn’t so much the who as it is the what, but Putin and the Russian army and their entire propaganda campaign for starters. That’s our flag for our military to fly and it has no business being flown by another military; especially by a dictator-led, corrupt, adversarial country like Russia.

This is beyond disgusting: https://www.nbcnews.com/video/russian-state-media-shares-video-of-vehicle-flying-u-s-and-russian-flags-in-ukraine-245202501997

Ironic coming from the party always pissing and moaning about how the left always wants to change history by removing statues. Never mind that those statues honor traitors to our country which is another irony in itself.

My original OP was a reference to the increase in the wholesale price of vegetables specifically. The article I linked discussed other aspects of the PPI. I wasn’t trying to mislead anyone. Regardless, the rise in wholesale prices is a cause for concern by those who monitor these matrices as my second linked article indicated.

Yep. Trump got owned in another propaganda win for Putin as evidenced by the news today that Trump has moved off his calls for a ceasefire. Summits like this are measured by an important metric: what did our president gain for the American people? Nothing.

Only the most dangerous my a$$. The lack of humanity and common decency is astounding. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-14/an-l-a-area-high-school-senior-was-walking-his-dog-then-ice-agents-grabbed-him

The DC sandwich guy: While seemingly humorous, the fact he’s being charged with the highest possible crime allowed for assaulting a federal officer brings to light another thing I can’t stand about Trump; his hypocrisy. When the rioters of January 6th beat a capitol police officer with an American flag, stomped on him, and caused brain damage, President Francisco Franco Jr. saw fit to pardon them. But throw a sandwich at a cop and you face the maximum charge and sentence possible. Gimme a phucking break. Fortunately (and much to the chagrin of our Mussolini wannabe), the judge saw fit to release him without bail on his own recognizance.

… was a total clown show.

The PPI total output, while certainly important overall, is not the only number that matters. What matters most is the inflation seen in various sectors. A large increase in wholesale produce prices is concerning because it is a harbinger for businesses who resell to other consumers. If grocery stores and restaurants have to pay 39% more for their products, what kind of increase does that represent for consumers? Looks like that rate cut by the fed may be in question as a result: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-hotter-than-expected-wholesale-prices-make-the-feds-september-rate-cut-decision-harder-155711746.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIGTbFaW7YhsAlLpoctw0cGI_Dq-2B613Nc3llUzBb9hdWBINh14dNc0su2q6kyGlY53eNZIi94XbRX1Nzg0Qb4DQ9ZndNLuEOAVx0LFuZSQ85JiRn9XqBZTZIftDViPMF7GnadhuJy9xCdFvp3BhdpnL2FkM38jzXWOJ6EQm4XB

Wholesale vegetable prices rose 38.9% in July. Well done, President Moron. https://www.axios.com/2025/08/14/inflation-vegetables-ppi

Yet another example. Erase and re-write history. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-reviewing-smithsonian-exhibits-make-sure-align-trumps-visi-rcna224588

This is disgusting, but par for course for Trump, this convicted felon and sexual abuser. Saw a clip from 2020 where a now deceased Epstein victim gave an interview in which she said Maxwell was even worse than Epstein. So lets reward this convicted sex trafficker and child predator by putting her in a country club jail instead of serving her 20 years in a prison that suits her evil crimes. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-privately-dismissed-epstein-victims-democrats-1235407549/

Nope, no time honored fascist tactics here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/08/14/trump-data-misinformation/

What you take as hyperbolic fear mongering being funny, I take as a clear warning sign of where we are as an American democracy. I suspect other societies in the throes of fascist authoritarian takeovers in the past thought similar warnings were mere hyperbolic fear mongering as well. Only to be left wondering how it all happened when it was too late.

I don’t understand @Hank’s laughing response to this post. Given what we’ve seen so far, there’s no telling who this scumbag will target next. Societies who have had their democracies taken over by fascist authoritarians have always had those who pooh-pooh the mere suggestion that something like that could ever happen to them. As the old saying goes, we ignore history at our own peril. And if these aren’t perilous times, then I don’t know what is. Cue the “typical leftist overreaction” crap. Another thing that occurs to me is that these fascists need to foment violence in the streets as it seems to be their plan to respond by declaring martial law and having that crazy orange madman attempt to cancel elections.

That deserves to be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest. But in no way does that justify using the military and federal agents as municipal law enforcement. And anyone supporting it needs to understand why. History makes it crystal clear.

Here’s a list of 30 cities with at least 100k people with the highest number of crimes against people per 100,000. DC is nowhere on the list. Meanwhile, 18 of the 30 are in red states. Does anyone think our fascist in chief will deploy military and federal agents as municipal police forces in any of those cities? Not a phucking chance. Trump wants to punish blue states and blue states only, especially the low-income folks he railed against at that travesty of a presser on Monday when he announced his decision on DC. https://www.newsweek.com/most-dangerous-cities-trump-washington-dc-2112006

He wasted no time in carrying out his threat to deploy NG troops and federal agents in DC to act as a municipal police force. Why is it hard to believe his threats to do the same in Baltimore, Portland, and other cities are just bluster? Many of his threats have become reality since January and given that, we all need go assume he means what he says, regardless of his unparalleled penchant for uttering pure crap out of his pie hole on a daily basis. Again, I urge everyone to read the Project 2025 paper. It is a fascist authoritarian manifesto.

The DOGE stats have been published by several outlets. One doesn’t need a “left slanted” article to read the data. It is what it is. Question: Is deploying the National Guard and federal agents to act as a municipal police force the intended use for those agencies? Especially when the reason given by Tump is the rampant violent crime in a city? When actual violent crime is down 25% in that city? Is threatening to deploy NG and federal agents to act as municipal police departments in other cities where crime is also down the right thing? Trump is assembling his own brand of brownshirts. It is wrong on every level imaginable.

The defiance of the Broberg ruling occurred well before the friendly SCOTUS covered for the DOJ, whose lead prosecutor and since appointed federal judge, instructed his staff to “F the federal judges’ orders.” The fact that the SCOTUS legitimized the action in the Broberg case is irrelevant, anyway. The DOJ did not follow our rule of law from the outset. The military in LA is not what I’m referring to, although it went against long established norms for deploying the National Guard, let alone marines on the streets of America. I’m referring to Trump’s deployment of national guard troops to patrol the streets of DC as law enforcement. Are you familiar with the brownshirts in 1930s Germany? How about Franco’s use of the military to police and maintain his control of Spain? Classic fascist behavior. I could list a number of other examples, but it would be fruitless. Instead, I will continue to share my concerns Speaking of which, how about some exposure of previously propagated DOGE crap? https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/12/trump-doge-contract-claims-savings-inflation-00498178

From defying federal judges to deploying military in the streets to replace local police, this administration shows example after example of fascist ideology. Now Trump’s BLS director seems to favor doing away with the critical monthly jobs report. Withholding, distorting, or creating false information is right out of the fascist playbook. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/12/trump-bls-jobs-report-00505025

Seeing the game and knowing where to be is a great speed equalizer. Can’t skate fast (but edge work is borderline elite), can’t shoot very hard (yet) but one helluva hockey player in the meantime.

While a 3% GDP growth is good news in general, it remains to be seen how good moving forward. Per economists, an underlying look may be of concern going forward as a few reasons for the growth over the first quarter was attributed to sharp decline in imports and exports, weak underlying demand, and decreased investment that could mean that businesses are being cautious. There are articles out there. Here’s one I read recently: https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/07/30/gdp-growth-is-decent-but-not-as-hot-as-it-first-looks

He plays the game the right way so it largely depends on his line mates. Also depends on any added strength over the offseason.