Wholesale Price Index Climbs 6.3% For Year

 

 

Thanks, Trump!

Enjoying the Malignant Fascist's "Golden Age" economy, are we?

September’s producer price index came in much hotter than economists forecast on Thursday, underscoring the continued inflationary pressure from energy amid the U.S. war with Iran.

The measure of underlying inflation pressures climbed 1.3% in September and 6.3% on an annual basis, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That marked the largest monthly and annual gains since March 2022 and December 2022, respectively.

Both readings topped expectations of economists polled by Dow Jones, who forecast an advance of 0.6% on the month and 5.5% annually.

Energy drove a sizable chunk of those increases as the Middle East conflict curtailed oil supply and sent prices surging. The so-called core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices from the wholesaler inflation index, added 0.7% on the month and 5% over the 12-month period.

But there are signs that soaring energy prices are having downstream effects on other categories. The BLS said in Thursday’s release that almost half of September’s increase in processed goods for immediate demand was connected to the rise in diesel fuel prices.

It’s the latest report in recent days showing that inflation continues to hit consumers and companies. [snip]

“With a second day in a row of higher-than-expected inflation numbers, it seems the Fed will have no choice but to raise rates again this year,” said Chris Zaccarelli, investing chief at Northlight Asset Management...

Bringing back the stagflation of the '70's just in time for the mid-term elections (thanks to the MF's tariffs and war of choice with Iran!)!

September: Inflation Up, Gas Prices Up 9%

 

Speaking of affordability:

September brought little relief to the accelerating cost of living, as consumer prices increased again and kept the inflation rate well above the Federal Reserve’s goal.

The consumer price index, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6% for the month, putting the 12-month rate at 3.7%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected respective gains of 0.6% and 3.6%.

Stripping out volatile food and energy costs, so-called core CPI rose 0.3% for the month and was up 2.6% on an annual basis, compared to respective estimates for 0.2% and 2.5%.

Surging energy costs were again the primary culprit in the inflation picture. The energy index jumped 5.2% as tensions continued between the U.S. and Iran in a war launched in late February that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. 

Gasoline prices soared 9.1%, accounting for about half the gain in headline CPI, according to the BLS. Over the past year, gas has posted a 34.2% gain while fuel oil has roared higher by 74.2%...(our emphasis)

Meanwhile, the corrupt and addled Malignant Fascist and his cronies get fatter and fatter.

Mid-terms, folks!

(Photo: MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images, iStockphoto)

 

The Trump Economy: Mortgage Rates Top 7 Percent

 

The Trump Golden Age of Affordability, prospective homebuyers!

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week above 7% for the first time since January 2025, the latest affordability setback for prospective homebuyers following a five-week run of rate increases.

The weekly average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan rose to 7.03% from 6.95% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.30%.

The average rate is now the highest it’s been since Jan. 16, 2025, when it was at 7.04%.

“Beyond the immediate financial constraints, the 7% threshold is a foreboding psychological barrier,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “Crossing this mark could create a chilling effect on the market” that would lead to a considerable slowing of home sales transactions this fall.

Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to borrowers’ costs, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power. As rates rise, that can also lead prospective home shoppers to delay buying.  [snip]

The housing market has been stuck in a rut this year in large part because of elevated mortgage rates, which have been climbing in the months since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February.

Mortgage rates are influenced by inflation, Federal Reserve policy and bond-market investors’ expectations for the economy, among other factors. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.  [snip]

The latest increase in the 10-year Treasury yield suggests that “upward mortgage rate pressure seems likely to linger,” said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com... (our emphasis)

More fallout from Trump's economic (tariff) policies and his war of choice, Operation Epic Quagmire!

(Image:  Getty Images)

Houthis Close Key Strait To Saudis

 

Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen reportedly struck two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea earlier today, as they attempt to close off the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea to Saudi shipping.  From the Associated Press:

"The Houthis’ SABA news agency said the rebels had struck two tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, in the Red Sea, leading to fires on both. That would be their first reported attack on a vessel since they announced a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container traffic, passes through there, moving between Europe and Asia via Egypt’s Suez Canal.

A senior Houthi official said the blockade on Saudi-linked shipping would remain in effect until a years-old Saudi blockade against the Houthis is lifted. The official gave no details of the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media." (our emphasis)

The Houthis have been the target of airstrikes by Israeli and U.S. in the past over their assaults on shipping in the Red Sea near the vital Strait.  This blockade is targeted at the Saudis, who have backed the government in Yemen for years and provided military support to them.  With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz forcing higher oil and gas prices, the Houthi action puts additional pressure on the reckless regime of the Malignant Fascist and his corrupt friend Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin "Bone Saw" Salman, not to mention world oil prices already rising due to the MF's war on Iran.

 

Troops Die, Trump Golfs

 

News item:

Two U.S. service members were killed, and another remains missing after an Iranian missile and drone attack on Jordan on Friday, U.S. Central Command announced.

The military confirmed the deaths on Saturday, as President Donald Trump was visiting his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course. It was not clear if he had already been informed of the deaths, but a White House press pool call scheduled for noon was pushed back to 2 p.m., and then later to 4 p.m., suggesting damage control behind the scenes. [snip]

The two deaths mark the 15th and 16th U.S. service member fatalities in the conflict with Iran since Trump, 80, started the war on Feb. 28.  [snip]

The president, who has repeatedly claimed that Iran’s military had already been wiped out and that the country is “dying to make a deal,” previously snubbed 14 troops recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center when he visited the facility for a physical examination in May.

Those on active duty told CBS News last month that they believed there had been an effort to downplay the severity of their injuries after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that “almost 90 percent” of the roughly 400 Americans injured at that time had suffered only minor injuries...

We know Cadet Bone Spurs thinks that service members, including those who lost their lives serving their country, are "suckers" and "losers."  So why disrupt a perfectly good round of golf out of respect for the sacrifice they made in a war you blundered into?  Wouldn't want to mar an almost perfect weekend habit:

Here's an unoriginal thought:  maybe he should resign and go somewhere far away where he can play golf all the time.  Better yet, how about this place?

(Photo: Trump yesterday at Bedminster, via The Daily Beast;   Image: www.pbump.com/projects/golf.html)

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle celebrated the landmark bipartisan housing bill becoming law overnight Saturday despite President Donald Trump's refusal to sign it. 

The 21st Century Road to Housing Act aims to address the country’s housing shortage by increasing the supply of homes and overall homeownership. The legislation loosens regulations to encourage housing construction and limits Wall Street investors from buying homes that could go to families instead.

It passed in the Senate 85-5 and in the House 358-32, both veto-proof majorities, last month.

Trump said he was refusing to sign the bill because the Senate has not taken up the unrelated Save America Act which would make significant election and voting reforms, including requiring photo ID at polling places and proof of citizenship before a person could register to vote. The voting bill has been flatly rejected by Democrats and would require 60 votes to prevail in the Senate.

In a post on social media Friday, Trump said he would not sign "in PROTEST" over the Senate's inability to pass the voting bill.

Since the president did not sign or veto the housing bill following the 10-day window after Congress presented it to him, it became a law midnight Saturday.  [snip]

"Donald Trump couldn’t pick up the pen because he just isn’t interested in lowering costs for American families," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement Saturday.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., called Trump's delays in signing the housing bill "childish," and touted the law's benefits for Americans.

"This legislation is going to lower housing costs, build more homes, and ensure working families can afford to keep a roof over their heads," she said in an X post.

A failed attempt to hold the housing bill hostage to the Malignant Fascist's election- rigging "Save America My Ass Act."  This is also another case of a self-inflicted political wound for the MF, resulting from his extreme narcissism, stupidity, and moronic petulance.  Well done, MAGAts!

The bad:

For the Iranian regime, keeping a chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz has turned out to be more important than the tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief from the Trump administration.

That is because Tehran is playing a long game. Iranian officials believe the country has finally emerged as a regional hegemon, after the U.S. and Israel failed to achieve their main goals in the war they unleashed in February. And, as long as Tehran cements this new status by securing permanent arrangements to control the vital waterway—and dominating the Persian Gulf economies along with it—then the rest, including American sanctions relief, will eventually follow.

“This is the only way: recognize the new Iranian order in the Strait of Hormuz,” warned Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission. “The Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats,” added the parliament’s speaker and the lead negotiator with the U.S., Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

This attitude heralds a rocky future, with regular bouts of violence, continuing uncertainty for global energy markets and a Damoclean Sword of renewed strikes hanging over the Gulf monarchies.

“The Islamic Republic will become even more of a gangster regime. Its takeaway from the war is that concessions are won through coercion—by attacking its neighbors, threatening the Strait of Hormuz and driving up the price of oil,” said Karim Sadjadpour, Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Like Putin’s Russia, the Islamic Republic believes that its security depends not on the prosperity of its people, but on the insecurity of its neighbors.”

And, just like Russia in its own neighborhood, the Iranian regime views the oil-rich Gulf monarchies as belonging to its own natural sphere of influence—a sphere denied to it by American meddling ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Now that America has failed to protect these Gulf states from Iranian attacks, Tehran’s drive to institutionalize Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz reflects its ambition to establish a new Pax Iranica in the Middle East. After all, the Gulf countries, to a varying extent, rely on the strait not just for their oil and gas exports, but also for other vital supplies, from consumer items to food...

We've been led to this strait (pardon the pun) by the complete incompetence of the MF and his tyro "negotiators" ("Javanka" Kushner and Steve "Witless" Witkoff) who were trying to get the semblance of a "win" from the MF's disastrous decision to go along with Bibi Netanyahu's fantasy to crush Iran with American air power.  Every day this malevolent moron is in power, America suffers irreparable harm.

The ugly: 

A Democratic senator on Saturday alleged that whistleblowers have detailed several problems stemming from rushed or improper reconstruction of the Kennedy Center, adding a new layer to the travails of the arts complex as President Donald Trump tried to seize control of it and its name.

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a release on Saturday that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group, alleging that “the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.”

“The Center’s subservience to the President’s desires and its corner-cutting contracting practices have resulted in steel columns that are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool that may have to be torn out and rebuilt, and a brand-new bathroom floor torn out over an offending tile color,” Whitehouse continued. “This is waste, and it treats a national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.”  [snip]

Whitehouse released a letter he wrote to the center’s executive director, Matt Floca, demanding answers by July 23. He said the whistleblower report included “firsthand accounts of multiple former Center project managers, supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs.” He also included an 83-page appendix full of internal center documents, emails and photos of apparently shoddy construction.

The allegations include that the center rushed work before it was authorized by Congress because it wanted it to be complete for Trump to accept the new FIFA Peace Prize that the soccer federation awarded him. In doing so, the letter alleges the center didn’t follow required contracting guidelines and wasted money replacing a bathroom because the president didn’t like the color and inking no-bid contracts. One $8 million contract to replace the concert hall’s floor went to a firm with no experience in concert halls, Whitehouse contended.

Well, well.  Imagine that.  Shoddy construction, cutting corners, no-bid contracts to unqualified contractors, wasting taxpayer dollars.  There's pay-to-play kickbacks written all over this, too.  Utterly on- brand for the MF and his corrupt regime. Exposure is the first step toward accountability, and there's so much to be accountable for in this corrupt fascist regime.

 

QOTD -- Tallying Iran War's Cost To Our International Standing

 

"... Demonstrating Iran’s newfound confidence, 'Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles at two commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday,' the Wall Street Journal reported. It is just the latest sign that the shift in power in the region ohas become more profound as the war played out. Kari Heerman of the Brookings Institution explained: 'Iran did not only assert control over the strait, it also experimented a little bit with politically conditioned access, offering discounts to its friends and higher rates to its enemies.' Heerman noted in analyzing how 'freedom of navigation' has lost any meaning. '[T]hat’s a major departure from not only the status quo ante, it also presents major challenges for international maritime law.'

"We hear each week that the talks are at risk of 'collapsing' or that the 'fragile truce' is at risk. Bunk. Iran, with Oman’s aid, is systematically asserting long-term control of the Strait. Trump has zero interest in returning to full-scale hostilities; the economic sanctions that have constrained Iran are already being unwound; and the entire topic is a political loser for Trump. As oil prices gradually drift downward, Trump is less inclined to restart major military operations. The war is over, as both sides know. The memorandum talks are merely the means of tallying the cost to U.S.’s international standing.

"Given all this, much of the Iran coverage has taken on an air of unreality. The Trump regime pretends to be engaged in grown-up statecraft; legacy media coverage regurgitates the Trump team’s assertions that Iran is desperate for a deal. The headlines take at face value the threat that the U.S. would resume a full-scale fight; but no one engaged in the talks believes that is remotely possible..."  -- Jennifer Rubin, in "The Contrarian" Substack, on the word games being played by the Malignant Fascist's regime in its quest to minimize the catastrophe of the Iran war, and the media's craven complicity with the ludicrous charade.

 

"He Knows He's Been Had"

 

Michael Weiss, editor of Insider, appeared on MS Now this morning to share what he knows about Iran's version of the "Memorandum of Understanding" that the mentally ill and desperate Malignant Fascist is saying is just a day or two away:

"I just want to read you — Iran's Mehr News Agency put out their version of this deal. Now, again, underscore we ... don't know if this is going to be the memorandum of understanding. But in their version of the deal they get $300 billion in reconstruction money, $24 billion in a cash infusion, half of which will come before the negotiations begin.

Remember, this isn't a deal, this is an agreement to keep talking and an extension of a cease-fire. There's nothing new in here Again, the Iranian version that talks about the missile program or financing or arming terrorist proxies like Lebanese Hezbollah.

If this is any pale shade of what this thing is going to look like — look, I think he knows he's being had. He knows he's been abased by a regime that shouldn't exist by his lights, right? We were going in to do regime change. The Israelis certainly thought we were going to do regime change. We were going to arm the Kurds. We were going to install Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust-denying former president, as our preferred satrap.

All of these plans came to dust, and he just wants out of it. He's got buyer's remorse. He thinks he's been sold a bill of goods. He probably has been. And he just wants this thing over and done with. He's already looking at Cuba.” (our emphasis)

The original point of this disaster, at least in Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's eyes, was regime change.  Last summer's attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, and more, had degraded their enrichment capabilities and knocked out a number of their missiles and drones.  Then, massive citizen riots in Iran in late 2025 allowed Netanyahu to sell the ignorant MF, who needed to distract from his Epstein-Trump file woes, about how simple it would be for regime change in Iran.  The MF was duped, as the Tehran regime proved resilient.  The Strait of Hormuz remains essentially closed, allies have abandoned us, and prices of gas and other goods soar: winning!

Stay tuned, as the unstable MF looks to start more misadventures, this time against Cuba.

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

It’s been more than two months since “No Kings” protests again drew crowds across the U.S. Another event is set to take place in just over a week, but the call to action by organizers is a little different than others before it.

Back in March, millions attended more than 3,000 “No Kings” events held nationwide, marking the third round of rallies since President Trump took office. Rallies last year attracted more than 5 million in June and 7 million in October, according to U.S. organizers. 

The next event is scheduled for June 14. The same day, Trump’s birthday, UFC match-ups are set to be held on the White House’s South Lawn as part of a series of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.

Meanwhile, the Committee for the First Amendment, relaunched last year, will be hosting “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.”

Being held at The Town Hall in New York City, the 90-minute event is set to be headlined by Bette Midler, Patti Smith, and Jane Fonda. It will “celebrate the freedoms guaranteed by our First Amendment … and the people power that both fuels these rights and is essential to guarantee them.”

The No Kings Coalition, which is partnering with the Committee on the First Amendment, says watch parties are being scheduled across the country to stream the event, giving communities space “to sing along, make art, share food, connect with neighbors, and take meaningful action together.”

While previous No Kings events have resulted in rallies, June 14’s event “will serve as a critical opportunity for No Kings supporters to strategize, connect with local organizers, and prepare for the ongoing fights ahead of the midterm elections.”

“… while the President attempts to distract the country with his UFC cage fight spectacle, the No Kings movement will be gathering in living rooms, community centers, and local businesses for public and private watch parties in key cities and rural communities alike,” a press release reads.

Several watch parties have already been scheduled, including events in and around Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.  (our emphasis)

Mark your calendars.  Check out the "No Kings" web site for events near you on June 14 and show up.  Please.

The bad:

Iranian officials involved with the peace negotiations between the regime and the United States said on Sunday that the peace deal with President Donald Trump is "no longer feasible" following the latest round of attacks, MS NOW's Inzamam Rashid reported on "The Weekend: Primetime." 

"An Iranian official linked with the talks between the U.S. and Iran has sent me a message this evening — and remember, it's early in the morning out here in the region — and they've said to me that a deal with President Trump is no longer feasible at this stage," Rashid reported.

The report came at a time when Iran had fired missiles into a civilian area of Israel in response to Israel attacking the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Iran had threatened last week to retaliate for a hypothetical strike against Beirut. 

"This official blamed President Trump for the current situation inside Lebanon and the current escalation, I presume the escalation, meaning what the Iranian response has been given," Rashid continued. "It's been Iran's red line not to attack Beirut all along. So this is a pretty interesting development, because it means that Iran now ... feels that it cannot now have open dialog with President Trump and sign off on a deal which both sides have been working pretty tirelessly."

The war in Iran, which began in late February, has stretched past the 100-day mark. The war has been disastrous for global energy prices, which have shocked the U.S. and European economies.

The shart of the deal by the master charlatan and con artist, always way over his head and sinking fast.  Iran has "all the cards" and is going to bust the MF if it can.

The ugly:

After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut nine Navy officers, including all the women, from a promotion list, several female officers say they see the unusual intervention as a sign that their careers now have a ceiling and worry for the future generation of female military leaders.

The Navy had selected 31 sailors to promote from the rank of captain to one-star admiral, but Hegseth recently intervened to strike nine people from the list, including three women and two Black men, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not permitted to be released publicly.

As a result, the Navy is not promoting a single woman to the one-star admiral rank this year even though women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers and nearly one-third of the sea service’s midgrade ranks, according to military data from 2024.

The Associated Press spoke with eight female Navy officers of varying ranks and time in service after Hegseth’s cuts, which were reported earlier by The New York Times, became public. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from their superiors.

The more junior officers said they saw the development as a sign that their careers would become politicized if they rose too far in the ranks, and some said they felt they now had a limit on how far they could be promoted. Some said it made them feel less valued within the military and wondered whether that wasn’t part of the intent.

The Pentagon has not offered any rationale on why the women, or any of the other six people, were removed from the promotion list.  [snip]

Hegseth has long argued, without offering evidence, that women in the military benefit from preferential treatment and are not suited for combat roles.

“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth told hundreds of military leaders in September.

The approach, he asserted, made the Pentagon “less capable and less lethal.”...

For White nationalist DUI hire "Whiskey Pete" to flap his liquored lips about promoting people "for the wrong reasons" is really, really rich.  He's a former Fox "News" couch potato with a drinking problem.  What were his qualifications to become the Secretary of Defense ("War"), other than those liquored lips being affixed to the MF's large ass?   There's gall, then there's unmitigated gall.

QOTD -- Led By Nutters

 

" ... [The UK] should not, in any way, shape or form be involved with the Americans because they are being led by a couple of gung-ho nutters like Trump and Hegseth without a proper strategy and without serious thought about what the end state for this war is.

 "Yet again we have an American president who has gone to war, a war of choice, a war of hubris frankly, without ANY clear idea of how the war ends and without any clear strategy.  [snip]

"The idea of assassinating the Ayatollah Khamenei who was not just Iran's head of state but he was the religious symbol for Shiites worldwide.  Assassinating him during the month of Ramadan is about as subtle as murdering the Pope on the steps of St Peter's in Holy Week.  It will inflame the Shiite world and what you're doing by doing that is probably pushing large numbers of Iranians who might have been reconcilable, who might have thought about rising up, back into the fold of the irreconcilable."  -- General Sir Richard Shirreff, NATO's former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, in a March 5 interview on Britain's Sky News.  If only we had a few generals like him (though it's hard to say what's being talked about in the halls of the Pentagon these days).

Operation Epstein Fury Will Cost "A Lot"

 

Congressional MAGAts are bracing for a hefty bill for their unhinged cult leader's adventure in Iran, at a time when family budgets are tighter than ever and the 2026 mid-term elections are approaching and not looking good for them. From Politico:

"Republicans on Capitol Hill are preparing to confront a staggering price tag for the war in the Middle East after closed-door briefings this week detailed the rapid consumption of expensive munitions and the lack of any firm deadline for the end of the military campaign.

Asked how much the Iran offensive would cost, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) didn’t sugarcoat it.

'A lot,' he replied.

Senior Republicans privately expect President Donald Trump’s administration to request tens of billions of dollars for the Middle East conflict and other military needs from Congress in the coming days, with some GOP lawmakers hearing estimates that the Pentagon is spending as much as $2 billion a day on the war.  [snip]

The prospect of a growing new spending measure has GOP leaders bracing for a messy internal fight, with fiscal hawks who have long decried 'forever wars' and bloated Pentagon budgets deeply unsettled by some of the cost estimates flying around on Capitol Hill. At the very least, some are planning to demand offsetting spending cuts."  (our emphasis)

Dems should reject helping the MAGAts to get out of the mess their cult leader initiated with his (and Netanyahu's) war of choice and diversion.  They'll have to likely suggest more budget cuts aimed at working families, etc., to offset the additional costs of Operation Epic Epstein Fury, again in an election year. 

Just this morning, the delusional Malignant Fascist announced on his idiotic "Truth" Social that his war would go on until Iran surrenders unconditionally, and he's allowed to select their new ruler, so that price tag will balloon until voters tell him they've had enough. 

 

Senate Republicans Let Trump Have Free Hand In Iran War

 

The spineless Republican MAGAt- led Senate voted yesterday to let the Malignant Fascist have a free hand in his Operation Epic Epstein Fury war on Iran:

A resolution to require President Trump to seek congressional approval for any further action in Iran failed to advance in the Senate, five days after the U.S. and Israel launched a military campaign against the Iranian regime.

The vote was 47-53, largely along party lines. If passed, the resolution would have blocked further U.S. military action in Iran without congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Act. That legislation passed during the Vietnam War to give Congress a legal check on executive war authority. The 1973 act also requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces into hostilities and to end the deployment within 60 days unless Congress authorizes or extends it.

The House is expected to vote on a similar measure on Thursday.

Democrats argue that Congress needs to reassert its authority to declare war and rein in President Trump's ability to act unilaterally, with some senators calling the strikes illegal.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who serves on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is among the Democrats pushing for Congress to restrain Trump from further action.

"Trump is lying to the American people as he launches an illegal, regime-change war against Iran," Van Hollen said in a statement released ahead of the vote. "This is endangering American lives and has already resulted in mass civilian casualties. This is not making us safer and only damages the U.S. and our interests."...

One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), voted with Democrats and one nominal Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (?-PA), voted with Republicans. (We have to wonder again what kompromat is being held over Fetterman and/or his immigrant wife, and/or what damage was done to his brain from the strokes he suffered to turn a Bernie Sanders- endorsed progressive into the party's current Sinemanchin.)

The House vote today is expected to fail in the MAGAt Republican-controlled House.

(Photo:  MAGAt Republican Sens. Barrasso (WY), Thune (SD), and Scott (SC) yesterday / Scott Applewhite, AP)

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled that several key pieces of the massive bill to implement President Trump’s agenda run afoul of the Byrd Rule and must be taken out of the package to allow it to pass with a simple majority vote on a special procedural fast track.

The parliamentarian ruled against several provisions under the jurisdictions of the Senate committees on Banking, Environment and Public Works, and Armed Services.

These included a provision that would have placed a funding cap on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which would have cut $6.4 billion from the agency by reducing its maximum funding to zero percent of the Federal Reserve’s operating expenses. The funding cut would have eliminated the agency.

The creation of the CFPB was one of the central reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act that Democrats passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

She also ruled against language cutting $1.4 billion in costs by reducing the pay of Federal Reserve staff, cutting $293 million by reducing the Office of Financial Research funding and cutting $771 million by eliminating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, touted the parliamentary rulings.

“The Senate Parliamentarian advised that certain provisions in the Republicans’ One Big, Beautiful Betrayal will be subject to the Byrd Rule – ultimately meaning they will need to be stripped from the bill to ensure it complies with the rules of reconciliation,” Merkley said. 

“As much as Senate Republicans would prefer to throw out the rule book and advance their families lose and billionaires win agenda, there are rules that must be followed and Democrats are making sure those rules are enforced,” he added.

Senate Republicans will need to remove the provisions from the bill or otherwise would have to muster 60 voters to overcome a point of order against the bill...

Had to really dig for some good news this morning, but at least the Senate Parliamentarian is doing her job (unlike certain institutionalist Senators who obstinately refuse to slow down the Senate).

The bad:

A mad king’s impulsive, unchecked decision on Saturday to send waves of U.S. B-2 bombers halfway around the globe to drop the world’s most powerful nonnuclear bombs on three targets inside Iran is indeed a perfect way to measure Trump’s success after just over five months back in the White House.

And by every measure, Trump 47 has been an abject failure.

One week after 5 million Americans flooded the streets for a massive “No Kings” protest, with his approval rating heading underwater faster than the next climate-fueled flash flood, with his masked-secret-police deportation drive starting to alienate his own voters, with gas prices and 20-something unemployment starting to soar, and almost zero legislation despite GOP control of Congress, Trump showed that even a POTUS who hates canines can still wag the dog.

It took another epic failure — the inability of any of America’s democratic institutions since World War II to constrain the war-making abilities of an “imperial president,” which is a polite euphemism for “emperor” — to give Trump this option: to try and reinvent his disastrous reign by picking up the phone and ordering death and destruction 6,500 miles away.  [snip]

The sober websites of elite mainstream news orgs like the New York Times and the Washington Post are already filling up with news analyses and commentary about what geopolitical strategy might have motivated this American president to bomb Iran — a strategy looked at and rejected by a half dozen predecessors — and to do so right now.

“U.S. Military Is Pulled Back Into Middle East Wars,” read the Times headline on one of the  worst examples of this genre; it was as if some occult hand had dragged the United States into yet another ambiguous foreign conflict, instead of Trump’s megalomania. My advice is to read today’s foreign-policy punditry with a jaundiced eye — or just not read it at all...

If you got the sense of deja vu from what you've been seeing and hearing over the past 24 hours that we're back in 2003 with a dullard Republican president who manufactured a rationale to attack a Middle Eastern country combined with a corporate media more interested in avoiding the underlying lies and pathologies than exposing them... you're not alone.

The ugly:

... ICE in just a few weeks has transformed itself into the closest thing that the US has ever had to a “secret police,” with more seemingly culturally in common with the Klan nightriders of Reconstruction than their federal agency brethren like the FBI or ATF. 

What really worries me about ICE’s collective actions nationwide, though, is bigger than any single raid or social media post — what worries me is that what we’re witnessing nationwide are not the actions of an agency that believes it will ever be subject to meaningful oversight or legal authority ever again.

This is not an agency that is treating members of Congress as if it will ever be held to account by the men and women who control its budget.

This is not an agency that believes that any of its actions on the streets will be subject to meaningful review by judicial authorities — or that any of its actions will be litigated in the courts.

This is not an agency that believes that any of its actions will be subject to meaningful review by the DHS inspector general, either for policy violations or criminal use-of-force abuses, nor reviewed by US attorneys or federal prosecutors at any level.

This is not an agency leadership that believes that anyone in government — at the Justice Department, the White House, or DHS — currently cares about public perception, misconduct, or violations of civil rights and civil liberties.

And this is not an agency that believes that Democrats will ever be back in charge.

That’s what should terrify us.

It does.  In their terrorist methods, their mindlessness, their threats, and their disregard for the humanity of their victims, these ICE/Border Patrol/DHS thugs are more akin to the KKK or a fascist secret police force than we've seen in this country since Reconstruction. They may think they're unaccountable, but we need to make sure they're not.