Headlines

German court ruling could tear EU apart, warns senior judge

NFL condemns racism, says ‘we were wrong’ not listening to player protests

National Guard told NOT to carry guns ...

Poll: More people blame protesters for violence than police

Facebook, Instagram join Twitter in removing Trump campaign videos over copyright complaints

Job gains narrow the White House vision for coronavirus relief, but Dems still want to go big

Looters in $350,000 Rolls Royce rob again ...

Nolte: Polls show Trump’s re-election numbers trending the wrong way

D.C. government dubs intersection where police cleared peaceful protesters ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’

Denver police ordered to stop using tear gas an plastic bullies In protests

Republican senator berates President, compares him to Hillary ...

Democrat senators kneel during moment of silence for George Floyd

Today’s Poser

Kind liberal readers: How many additional coronavirus deaths would be tolerable during a possible second pandemic wave this Fall ... if this meant that Trump would not get re-elected?

(Poser inspired by NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s similar question on how many deaths are acceptable to get the economy back growing.)

Obvious Truth

President Trump faces an impossible task — saving tens of thousands of American lives from the coronavirus ... yet keeping his country from falling into a depression ... while, at the same time, being second-guessed and hectored by the political and media jackals on the left. If the Orangeman can pull off this minor miracle, he may not only deserve re-election but perhaps even sainthood.

Today’s Poser

How many more American COVID-19 deaths would the Democrats tolerate if such deaths would guarantee that Trump would not be re-elected in November?

Headlines

Mnuchin predicts “gigantic’ fourth quarter after coronavirus rebound

Coronavirus live updates, New York cases surge, Trump leans toward banning buybacks for bailouts

National Guard chief sees ‘tens of thousands’ deployed ...

‘Chloroquine’: Very exciting ... known as effective treatment against coronavirus — since 2005

Almost overnight New York City’s booming economy sent into chaos

Trump wants to send $1,000 to adults, $500 to kids in coronavirus stimulus bill, Mnuchin says

Testing chaos continues ... New York cases double overnight ..

Wat? Ilhan Omar lauds Trump’s ‘incredible’ response to coronavirus

Recording shows Senate Intel chair warned of coronavirus disruption in private weeks ahead of time

Three pillars of Trump’s case for re-election are collapsing all at once

Factory Index slumps most on record ...

Tulsi drops out, endorses *Biden*

Meteor Hit

64% of New Hampshire Democrats would wish a meteor hitting the Earth ... killing us all ... rather than having Trump re-elected in November. 

See: Rolling Stone Article. 

Wow! Talk about derangement!

(And someone’s willing to spend two billion dollars to stop Trump.)

Headlines

Trump EPA curbs water protections

Coronavirus cases rise to more than 650 worldwide as infection spreads to new countries

Poll: 72% want witnesses ...

Boris says UK has crossed the ‘Brexit finished line’ as bill passes

China quarantines major city in attempt to contain coronavirus outbreak

Junk debt hit new record, posing elevated default risks, Moody says

Giuliani claims he has goods on Biden, threatens to go public ...

Donald Trump to become first U.S. president to speak at March for Life

Judge: No keeping Trump out of Avenatti trial

White House has started work on a second round of tax cuts to boost growth, Mnuchin says

Trump’s re-election looks more like long shot than slam dunk?

Al Gore gushes about Greta Thunberg: ‘Nobody speaks truth to power as she does’

Phase One

President Trump has announced “phase one” of  a US-China trade deal ... despite the fact that he has previously stated that he wanted all the trade disputes settled at once. Yes, he has gotten “commitments” from China on big agricultural buys, openings for financial services, intellectual property protections, currency guarantees and other trade deficit reductions ... but we have seen most of this Beijing slight-of-hand before. Kind reader, for the actual details, see: NBC Story. The real issue is — will China put all these concessions into writing over the next few weeks in exchange for Trump holding off on some tariff increases?

History teaches me to be skeptical ... but if this first phase does happen, it sure helps Trump to get re-elected. In fact, it may well be that Xi has concluded that, despite all the US political cross currents, Trump is likely to be his adversary for five more years ... which could mean much more economic pain for his Eastern fiefdom ... unless he acts now.

Afterthought: Watched Steve Bannon’s Friday interview on CNBC. He said that the vacuum at the top of the Democrat primary race (Hunter Biden’s mess and Bernie’s heart attack) likely will entice Hillary and/or Bloomberg into the race ... and, at least Hillary would try to get to the right of Trump on China. If he is right, maybe Xi is reading these same tea leaves ... and now finds Trump to be the preferred alternative.

Interesting!

Headlines

Democratic governors sound alarm on Trump re-election

Trump calls Baltimore a ‘rat and rodent infested mess’ in attack on Rep. Elijah Cummings

Fed’s to turn over ‘highly-sensitive’ material to Epstein’s lawyers ...

Rand: Maybe Ilhan Omar would ‘appreciate’ USA more by visiting Somalia

Trump, Boris Johnson working already on U.S.-U.K. trade deal

Safety groups, want FTC, state probes of Tesla’s Autopilot system — and its marketing efforts

Police arrest hundreds at Moscow election protest ...

Levin: Nadler has ‘declared war on American people’

Covington student’s defamation suit against Washington Post is dismissed

Facebook bans sale of alcohol, tobacco between users

China could wait for U.S. election for trade deal ...

Bill de Blasio: Trump ‘will not be welcome back in New York City’

Monkey Puzzle

Man has devised a clever way to capture small primates. It is called a monkey puzzle … basically a woven web or hollowed-out coconut which is attached to a sturdy post and, inside, it contains some sort of a goodie. When a monkey reaches in to get this bait, it can’t withdraw its paw without letting go of the prize … which it won’t do … therefore it was captured by its own greed.

There is a seduction analogous to this for us humans, a supposedly higher-level of primates. It’s called public welfare. Once we have our grimy paws on this government give-away, we won’t give it up … even if it means our effective enslavement. The Obama administration is counting on this primate tropism in the American public when it comes to moving health-care insurance (Obamacare) into the hollowed-out coconut. It firmly believes that the Republicans can’t or won’t roll back this offensive piece of liberal largess once they reacquire the reins of power. They might be right.

But there is an even bigger irony to this monkey puzzle theme.  And that is that the politicians themselves are enslaved by this welfare gambit.  They must keep making these public handouts bigger and bigger in order to convince the voters to let them keep their public sinecures with re-election.

So you see, we greedy voters are not the only monkeys, it’s those baboons in Washington too who also can’t let go of a good thing ... even though it might cost them their country.