TheZebbity

[DC_Draino @DC_Draino]

People forget that Gov DeSantis beat this guy in 2018 by less than 0.5%.

He would’ve been our Governor during Covid, kept us locked down, and the country would’ve never been the same.

The reason he almost won was b/c deep blue Broward County kept “finding” votes weeks after the election.

The vote fraud was stopped, DeSantis cleaned up our elections, and he won by almost 20% in 2022.

It’s amazing what happens when election fraud is cleaned up.

[Billy Binion @billybinion]

Sorry, I hate stuff like this. Ketanji Brown Jackson isn't supposed to be "the people's champion." She's not a politician. She's supposed to *interpret* the law, not make it. This kind of thing is why so many people misunderstand how our government works at a basic level.

[Cernovich @Cernovich]

If we had a third party (it doesn't work due to our winner-take all system, but anyway...), Thune, Cornyn types would caucus with Democrats to block a right wing coalition from forming. Europe is ground zero for this. More political parties = real Americans lose.

[TheZebbity @ZebbityT]

@Cernovich Insecurity and resentment as well

[DNI Tulsi Gabbard @DNIGabbard]

Today, on my final day as Director of National Intelligence, I’m releasing never-before-seen communications and documents exposing how Dr. Fauci provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, worked with politicized elements within the Intelligence Community to suppress the truth about his actions and hide the virus’ lab-leak origins, and lied to Congress while under oath in 2024. It’s time you know the truth.

https://t.co/3YJSstB7d4

[John LeFevre @JohnLeFevre]

Today, Neil deGrasse Tyson can go shit in his hat:

"The delusion is thinking that SpaceX is going to lead the space frontier. That's just not going to happen, and it’s not going to happen for three really good reasons: One, it is very expensive. Two, it is very dangerous to do it first. Three, there is essentially no return on that investment."

[tedfrank @tedfrank]

The SEC “protected” me by prohibiting me from investing in SpaceX for over a decade, causing retail investors to miss thousands of percent of returns that wealthy insiders got instead.

Warren wants to fix this not by deregulation, but by a confiscatory wealth tax.

[Howard Lutnick @howardlutnick]

I stopped by the new Reflecting Pool. It is simply glorious. There were a thousand people, everywhere, taking pictures and just enjoying its beauty. Thank you President Trump for restoring our city’s national treasure.

[Brivael Le Pogam @brivael]

Dans le manifeste "techno-optimiste" de Marc Andreessen, il y a une phrase qui m'a marqué :

"Our enemies are not bad people – but rather bad ideas."

Nos ennemis ne sont pas des mauvaises personnes. Ce sont des mauvaises idées.

Prenons Jancovici. L'homme est brillant, sincère, travailleur. Il ne se lève pas le matin en se disant qu'il va nuire à l'humanité. Mais l'idée qu'il porte la décroissance, le rationnement, la frugalité érigée en horizon civilisationnel est une idée profondément destructrice. Elle prend des esprits brillants et les transforme en commissaires politiques d'un futur appauvri.

Et le plus fascinant, c'est ce que cette idée fait aux gens qui l'adoptent.

Dans mon entourage, une grosse partie de mes amis est sur cette ligne décroissantiste, avec tout le package qui va avec. L'argent c'est mal mais ils en veulent. Il faut moins prendre l'avion mais ils rêvent de voyager partout. Il faut consommer moins mais ils ne renoncent à rien de ce qu'ils aiment vraiment.

Et tous ont un point commun : ils sont déprimés. L'un d'eux m'a même confié qu'il était sous antidépresseurs.

Ce n'est pas un hasard. C'est mécanique.

Quand tu crois que ton désir de vivre, de créer, de t'élever est moralement suspect tu te détruis de l'intérieur. Tu passes ta vie à t'excuser d'exister. Tu vis dans la dissonance permanente entre ce que ton corps veut (plus, mieux, plus loin) et ce que ton idéologie t'ordonne (moins, sobre, immobile).

D'où ma théorie :

Quand on pense quelque chose de fondamentalement faux décroissance, communisme, extrémisme religieux (de tout ordre) ce n'est qu'une question de temps avant que ça devienne vraiment destructeur.

D'abord pour soi. Puis pour les autres.

Les mauvaises idées tuent. Lentement chez ceux qui y croient, brutalement chez ceux qui les subissent.

C'est pour ça que la bataille des idées n'est pas un luxe d'intellectuel. C'est la bataille la plus importante de notre époque.

[Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec]

Mark Hamill called for Trump to die and then a Star Wars superfan beat an elderly Trump supporter to death on the street in San Diego

We aren't supposed to connect any of these dots though

[TheZebbity @ZebbityT]

@wil_da_beast630 @Cernovich An IQ test, and compared to Alito and Thomas everyone looks bad

[Cernovich @Cernovich]

Those Democrats complaining about the Virginia Supreme Court overturning a gerrymander that violated state law are the same ones who forum shop cases to a district court judge to issue injunctions against actions that the American people voted for in overturning numbers. Fake.

[Cernovich @Cernovich]

Virginia had the most democratic map in the country. It’s a 52-48 Democrat state. Dems get 6 seats and Republicans 5. The math LITERALLY maths. By any objective standard, you’d be in favor of it. Obviously the gerrymander doesn’t have anything to do with fairness. What a joke.

[Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson]

Republicans: We’re going to draw nice square districts based on population, not on racism

Democrats: *incoherent shrieking*

R: How do you draw districts?

D: Like this!!!!

*does crack
*smokes meth
*chugs 4 Loco
*rides in shopping cart
*gets Parkinson’s Disease
* draw districts

[Gary Brode @Gary_Brode]

The Strait of Hormuz Reverse Uno Card

When Raji Khabbaz and I were running Silver Arrow Investment Management, whenever we were trying to figure out why something happened, he was unsatisfied the explanation that people are sometimes stupid and institutions are often stupid. He correctly thought that people usually have a good reason (at least to them) for doing something even if it appears to make little sense to an outsider. More importantly, he thought that “sometimes people are stupid” was a lazy answer that was dismissive. As investors, it was our goal to understand what was happening, not to ignore it.

Recently, I’ve written that many of President Trump’s critics are making the same error. When Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that previously transported 20% of the world’s oil supply, the price of oil rose. Gas prices in the US have risen in response. Many screamed that this was an obvious move by the Iranian regime and insisted President Trump should have known it was something they’d do. How could he not know?!

In 2002, the US Navy conducted war games they called the Millennium Challenge. One side represented Iran. The other represented the technologically superior US Navy and included an aircraft carrier, warships, and cruisers. The US Navy side had a substantial advantage in firepower. Retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper used asymmetric warfare tactics to wipe out the US side in one day. Had this been a real fight, the US would have lost 20,000 servicemen. The result was such an embarrassment that the Navy re-floated the sunk ships, changed the rules of engagement to ensure a US victory, and started the challenge again.

These games were not a secret. They have been widely covered in the mainstream media and have been the subject of a New York Times documentary. Over the past two decades, I have seen the Millennium Challenge discussed in my daily financial news reading at least a dozen times. The event has its own Wikipedia page. Regardless of your opinion of President Trump, do you really believe that neither he, nor anyone in the White House, nor any of his military advisors, nor Secretary of War, Hegseth knew about this? I realize that many of you reading this have strong negative emotions regarding President Trump. I’m not asking you to like or respect him. I’m just suggesting that “he’s stupid and has no idea what he’s doing” is not good analysis. This is a point I’ve made in this space in the past.

Early in the war, Iran closed the Strait which placed economic pressure on the rest of the world. Despite the fact that it was Iran mining the Strait and shooting at the ships that attempted to navigate it, many countries expressed anger at the US and Israel. This was the outcome Iran wanted. Then, the regime decided to allow friendly ships to pass if they paid a fee. The fees were about $1/barrel of oil, or about $2MM per large container vessel. (Many of these fees were paid in Bitcoin, something macro analyst, @peruvian_bull, explained in an excellent post within the past week.)

This looked like worst-case scenario for the US. Iran succeeded in closing the Strait and causing economic problems all over the world, then found a way to profit from their own actions. Then, President Trump played his “reverse uno” card. He correctly realized that it wasn’t just the rest of the world that depended on free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and that it was Iran that had the most exposure. Iran is a big oil producer, and oil exports account for 80% of Iran’s exports, 60% of government revenue, and 25% of its GDP. It turns out that Iran has more economic exposure to this narrow waterway than anyone else. President Trump sent the US Navy to form a blockade. He closed the Strait himself ensuring no more $2MM/vessel charges and an inability for Iran to export oil.

Iran is close to filling its own storage. Once its oil tanks are full, the regime has two choices, either capitulate and come to an agreement with the US, or to stop producing from its own wells. The problem with the second choice is that it’s difficult to reverse. Stopping production on an active oil well tends to damage it and it’s hard to re-start later. Iran now has a limited amount of time to find a course of action before 25% of its GDP becomes permanently(ish) impaired.

While no one in the US likes paying more for gas, prices were much higher just four years ago in 2022 and around $4/gallon in 2008, 2011, and 2012 when $4 had more purchasing power than it does now. The US is a net energy exporter with an economy that has survived higher prices in the past. Foreign ships are turning away from the Strait of Hormuz and sailing to Texas and other southern US ports to fill up at premium prices. I’m not suggesting that this is great for the US; but rather, that the US is well-suited to manage the situation while Iran is about to be faced with a massive long-term problem.

Finally, Iran maintains control of the country using extensive human infrastructure. There are police everywhere monitoring protests, internet usage, the attire of citizens, and the hair of Iranian women. That level of control is expensive and the government just lost 60% of its revenue. I’m wondering how long they’ll keep doing their jobs without paychecks.

I don’t know how this conflict will end. What I do know is that President Trump and the US Navy have turned Iran’s biggest strategic strength into a giant weakness. Sometimes people do stupid things. And sometimes, we just aren’t seeing the reasoning behind those actions. Last week, one of DKI’s interns wrote, ”The bottom line is that (financial analysis) can tell you what the market’s pricing in, but it’s your job to figure out why”. Right now, the mullahs are facing a difficult decision. It will be interesting to see what comes next.

[Cernovich @Cernovich]

The pro-war people can claim they were right and the panicans were wrong again. The anti-war can claim their pushback helped bring the war to the end. Great. Everyone was right. Now let’s try to not lose the midterms.

[Eric Matheny @ericmmatheny]

BuT ItS bLaSpHeMy

[Latina with an A @babyat50]

@KeenanPeachy @60Minutes That’s why Catholic Charities was so helpful ushering in illegals. $$ and more parishioners. Catholic Churches were dying before.

[Mike Benz @MikeBenzCyber]

How The Blob says grace before devouring a meal