The dock strike has started, threatening to cripple the economy; the Secretary of Commerce's response?

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'I Have Not Been Very Focused On That'

She’s probably been busy helping Pete Buttincheeks chestfeed his adopted daughters, but whatever she’s been up to, it hasn’t been the looming strike.

David Strom:

If the port strike drags on for a few days, it will be a huge problem. It will be a disaster for America's economy if it drags on for weeks. 

Yet our Commerce Secretary says she hasn't thought much about the impact. She is too focused on "extinguishing" Trump, I suppose, since two assassins have yet to do so. 

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The Teamsters are just demanding higher wages — that can be worked out —their real demand is the elimination of automation and modernization in our ports. We already have the worst, slowest ports in the developed world; the Teamsters want to bring us down to the level of, say, Sierra Leone. That demand is critical to preserving their featherbedding jobs, and, on the other side of the dispute, the need of shippers for lower costs and speed.

For decades, the union fought shippers’ efforts to introduce container shipping (vs break bulk shipping, which required the unpacking and reloading cargos by hand, resulting in delays that meant it took as long to unload a ship as it did to sail it from its origin port). They lost that battle, eventually, because the cost of loading a ship dropped from $5.86 a ton (1956 dollars) to $0.16. 95% of the longshoremen lost their jobs, but the expansion of shipping brought about by the lower costs created far more jobs than were lost.

That same battle is being fought now, and it’s likely to a long, drawn-out fight. The Harris/Biden handlers should be concerned, but apparently, they aren’t paying attention.

we dodged a bullet, apparently

Bonus reading material

June 10, 2022L A Deep Divide on Automation Hangs Over West Coast Port Labor Talks

I hate the pair of them, but still, I hope this is somehow something taken out of context

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(From earlier this year)

Biden/Harris: No More Aid for Hurricane Victims

DAVID STROM: You can't make this up. 

As Southeastern states were devastated by a Biblical disaster, Biden was relaxing on the beach in Delaware. He and Jill were enjoying a bit of sun as North Carolina, in particular, was devastated, with entire towns wiped off the map. 

Quite literally they are gone, along with an as-yet unknown number of people. We may never know the numbers. 

Before he went off to have his fun in the sun, Biden found time to send another $2.4 billion to Ukraine, and when he was coming home, he took a bit of time to tell the people of Appalachia that, since they vote Republican, they will get no more aid from the feds. 

I'm not joking. He did, although he didn't actually mention the political leanings of the region. 

Remember the East Palestine train derailment? The Biden/Harris administration sure doesn't. Since Ohio has been voting Republican lately, the residents of the region have been largely ignored by the federal government. It took months before a high-level official visited the region, and the administration blew off concerns about the health effects of a massive plume of poisonous gas released by the government intentionally blowing up the dangerous chemicals. 

Governor Ron DeSantis appears to be doing more to help the residents of North Carolina than Joe Biden, who can't be bothered. This, is despite Florida having been hit by the hurricane as well. 

Trump was down there. The puppets were … elsewhere.

Interesting Xs on post-hurricane conditions down south

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This one caught me attention, because I experienced something similar a few storms ago. Much milder, certainly, but I’ve since kept a modest supply of cash handy for the next one. I’m already equipped to handle looters.

After 116 days on the market, a 2% price cut

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29 Lockwood Drive, slashed from $5.095 million to $4.995. 4,566 sq. ft. plus an additional 1,587 sq. ft. for, it is claimed, “garaging” that will accommodate 8 cars. The house itself is outside of the flood zone — barely — so we’ll assume that your underground Ferrari collection will stay dry, maybe; not so sure about that backyard pool, but isn’t it in the nature of pools to be wet?

The synthetic campaign continues; there is absolutely nothing authentic about this creature except, perhaps, her 80 IQ

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not this one — this one's absolutely genuine. I mean the one below. 

This Might Be the Most Poorly Staged ‘Presidential’ Photo of Kamala Ever

Presidential candidates often seize crises as opportunities to showcase their leadership and ability to handle adversity. Kamala Harris seems to be attempting to exploit Hurricane Helene for the same purpose.

However, she so blatantly staged her efforts that they reek of desperation. Late Sunday night, tweeted that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on Hurricane Helene briefed her, that they discussed the federal response, and that she spoke with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper about the state’s ongoing rescue and recovery efforts. 

Of course, just like if you go to the gym without sharing a photo on social media to prove it, it doesn't count, the update from Harris from the official vice president's account on X included a photographic "evidence" of Kamala taking charge during this crisis.

This staged photo of Kamala at the FEMA briefing is a whole new level of poorly staged moments. You'll notice the intense look on her face, the pen in hand, a pad of paper, phone flat on the desk, and a lone earbud in her ear.

Do you notice what's wrong with it?

Our Department of Education building will be draped in black bunting by noon today

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"he took one for the team"

Israeli strike kills Hamas commander in Lebanon, 3 Palestinian militant leaders killed in separate strike

A Hamas commander who worked alongside Hezbollah and led the terrorist group’s activities in Lebanon has been taken out in an airstrike, Israeli officials say. 

Fateh Sherif, the head of the Lebanon branch of Hamas, was killed overnight, according to a joint statement Monday from the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet. 

"Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives. He was also responsible for Hamas’ efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons," officials said. "He led the Hamas terrorist organization's force build-up efforts in Lebanon and operated to advance Hamas' interests in Lebanon, both politically and militarily." 

The officials added that Sherif was "an accredited UNRWA member, and was the head of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon." Some members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency are accused of participating in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which began the war in Gaza.

Inching back UPDATED

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373 Taconic Road, $7.1 million, is under contract after 26 days. The current owner will make out nicely here — he paid $4.6 in a distress sale in 2020 — but his predecessor was not so fortunate, having purchased it new in 2005 for $9.350. Perhaps that poor dupe’s profligacy was the occasion for his later fiscal difficulties, but that makes no matter to this seller now.

I keep posting on the current owner’s difficulties with the law, and then forgetting I’ve done so. Here’s a link that leads to the others.

Pending on North Street

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560 North Street, a 1796 charmer in that 2+ acre Taconic-North Street triangle, was listed at $2.750 million 12 days ago and is reported as pending today. Quite a difference from an earlier attempt that began at $2.950 in June, 2019 and ended unsuccessfully December 2020 even after dropping to $2.795. I’d attribute the different result to the introduction of The Zebra, but apparently that poor creature was there all along, as the picture below, taken from the previous listing, clearly shows. Who can explain the vagaries of the market>

Owners paid $2.130 for the house in 2002 and performed some substantial renovations during their years of ownership.

And here's someone we won't miss, but it's a fascinating story of how that happy state of affairs came to be

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Israel killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah with 80 tons of bunker-buster bombs after spies spent years penetrating his entire network

The devastating airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the result of a years-long operation by Israeli intelligence that penetrated the terror leader’s entire network — allowing him to be tracked to his underground command center in Beirut.

The Israeli military then used 80 tons of specially designed bunker-busting bombs to blast through the heavily fortified hideout on Friday and kill the slippery Nasrallah — who has survived multiple previous attempts to assassinate him.

Nasrallah’s death was exactly what Israel had been hoping for when it launched a bombing campaign that day, the Financial Times reports.

Unbeknownst to Nasrallah, Israeli intelligence was well aware of the movements of Hezbollah’s leadership following years of hacking and surveillance work on the Lebanese terror group — which is one of the largest and best armed militias in the world.

After failing to kill Nasrallah multiple times during the 2006 war, Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) devoted itself to penetrating Hezbollah.

The Jewish state got its big break in 2012 when the militant group deployed its fighters to Syria to help ally President Bashar al-Assad quell an uprising.

Former Israeli intelligence officials and Lebanese politicians told the FT that the battle in Syria unearthed a trove of information from the otherwise secretive terror group, with Hezbollah constantly publishing information on its slain fighters that revealed their personal information.

“They went from being highly disciplined and purists to someone who [when defending Assad] let in a lot more people than they should have,” Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, told the outlet.

“The complacency and arrogance was accompanied by a shift in its membership — they started to become flabby.”

The new data allowed Israel to compile extensive profiles on Hezbollah’s operatives, including the top chiefs who would attend the funerals of the slain fighters.

Narrowing its targets, the Jewish state then began hacking into the terror group’s communication devices, with spies able to track down the exact movements of Hezbollah’s operatives — sometimes through their wives’ cell phones.

Israel’s spies also tracked Hezbollah leaders’ movements by hacking surveillance cameras in Lebanon, and even reading their cars’ odometers.

As a result, Israel learned that whenever the routines of the terror group deviated, an attack was imminent, Israeli officials told the FT.

That very thing occurred on Friday as Israel bombarded Beirut, with officials learning that Nasrallah was en route to his “command and control” bunker.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way; we lack the will, Israel doesn’t.

The Jewish state had been planning the attack for months as it developed bombs outfitted with timed explosions that would dig through the earth, allowing the next bomb to reach further down, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Unlike the US, which has heavy bombers and massive 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs for destroying bunkers deep underground, the Israeli military has only fighter jets — limiting the size of ordnance warplanes can carry.

The Israeli bombardment successfully reached Nasrallah’s hideout 60 feet underground.

Sad News

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One of the best. Kristofferson got sober and stayed sober decades ago, but he wrote Sunday Morning Coming Down before he did, and I consider it his masterpiece; in 3 minutes he captures the feelings of loneliness and despair of an alcoholic better than some authors take 300 pages to accomplish. Efficiency: gotta love it.

Great backstory on the song here

Kris Kristofferson Once Landed A Helicopter In Johnny Cash’s Yard To Pitch Him “Sunday Morning Coming Down”

Whatever it takes. The legendary Kris Kristofferson passed away yesterday at the age of 88, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest songwriters in country music history. Aside from being a legendary songwriter and country artist, along with a member of The Highwaymen, Kristofferson had quite the interesting life before country music. He was a Rhodes Scholar, an Oxford grad, a Captain and helicopter pilot in the United States Army, he completed Ranger School, seeming to excel at everything he put his mind to. While studying English lit at Oxford, Kristofferson began to hone his craft as a singer songwriter. And when he finished up in the military in 1965, he moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. According to an interview from Cowboys & Indians, it was a move that he credited with saving his life: “I think if it hadn’t been for Nashville. I probably would have ended up going to Vietnam, because I’d been in the Army. I was definitely not doing what I thought I was supposed to do. And I think I probably would have ended up a hopeless alcoholic or something.”

Kristofferson's cousin plugged him into the music scene, but he really wasn't having much success and took a job as a janitor at Columbia records. Working at the record label, he would often times run into artists like George Jones, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, but these music stars weren't exactly in the market to collect songs from the guy sweeping the floors. He later took a job as a helicopter flight instructor with the National Guard, but when he wasn't piloting down in the Gulf, he was still pitching songs around Nashville.

And he went to some pretty great lengths to pitch his songs - including the time he landed a helicopter in Johnny Cash's yard to try to get some of his demos in the hands of The Man in Black. According to Cash, Kris landed with a beer in one hand and the demo in the other, walked up to him half drunk, gave him the demo of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "Me & Bobby McGee," and left the same way he came. However, Kristofferson doesn't quite recall the story the same way that Cash described it. In fact, according to Kris, Johnny wasn't even there: “Well, I admit, that did happen, but that didn’t do me any good, landing on John’s property. He wasn’t even there in the house at the time. I think he told the story that I got out of the helicopter with a beer in one hand and a tape in the other. But he wasn’t even in the house. And I never would have been drinking while flying a helicopter.”

And apparently June wasn't home either... Kris used to give demos to June for Johnny to listen to, but unfortunately for Kris, when June would play demos for Johnny, he ended up throwing most of them in the lake. “She wasn’t there either... but you know what? I never was going to contradict either one of them.”

Either way, the helicopter stunt was enough for Johnny to take notice. Cash was a fan of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and played the song live shortly thereafter. …. He eventually recorded it, it became an absolute smash, and the rest is history. On an episode of The Johnny Cash Show, Cash eloquently explained what the song meant to him: “I suppose we’ve all … all of us been at one time or another ‘a drifter at heart,’ and today, like yesterday, there’s many that are on that road heading out. Not searching maybe for work, as much as for self-fulfillment, or understanding of their life … trying to find a meaning for their life. … Many who have drifted — including myself — have found themselves no closer to peace of mind than a dingy backroom, on some lonely Sunday morning, with it coming down all around you.”

Here they are performing together.