How Chinese goods dodge American tariffs

• There are big winners from this tariff avoidance. They include Chinese producers. However, the avoidance also generates a windfall for American consumers. 
• 
  
• 
  
  
  

SCOTUS, Bribery Instructions...

BIG Deal

US Supreme Court threw out a decades-old legal doctrine (Chevron decision) that empowered federal regulators to interpret unclear laws, issuing a blockbuster ruling that will constrain environmental, consumer and financial-watchdog agencies - huge win for corporations!

Jon Stewart Biden Trump Debate (I need to call a real estate agent in New Zealand)

Notes today

• The US Supreme Court blocked a Biden administration rule that would mean stringent new emissions requirements on power plants and pipelines in parts of the country to stem ozone pollution that wanders into downwind states… 

• Bloomberg: A wide range of US data showed the economy downshifting as borrowing costs stay high.

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

"Everything will be all right. And, even if it won't be, we'll have the consolation of having lived honest lives." Alexei Navalny

The U.S. House of Representatives just voted 269-144 to ban giving funds to the State Department to cite the death toll from the Gaza Health Ministry.

And this from the ONION

Notes today

• The world uses about 100 million barrels of oil per day.

   

• A wax sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in Northwest DC has melted due to the heat. 
  
  
  

• "Since the Paris Agreement in 2016, the world's 60 largest banks have provided almost $7 trillion of financing to the fossil fuel industry. 

• Scientists once thought the East Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough water to raise sea levels 52m (170ft), was stable. But now its ice shelves are beginning to melt.

• New AI data centers are coming online so fast that the electricity demand is straining global power grids. 

• The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for former Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu over allegations he committed war crimes in Ukraine. 

• Norway's largest pension fund KLP said it will no longer invest in Caterpillar because of risk that equipment sold by the US group to Israel is used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure, including in the Gaza war. 

• OpenAI takes steps to block China’s access to its AI tools..

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

"Everything will be all right. And, even if it won't be, we'll have the consolation of having lived honest lives." Alexei Navalny

 

How the Dash to Ditch Paper Money Created a Playground for Criminals

• “That means you can generate profits from crime and then ultimately get a state pension based on that income,” said Larson, the Swedish prosecutor. “That is extremely offensive.”

48C+

Agriculture cannot survive at 48C + air temperatures and ongoing severe droughts for very long. The bread baskets of #India have been hitting these temps for nearly 40 days straight. There is no #civilization without #Agriculture. Billions of people at risk #Delhi #heatwave.

Peter Dynes

@PGDynes

Notes today 

• National debt will exceed $50 trillion by 2034, budget watchdog estimates.

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Notes today 

• Elon Musk takes victory lap after 77% of Tesla shareholder votes back his $56 bn pay. (remember - One billion is equivalent to 1000 million)  
• Vanguard supposedly voted in favor of the package..

• Mexico just hit an astonishing 51.9°C (125.4°F), the hottest June day ever recorded in Mexico.
• 1.5c limit - on track..

• Overall, government debt worldwide is four times what it was in 2000. Joseph E. Stiglitz 

• The Supreme Court invalidates a ban on bump stocks enacted after the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. 

• “You can also commit injustice by doing nothing.” — Marcus Aurelius 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

"Everything will be all right. And, even if it won't be, we'll have the consolation of having lived honest lives." Alexei Navalny

 

Notes today 

• America’s 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs:  bad policy, worse leadership
• Return, for a moment, to first principles. As David Ricardo laid out more than two centuries ago and experience has since shown, it makes sense for governments to open their borders to imports even when others throw up barriers. Residents in the liberalising country enjoy lower prices and greater variety, while companies focus on what they are best at producing. By contrast, tariffs coddle inefficient firms and harm consumers.
• JPMorgan is warning that China has a near monopoly on many critical minerals…

• Bloomberg by Ewa Krukowska: This weekend’s European Union elections marked the end of the bloc’s greenest parliament ever after concerns over everything from climate policies to migration gave the populists a boost.
• The Greens, whose rise five years ago helped the 27-nation bloc embrace the world’s most ambitious climate strategy, emerged in all but tatters from a ballot that ended on Sunday. Climate-friendly liberals also suffered a massive blow from voters while far-right nationalist parties strengthened their position in countries from Germany to Italy. 
• A 2021 study found that the AMOC was weaker than any other time in the past 1,000 years. And a particularly alarming — and somewhat controversial — report published in July last year, concluded that the AMOC could be on course to collapse potentially as early as 2025.
• Tipping risk of the Atlantic Ocean's overturning circulation, AMOC.

 

• And this, from one of the greatest logicians the world has ever known.
• There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind. The world in which we live is not the only one in which we shall live or have lived. - Kurt Gödel  
• (his 14 points)

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

"Everything will be all right. And, even if it won't be, we'll have the consolation of having lived honest lives." Alexei Navalny

 

Quick Overview   is up to date

Research Finds a Shocking Amount of Previously Undetected 'Nanoplastics' in Bottled Water

• They found about 240,000 plastic fragments in a single liter of water, which is more than ten times the expected quantity..
• Unlike microplastics, nanoplastics have the capability to penetrate directly into the bloodstream through the intestines and lungs due to their extremely small size. Once in the bloodstream, they can then travel to various organs, including the heart and brain.