Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – February 23, 2025
By Tony Wikrent
Trump’s assault on the Constitution
Friday Night Massacre in the Military
Joyce Vance, Feb 22, 2025 [Civil Discourse]
Reading
Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker on the responsibilities that came with playing the Thirteenth Doctor, advice for Ncuti Gatwa, and more.
A smattering of the egregious tap-dancing from the Trumpers to give Putin the big win they all want him to have. FOX: But fair to say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine? PETE HEGSETH: Fair to say it's a very complicated situation. pic.twitter.com/GyXUJQc4uJ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2025 FOX: But fair to say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine? PETE HEGSETH: Fair to say it’s a very complicated situation. Witkoff: "The war didn't need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. That didn't need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians." pic.twitter.com/ZimoQk7wbV — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2025 Trump’s special envoy to hell Steve Witkoff, real estate developer. He says: “The war didn’t need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. That didn’t need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians.
One key fact was absent from virtually all of the reporting around the astonishing events of this past week. It was scarcely mentioned in stories about the Munich Security Conference, the call between Presidents Trump and Putin, the freezing out of the Europeans, the jaw-dropping statements by US Defence Secretary Hegseth, the ending of cherished Continue reading »
Air Vice Marshal John Blackburn RAAF (retired) noted in his 2014 report on fuel security that Australia only had sufficient stores to supply service stations and hospital pharmacies for three days, retail pharmacies and chilled/frozen goods transport for seven and dried goods for eight. The social and economic consequences of such a collapse in our Continue reading »
. In case you want to solve the problem yourself, here’s a Python script yours truly made (assuming the utility function is of the natural log kind and with some explicit numerical parameterization):
Dastardly robots, unfriendly skies, and more from The Lever this week.
Here’s an executive summary for a potential primer on ZIRP. I invite you to share any thoughts or suggestions on Discord if there are areas that need further detail or clarification
A science that fails to reflect on its own history and neglects critical methodological and theoretical questions about its practice is a science in crisis. As early as 1991, a commission led by Anne Krueger—featuring esteemed economists such as Kenneth Arrow, Edward Leamer, and Joseph Stiglitz—highlighted a fundamental weakness in graduate economics education. Drawing from […]
Quick quiz. Suppose you read a headline in the online version of the Wall Street Journal (or NY Times etc) stating that, from now on, US Treasury bonds would be redeemed in crypto. Would your response be (i) That’s absurd. Either it’s April Fools Day or someone has hacked the website (ii) That’s unlikely. Surely […]
Despite a slow-burning start, once I got pulled into writer-director Maura Velpero’s intimate World War 2 family drama Vermiglio (winner of the Silver Lion at the 2024 Venice Film Festival and Italy’s Official Selection for the 2025 Academy Awards), I didn’t want it to end. Imbued with shades of The Leopard, The Last Valley, and Little Women, this tale is set in an Alpine hamlet in Italy. Save for the occasional sound of a passing aircraft, the war doesn’t intrude directly into on the villagers’ daily life. That said, the effects of war are palpable; food is scarce (money even more so), infant mortality is high, and most of the young men are off serving at the front. Valpero frames her narrative around a year or so in the life of the populous Graziadei family. The patriarch is Caesare (Tommaso Ragno). Caesar is the village’s resident schoolteacher, conducting general ed classes for children and reading classes for illiterate adults.
I highly recommend this piece (gift link) by Adam Serwer about the right wing crusade against DEI. It’s the best thing I’ve read on the subject and it’s profoundly distressing: The nostalgia behind the slogan “Make America great again” has always provoked the obvious questions of just when America was great, and for whom. Early in the second Trump administration, we are getting the answer. In August, speaking with someone he believed to be a sympathetic donor, one of the Project 2025 architects, Russell Vought, said that a goal of the next Trump administration would be to “get us off of multiculturalism” in America. Now Vought is running Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, and the plan to end multiculturalism is proceeding apace. Much of the chaos, lawlessness, and destruction of the past few weeks can be understood as part of the administration’s central ideological project: restoring America’s traditional hierarchies of race and gender.
A world run by strongmen: This is the best summary of the current geopolitical situation I have seen. Sir Alex Younger was head of MI6 between 2014 and 2020. Really worth watching. pic.twitter.com/XByVBAd5Ri — Nicholas Drummond (@nicholadrummond) February 21, 2025 I found that very interesting. If you can take 7 minutes to listen I think you’ll find it interesting too. And, I’m afraid I have to agree with him although I have zero faith that Donald Trump can see the forest for the trees. Younger’s description of what Trump did with Afghanistan is right on and since he is incapable of ever learning anything, I just can’t see how this ends up any better unless it’s by accident. I’ve been writing about the inevitability of a new arms race ever since Donald Trump won the election in 2016. It was clear that he was so stupid that he was prepared to tear up the existing world order without any thought for the future except his own ego being stroked. It’s happening now and these escalations almost always result in somebody deciding to use their toys. Here’s the whole interview:
Trump wants those minerals and he wants them now. He believes he will be hailed as a big hero, the prince of peace, if he obtains Ukrainian natural resources as compensation for the U.S. military support and then forces them to surrender to the murderous dictator who invaded them. He really believes that. His latest “negotiating” tactic is to issue a threat to Ukraine that if it doesn’t turn these resources over, Trump’s personal executioner will cut them off: U.S. negotiators pressing Kyiv for access to Ukraine’s critical minerals have raised the possibility of cutting the country’s access to Elon Musk’s vital Starlink satellite internet system, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Ukraine’s continued access to SpaceX-owned Starlink was brought up in discussions between U.S. and Ukrainian officials after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned down an initial proposal from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the sources said. Starlink provides crucial internet connectivity to war-torn Ukraine and its military. The issue was raised again on Thursday during meetings between Keith Kellogg, the U.S.
I’ve been wondering about how many federal workers might be MAGA cultists who are helping the DOGE crew come in and destroy the government. It stands to reason there would be some. It turns out that it’s a good career move. Here’s one in the Social Security administration who was willing to break the law for DOGE and got a big reward for it: Leaders of the Social Security Administration had just opened an investigation into a career employee they believed was improperly sharing information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team when President Donald Trump elevated the employee this week to acting commissioner, according to three current or former government officials with knowledge of the events. The agency’s leadership team became aware in recent weeks that Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office who had been unknown to many of them,was sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, according to the three, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal matter.
TRUMP: The NCAA has complied immediately. That's good. But I understand Maine — is the governor of Maine here? JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply? JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any… pic.twitter.com/TLaNe8se7Z — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2025 Thank you Janet Mills: TRUMP: The NCAA has complied immediately. That’s good. But I understand Maine — is the governor of Maine here? JANET MILLS: Yeah I’m here TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply? JM: I’m going to comply with state and federal law T: WE are the federal law. JM: I’ll follow the statutes T: You better do it bc you’re not gonna get any federal funding at all if you don’t. And by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports, so you’d better comply otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding JM: See you in court T: Good I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.
VISION Australia is bringing its Seeing Eye Dogs roadshow to Coffs Harbour on 11 March. The free event includes informative sessions and trial walks with expert staff and Seeing Eye Dogs in training. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email...
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LIFELINE North Coast in Coffs Harbour will run a ten-week training course for Crisis Support volunteers from Thursday, 3 April. Through the work of these volunteers, the suicide support service has proven, overwhelmingly, to deliver life-saving assistance. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us –...
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THE first day of the new school year was a milestone in the journey of the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School (GGFS). Its first high school students settled into their new classrooms to begin their studies. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981...
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What it is ain’t exactly clear Axios reports that “some Republicans are privately brushing off a spate of raucous protests and town halls in their districts” in response to the Musk-Trump DOGE actions. The T-party, ostensibly riled about taxes (but really pissed off about having a black president) drew more coverage in 2009. One wonders what sort of media these protests against Musk-Trump will earn. Perhaps silly costumes would help? Republicans seem more afraid of MAGA than their other constituents. The question is can Musk-Trump’s opponents keep it up, remain loud enough long enough to matter? Staying power is the right’s strong suit. * * * * * Have you fought the coup today?Choose DemocracyIndivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink