War with Iran

[Uncle Rico]

Trump warns Taiwan against declaring independence

I think that's a pretty clear sign where this admin stands on China-Taiwan dynamic

Xi played him like a fiddle.  I'll never understand why anyone negotiating with him just wouldn't flatter him publicly and privately.  Pump up his ego and watch the art of the deal breakdown faster the current economy

[Uncle Rico]

Prices on goods running through the Strait of Hormuz will not be dropping anytime soon.

https://bsky.app/profile/shipwreck75.bsky.social/post/3mlxsw6q2ik2r

Brilliant gambit, America! 

[Uncle Rico]

Expect more military action soon

https://bsky.app/profile/shipwreck75.bsky.social/post/3mlxsqfl6s22r

[MU82]

The latest installment of You Get What You Voted For ...

Farmers across the Midwest are entering planting season under mounting financial pressure, as the Iran conflict drives up diesel and fertilizer prices — deepening the worst agricultural downturn in decades, report Nathan Bomey and Axios Local reporters across the Farm Belt.

Why it matters: Rising fuel and fertilizer costs threaten to kill more family farms, drive up food prices and further strain rural economies already battered by trade disruptions, inflation and extreme weather.

🖼� The big picture: Mark Mueller — a northeast Iowa farmer and president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association — tells Axios that the current landscape is tougher than at any time since the 1980s farm crisis, when interest rates soared and exports plunged, triggering agricultural bank failures.

Bankruptcies are rising. Lenders are becoming more reluctant to loan to farmers.

"There's going to be fewer farmers next year than this year," Mueller says.

Farmers are grappling with a confluence of forces:

🔌 Skyrocketing energy prices triggered by the Iran war. Diesel is up 60% from last year.

🌾 Spiking fertilizer prices and shortages after Iran blocked shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. 70% of farmers say they can't afford the fertilizer they need.

🇨🇳 Disrupted export markets tied to President Trump's tariffs and Chinese import restrictions.

💧 Global drought and other weather pressures.

🌽 The crisis is hitting farmers hard across the country:

In Arkansas, energy and fertilizer costs are way up even as farmers are selling their crops for less.

In Ohio, first-generation farmer Michael Kilpatrick said his fuel bills are up from $400 to $700, and container costs have risen 30%.

In Iowa, farmers are dealing with a decline in soybean prices from $13-$15 to around $10 per bushel, as exports to China have fallen due to trade tensions.

In Minnesota, calls to the state's farm and rural issues mental health helpline are climbing.

For consumers, the crisis is especially noticeable with beef.

The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level in decades, largely due to global drought.

[Jockey]

Trump warns Taiwan against declaring independence

I think that's a pretty clear sign where this admin stands on China-Taiwan dynamic

The reason we are no longer a world power (even if you ignore we are losing a war with a second rate country):


Asked if he would approve a $14 billion arms package to Taiwan that has been held up for months, Trump said that's up to China.
"I'm holding that in abeyance and it depends on China," he said. "It's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It's a lot of weapons."

[MU82]

This informative article talks about how autocratic leaders depend on the "loyal losers" they hire to keep them in power. It mentions Putin, Orban and, eventually, America's autocratic leader.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/world/americas/actually-democracy-dies-in-hr.html?

Ms. Frantz sees parallels between Mr. Trump's presidency and some of the elected authoritarian leaders she has studied elsewhere. Although Mr. Trump did not create the Republican Party, he has reshaped it over the last decade into an institution centered around himself. And a number of his cabinet members and political appointees, particularly in his second term, appear to fit the paradigm of loyalists whose résumés would be unlikely to land them roles in any other administration.

Obviously, the booze-loving Fox News weekend host who now runs our military - and the current flailing Iran war - is at the top of that list.

It also talks about how ICE agents, who once had to pass more than two dozen tests to get hired, are now barely being vetted before being unleashed on U.S. cities.

Ryan Schwank, a former training academy instructor, testified to Congress in February that new cadets "are graduating from the academy despite widespread concerns among training staff that even in the final days of training, the cadets cannot demonstrate a solid grasp of the tactics or the law required to perform their jobs."

[Billy Hoyle]

Prices on goods running through the Strait of Hormuz will not be dropping anytime soon.

https://bsky.app/profile/shipwreck75.bsky.social/post/3mlxsw6q2ik2r

Brilliant gambit, America!

$4.92/gallon in MI for 87 octane. My brother said "that was my first $80 fill up" on Saturday after filling his his XT4. God Bless the USA!

[MU82]

Sounding again like a demented cartoon supervillain, Capt. Bone Spur posted a Lies Social rant in which he said Iran had better agree to his terms soon "or there won't be anything left."

Of course, tomorrow is another TACO Tuesday.

[TallTitan34]

Sounding again like a demented cartoon supervillain...

I think Roger Stone has to take the crown as the biggest cartoon supervillain in the Trump Cinematic Universe.

[Uncle Rico]

$4.92/gallon in MI for 87 octane. My brother said "that was my first $80 fill up" on Saturday after filling his his XT4. God Bless the USA!

Couple that with consumer goods skyrocketing, and it's a recipe for disaster. 

When we do a farm relief bill in the near future, that'll be on the taxpayer, too.

Don't think it'll get bad enough we have to do a stimulus check but we're probably closer to having to do that than we think.  Socialism run amok.  We need real fiscal conservatism.  Wish there was a political party that practiced it for all Americans and not just when it comes to minorities.

[tower912]

A party that practices fiscal logic, avoids foreign entanglements, without hating women, LGBTQ, or people of color?

I am intrigued.

[Billy Hoyle]

Sounding again like a demented cartoon supervillain, Capt. Bone Spur posted a Lies Social rant in which he said Iran had better agree to his terms soon "or there won't be anything left."

Of course, tomorrow is another TACO Tuesday.

Is he referring to his approval numbers?

[TallTitan34]

It's happening.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-settles-10-billion-lawsuit-against-irs/

[MU82]

It's happening.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-settles-10-billion-lawsuit-against-irs/

Yup. The Grifter In Chief has circumvented America's legal system to build an enormous, taxpayer-funded slush fund so he can hand out bigly bucks to his cultists and cronies.

[Uncle Rico]

It's happening.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-settles-10-billion-lawsuit-against-irs/

More of that fiscal conservatism and war against corruption.  When will the grift end?  When will taxpayers be spared the naked money grab of the current administration?  Simply shameful.

The fiscal irresponsibility and corruption of this war are something to behold.  Corruption and zero concern for the American taxpayer.

[Jockey]

It's happening.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-settles-10-billion-lawsuit-against-irs/

Is he paying off all cop killers? Or just cops killers who try to overthrow our democracy?

[Billy Hoyle]

Yup. The Grifter In Chief has circumvented America's legal system to build an enormous, taxpayer-funded slush fund so he can hand out bigly bucks to his cultists and cronies.

It's called "draining the swamp." Don't you know that?

[MU82]

"Everyone tells me it's unpopular, but I think it's very popular." - Capt. Bone Spur, referring to his unnecessary and costly Iran war.

He made that comment while showing reporters something really important - the grotesque, golden ballroom for which he wants to fleece taxpayers.

[Jay Bee]

"Everyone tells me it's unpopular, but I think it's very popular." - Capt. Bone Spur, referring to his unnecessary and costly Iran war.

He made that comment while showing reporters something really important - the grotesque, golden ballroom for which he wants to fleece taxpayers.

Ooh, more truth to power political speak from a BC.

[Uncle Rico]

Ooh, more truth to power political speak from a BC.

You can always tell who the alpha is when he has to tell you he's an alpha.

[MU82]

Ooh, more truth to power political speak from a BC.

Thanks. You're right about me being a Bold Commenter.

Sorry your hero thinks that a war polling at a 65% disapproval rate is "very popular." That must be painful for you. I hope he invites you for a dance in the ballroom.

[Jay Bee]

Thanks. You're right about me being a Bold Commenter.

Sorry your hero thinks that a war polling at a 65% disapproval rate is "very popular." That must be painful for you. I hope he invites you for a dance in the ballroom.

BC, as you know, your president is not my hero. Never have I voted for him.

Condolences re: Barney. I understand you're extra e-motional today.

[Uncle Rico]

Thanks. You're right about me being a Bold Commenter.

Sorry your hero thinks that a war polling at a 65% disapproval rate is "very popular." That must be painful for you. I hope he invites you for a dance in the ballroom.

Very rarely do wars in the early stage like this have such poor polling numbers. 

It's unpopular at home and abroad.  The costs to the American taxpayer will continue to add up and make it less popular by the day.

We haven't seen it yet, but it's also likely we'll see an attack on a population base popular with Americans at some point, too.

[MU82]

BC, as you know, your president is not my hero. Never have I voted for him.

Condolences re: Barney. I understand you're extra e-motional today.

It's sad when people die. But I understand you cheer the deaths of people you don't like - just as your hero does.

[MU82]

Very rarely do wars in the early stage like this have such poor polling numbers. 

It's unpopular at home and abroad.  The costs to the American taxpayer will continue to add up and make it less popular by the day.

We haven't seen it yet, but it's also likely we'll see an attack on a population base popular with Americans at some point, too.

From Axios:

Small business profits are sinking as owners get squeezed by rising labor costs and energy prices spiking from the Iran war, according to a new Bank of America Institute report.

Why it matters: Businesses with fewer than 250 workers created half of all new jobs over the past half-decade.

By the numbers: Small business profitability in April suffered its biggest decline in two years, falling 1.3% after gas prices spiked, according to the report.

Small businesses spent 31% more on gasoline in April than they did a year earlier.