Chet Collins

Psaki Blames Inflation On Little Elves That Change Prices In The Middle Of The Night - The Babylon Bee

The White House is pushing back at the idea that inflation is related to any of President Biden’s policies.

Meet Steve, The Last Remaining American Who Doesn’t Have A Podcast - The Babylon Bee

UPDATE: At time of publication, Steve had announced a podcast about his experience being the only person without a podcast.

I laughed at the title, before remembering that I have a podcast.

Toyota, in Reversal, Says It Will Shift More Rapidly to EVs - WSJ

Still, it cautioned that many of its customers, especially in the U.S. outside the coasts, weren’t ready yet for a battery-powered car and might not be for some time.

All of these great promises with only one real, semi-proven EV on the road (Tesla) reminds me of New Years Resolutions.

I sincerely hope that these plans work out absolutely perfectly or we are in for a whole new scale of pain.

The Babylon Bee Presents: COVID Christmas Carols - The Babylon Bee

“mRNA In a Manager” - Remember the birth of the savior: mRNA.

An instant classic!

“Ave Moderna” - AAAAAVVVEE MO-DERRRRRR-ERRRRR-NAAAAAA

Just passed a woman FaceTiming while driving. That’s a new one for me.

Building Back Bitter - WSJ Opinion

Inflation turned out be much lower in 1983 than many economists had expected as the economy took flight, thanks to a combination of sound money and the Reagan fiscal and regulatory incentives to work, save and invest. Now Washington seems determined to run the opposite experiment, with easy money and President Joe Biden’s next big slug of inflation fuel, known as the Build Back Better plan, pending in the Congress. It’s a historically massive bundle of subsidies, distortions and disincentives to productive labor. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office says that if one removes the bill’s phony expiration dates Democrats have applied to programs they never intend to allow to expire, the result is an additional $3 trillion in federal deficits over a decade.

Fed Reinforces Plans to Provide Open-Ended Stimulus to Spur Recovery - WSJ

“It’s not going to be easy to have inflation move up,” said Mr. Powell. “We’re honest with ourselves and with you in the [projections] that even with the very high level of accommodation that we’re providing…it will take some time.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave this quote 12 months ago. He was saying it would be hard to get inflation to a target of 2%. We’re at 7%.

Not sure why we should believe his predictions today that all of this is going to magically evaporate.

Chris Wallace to Depart Fox News, Join CNN+ Streaming Service - WSJ

“After 18 years, I have decided to leave Fox,” Mr. Wallace said. “I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in. I’m ready for a new adventure.”

Understandable given the changes at Fox in the past 5 years.

But, CNN?!

I guess that Wallace fell victim to TINA — there is no alternative. What major TV news organization still has credibility with the public?

Overdraft Fees Enrich Banks, and the Biden Administration Wants Less of That - WSJ

“What I’ve been telling bankers is, ‘Do the right thing,’ because you want your reliance to be on revenues you feel good about,” he said in an interview. “And this is part of the problem with traditional overdrafts. It’s quote-unquote legal but it hurts people.”

This is a direct quote from the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

Does this dude have any idea how banks generate profit?

It took 59 years, but Daniel Craig did what Blofeld never could: he killed James Bond.

Now I remember why I never go to the movies.

No Time to Die

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I got a Tempest weather station as an early Christmas present.

Looking forward to installing it this afternoon and tying it in to CARROT Weather.

🌪

Joe Manchin’s Inflation Vindication - WSJ Opinion

In any case, prices won’t decline. The rate of increase may moderate, but many business executives this fall said they planned to raise prices more next year to compensate for rising labor and material costs.

This is the enduring problem of runaway inflation: the higher prices are the new normal.

The only question is when we’ll get inflation under control and stop the hand over fist increases.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

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U.S. Inflation Hit a 39-Year High in November - WSJ

The Labor Department said the consumer-price index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—rose 6.8% in November from the same month a year ago. That was the fastest pace since 1982 and the sixth straight month in which inflation topped 5%.

I hope the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for the spin the Administration is going to put on this data point.

The Stealth Gas-Heating Tax - WSJ Opinion

The methane tax exposes the contradiction at the heart of Democratic climate policy: The party wants to make fossil fuels more expensive to reduce their production and use, but it doesn’t want consumers to notice who is raising their energy bills.

It’s Time To Panic: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Omicron - The Babylon Bee

Omicron was ultimately named after its inventor, Bob Omicron, who works at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Seems legit.

Citigroup’s Jane Fraser Expects to Shed Some Clients for Climate Purposes - WSJ

Citigroup will first outline its plans for how to respond to clients in the energy industry. The bank will consider the project the client is launching, the commitments the client has made to greening itself and how important the client is to Citigroup.

Why would any company do business with such a pretentious bank?

Biden Rules Out Unilateral Force if Russia Invades Ukraine - WSJ

Asked if he would rule out troops on the ground in Ukraine, Mr. Biden said that is “not on the table.”

So much for strategic ambiguity. Of course, Putin probably has Afghanistan on the brain when calculating an American military response from the current Administration.

Why Washington Won’t Fix Student Debt Plans That Overload Families - WSJ

Terry Hartle, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs at the American Council of Education, which represents colleges and universities, disputed the notion that universities are cashing in on federal loans.

Terry should be fired for gross incompetence.

I’m glad that iOS 15 kept Featured Photos. I really dislike how Memories are all videos. I never watch them and it’s impossible to turn off that ridiculous music.

Report: iOS Users Who Opt-Out of App Tracking Continue to Be Tracked by Facebook and Snapchat - MacRumors

companies such as Snapchat and Facebook have purportedly been allowed to continue sharing user-level signals from iPhones, providing that data is anonymized and aggregated rather than directly linked to specific user profiles.

I can’t believe this news.

Simple solution: don’t install these apps on your phone.

Beautiful sunset.

Saule Omarova, Biden’s Nominee to Oversee National Banks, Withdraws - WSJ

Mr. Tester also pressed her at the hearing over remarks she made earlier this year calling for smaller oil-and-gas companies to go bankrupt to aid the U.S. in tackling climate change.

This nomination was bananas from the jump, and it only got weirder as the process played out.