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Most of the issues important to Republicans such as immigration, crime, cultural issues, and national security are well articulated by Mr. Ron de Santis of Florida, without the distraction presented of a sordid affair at a time of cost of living crisis for average Americans, says this report in NYT.

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Florida Governor Ron de Santis is critical of Mr. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, for indictment of Mr. Trump. Yet he also says-"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just can't speak to that." The Republican party for the most part sees the situation differently now. 

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"You don't have to vote AfD for what you want. There is a democratic alternative to the AfD." Julia Klockner Bundestag president points out that CDU like Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats in Denmark need to take a stand so that they reflect the views of ordinary people who see Merkel's illegal migration policies hurting social cohesion in Germany. She and chancelor Merz, finance minister Klingbeil of the Social Democrats, have the task of revitalizing all of Germany east and west, after the failed Merkel years. This is important for Germany and the world because of the failure of elites to understand the people and their struggles with cost of living, crime and migration, disinvestment in infrastructure that deepened the feeling of ineffectiveness, and other social trends that have disrupted the basic structure of society by 2025. 

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Differences over Gaza policy in the ruling coalition in Israel lead to the reisignation of the defense minister Mr. Lieberman. The result could be early elections which Mr. Netanyahu called "irresponsible" considering the situation in Gaza and Israeli security.

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The election win of Sebastian Pinera in Chile marks a shift in Latin America away from left parties. Economic conditions improved initially with the left parties in Brazil, Chile and Argentina, following currency crises and debt problems. The commodities boom helped the left party governments finance social programs which increased their popularity. The middle class also benefited with increased consumer spending and a growing economy. All this changed as the commodities boom collapsed and state finances were stretched thin in Brazil and Argentina. Corruption scandals, and decline in economic growth exposed serious problems in delivery of services, infrastructure and other areas which had been neglected. Voters decided to turn to alternatives and parties from centre right with Macri in Argentina and Pinera in Chile as a consequence.   The striking fact is that instead of shifting to the right leaders of the centre right, Macri in Argentina and Pinera in Chile have decided it is best to keep some of the best initiatives and achievements of the previous governments that have created a broader middle class in Chile and Argentina. Pinera says he will preserve some of Bachelet's initiatives in bringing broader access to education and health care. In this sense Latin America has matured so that the sharp conflicts have been set aside to set a more conciliatory tone and work together. Compared to Chile and Argentina Brazil is different in that corruption scandals affect most parties and there is a general loss of confidence in Congress and politicians across the spectrum. Brazil is looking at a situation in which a whole generation of politicians would have to give way to a new generation for the public to gain a renewal of confidence- so deep is the loss of confidence.  ...

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Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagan, after her first year at the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan was appointed by President Obama in 2010. Kagan talked about her experience at the Supreme Court at an Aspen Institute event. Kagan replaced Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens says Kagan has voted very similiar to how he would have voted on most of the cases. And Justice Ginsberg says about Kagan: "she has already shown her talent as an incisive questioner at oral argument and a writer of eminently readable opinions." Kagan takes writing opinions for the Court very seriously. She described her style at the Aspen Institute event as figuring out how to communicate difficult ideas to people who know little about the subject. An additional aspect of Kagan's writing is that she strives to put things using vivid and colorful language that sticks with people. She has used expressions such as "loosey-goosey," for instance. In her dissent on the campaign finance case she described the supposedly smoking gun found by her colleagues, as: "the only smoking gun here is the majority's, and it is the kind that goes with mirrors." The media tends to compare Roberts with Kagan, the two youngest chief justices on the court, both articulate and vigorous in their opinions, with similiar intellectual backgrounds but taking different positions. Kagan says the most valuable experience to prepare for her new position, was the year she spent as Solicitor General, where she was trying to persuade nine chief justices of the court why they should take a particular position. The difference now being that she must persuade eight justices. The most striking aspect of the two appointments by George W. Bush and Obama, with the absence of a retirement age for the U.S. Supreme Court- as in other democracies such as India- is that both Roberts and Kagan may well be on the Court for 25 years or longer. ...

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Treasury Secretary Yellen says on her second trip to China that she will make this the top issue in discussions, the danger that Chinese overproduction in green energy products will lead to the kind of overspill that happened for steel and aluminium where subsidized products drove American companies out of the market. Speaking at a solar energy factory in Norcross, Georgia, that was itself closed in 2017 and is back up again with the assistance in the Inflation Reduction Act for promoting American green energy manufacturing, Yellen said: "It is important to me and the president that American firms and workers can compete on a level playing field." Yellen's remarks on supply chain resilience- "China's overcapacity distorts global prices and production patterns and hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world. Challenges for individual firms can lead to concentrated supply chains, negatively impacting global economic resilience.”   ...

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WSJ tells the story about Biden being slow to act in 2021 and 2022 to close the Southern Border, without telling the complete story and all the facts. Biden did close the Border in 2024 by executive order- when Trump blocked passage of Republican Lankford's legislation in Feb 2024 supported by Biden to close the southern Border. No mention is made that Biden was faced with a once in a century pandemic, winning the fight for vaccines over skepticism, and on Feb. 22 2022 Putin launching an attack on Kiev, Ukraine, and negotiating to get the crumbling infrastructure of the US rebuilt, funds for CHIPS and Science. On top of this the Venezuelan economy completely collapsed leading to an unanticipated migrant surge. Only FDR and Lincoln faced so many huge challenges and tackled them one by one. Without these facts the result can be to stall the biggest boom in manufacturing under president Biden/Harris that America has experienced since the space race in the 1960's. ...

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Refugees in Germany are 3.48 million in 2024 at 4 percent of the population, government data shows. This is 60,000 more than in 2023. One third of them are from Ukraine and many of them seek a return to their home country. Clara Bunger a member of the German parliament requested the information from the government. Bunger says- "It's in clear contradiction to the misleading portrayal of an alleged 'national emergency. Such scaremongering deliberately distracts from actual social problems and uses fear to make refugees a scapegoat." This distraction from the problems of cost of living is why immigration hurts workers and families, why PM Mette Frederiksen, Denmark, PM Michel Barnier, France, US president Biden/Harris who negotiated the legislation with Republicans in Congress to close the Border are taking this important step to refocus on the future of America and Europe, and the world at large. ...

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In Nevada sell federal land to cut housing costs in 2025. Some estimates show that 1.5 million homes can be built on Bureau of Land Management land within 2 miles of Las Vegas city limits. In Nevada 80% of the land is owned by federal government. After the Mexican American War in 1846 Nevada was transferred to control of US government from Mexico to end the war and it stayed that way.

Us president DJT supports using federal land and so does his Interior Secretary Don Borghum.

DJT says he will “open up new tracts of federal land for large-scale housing construction, and you’ll get it for a much lower price.” He would “create special new zones with ultralow taxes and ultralow regulations,” to create jobs.

“We’re going to open it up. We’ll start with a small portion. You’ll get it going, and then we’re going to open up large portions of land.”

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DJT launched a meme coin on Jan 20. The meme coins have no economic value what value they hold are from their value as cultural items on the internet particularly social media. Mind boggling the president's coin soars to value of $7.8 billion and Melania coin to $800 million. WSJ says the market value of the $TRUMP coin peaked at $15 billion. Eighty percent of the $TRUMP token supply is from Fight Fight Fight and CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump organization, according to the website connected to the token. Terms and conditions prevent buyers from joining class action lawsuits against the project and indemnify the project against any claims. Bitcoin went past $100,000 after Black Rock and Fidelity Investments launched ETF funds based on Bitcoin. $TRUMP lost half its value when $MELANIA was launched, then recovered. It has high volatility and crypto is in the same position for Bitcoin, leading experts to say crypto itself has peaked. ...

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On his last full day in office president Biden says at a church in Charleston, North Carolina-

“We know the struggle for redeeming the soul of this nation is difficult and ongoing. The distance is short between peril and possibility. But faith — faith teaches us the America of our dreams is always closer than we think.”

We must hold on to hope. We must stay engaged. Must always keep the faith in a better day to come. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not kidding.”

(Biden is 82 years, DJT 78 years, Senator Bernie Sanders 82 years, and Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee 91 years).

“I’ve always heard before, ‘We’ve come too far from where we started.  Nobody told me the road would be easy.’ I don’t believe — I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me."

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Talks at the White House between Macron of France and DJT on Feb 24, 2025. DJT says Russian president Putin will accept European and American troops in Ukraine to monitor a peace settlement as a peace keeping force. French troops were offered for such aforce by Macron. DJT says he asked Putin directly this question and the answer was yes for a peacekeeping force to end the war. Analysis by The Times shows Britain and the EU are coming to terms with DJT policy to end the war and Europe shouldering its defense  responsibilities and costs because America has challenges in the Asia Pacific with the rise of China. 

To get an idea of China's resources and capacity it now has over 50% of ship building capacity in the world. The US is only now ramping up its efforts to build ships and increase the effectiveness and size of the US Navy, and a major defense effort is underway.

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Risk is inherent in investing. It just needs to be understood well and grasped. There is a lesson in here that some risk is necessary, depending on one's risk horizon and it does not have to be Argentine bonds. Argentine 100 year bond and US Treasury 30 year bond returns 2017-2025 show quite a surprise.  50% return for 2017-25 on Argentine 100 year bonds vs -10% on US Treasury 30 year bonds. It shows the nature of emerging market risk says the WSJ- political risk. At one point the Argentine bonds showed a 50% loss, yet investors willing to stick through the downturn did better than expected, much better. The recovery did not start till Jan 2024 though, 7 years later. In this case the risk was the pandemic in addition to political risk of Argentine earlier defaults but the recovery took place years after the pandemic declined and with the election of Milieu as president.

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US Vice president JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance and their three children are on a 4 day state visit to India, to New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Vance said- "There’s a vitality to India, a sense of infinite possibility,”  It’s a striking contrast with too many in the West, where some in our leadership class seem stricken by self-doubt and even fear of the future.” Vance says relationship with India will define the 21st century. India's pride in its thousands of years old civilization dating back to the Buddha in 2500 BC and the Upanishads, its history and culture, Vance says contrasts with Western countries that are critical of India while embracing the “same bland, secular, universal values.”   ...

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US president Biden will give his farewell address on Jan 15 at 8 pm Eastern Time. It marks a vital point in a five decade career of public service, unprecedented in US history. Its impact is huge coming at the time of Covid pandemic and at a turning point in rebuilding America's infrastructure. What Biden missed was that migration needed to be brought under control taking immediate action as a top priority in 2021, not getting blindsided by the fact that Republicans were using strong language and the issue had become politicized. Biden did this for tariffs with China in 2020 keeping most of the DJT tariffs, he could have done the same keeping the basic border policies of the DJT administration and negotiating with Republicans in 2021 when he was in a good position to have legislation passed. Which he did late by Feb 2024 with Senator Lankford and Republicans but failed to get it through in the primary election season, by then too late. ...

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Gerard Baker's column in The Times of London looks at the possibilities and the risks for the new DJT administration. This column look at the DJT pardon of violent activity offenders on Jan 6, and the use of the office of the president for financial gains through the issue of cultural meme crypto $Trump and $Melania. The challenge for the Nation says Baker is the precedent this sets. This also poses risks and Susie Wiles wisely keeps the narrative by controlling the Musk Risk Factor in the adjoining article from The Times of London.  The many sincere efforts for public service as shown in the Senate hearings for many of the nominees that received sometimes enthusiastic bipartisan support are put at risk by losing the narrative for cultural literacy and and building an economy that works for all the people under a new administration that will also continue policies for the infrastructure and manufacturing that were put forward in DJT 2016-2020 and pushed forward by Biden in 2020-2024. ...

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A shocking 70% of calories of American children and young people come from industrially manufactured foods and drinks including packaged snacks. A report made by a presidential commission led by Robert Kennedy Jr shows the dire situation for health of American children. The use of ultraprocessed foods and chemical exposure are leading to US children in 2025 being called the "sickest generation." The report assails a faulty medical system which invests too much in research on diseases and does little on understanding and working on prevention of diseases. It assails the "overmedicalization of America's children" and says this has happened because of the pharmaceutical industry's capture of the nation's biomedical apparatus and calls this a stark failure. It says this is a "critical policy failure" where corporate profitability supersedes the health of children. In mental health overdiagnosis and overtreatment are major problems. The report will be discussed at a president Trump event on Thursday, May 22, 2025. ...

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To make it possible to for the sale of Paramount with its CBS subsidiary to Ellison's Skydance for $8 billion, the company has stepped back from its confrontation with president DJT in a lawsuit. The 60's commentator Walter Cronkite was from CBS News, and Edward Murrow broadcast on  World War II on CBS News.  Somehow this has gone awry with recent coverage in 2024. DJT objected to CBS head Wendy McMahon's handling of news coverage on programs such as -60 Minutes, Face the Nation on Sundays, that he said was tailored to present Democrats candidate Kamala Harris in a certain way, that affected DJT's chances with voters. 

For the sale to Skydance to go ahead to Paramount which owns CBS, needed te cooperation of the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr. Paramount settled the DJT lawsuit for $16 million with Wendy McMahon departing CBS News, the money going directly to DJT Presidential Library. 

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The $17 discount for Russian oil to Brent crude is a result of the president's efforts with sanctions plus tariffs on China and India to cut oil purchases from Russia. This puts a strain on Russia in financing the war with Ukraine. Bothe China and India have cut purchases of Russian oil in recent weeks and the Indian refinery at Jamnagar no longer gets Russian oil, according to recent reports. DJT was criticized for his stance on Indian tariffs as inconsistent with the agreement with China on rare earths. It now appears that China and India have both agreed to stop financing the Russian war effort with big oil purchases and are shifting it to other places such as Brazil, Guyana and Canada. India plans large oil purchases and arms purchases from the US and this is part of the trade agreement being negotiated with India. About one third of the additional 240 million barrels of oil on the seas in tankers is Russian oil being stored for lack of buyers with total oil on waters at 1.4 billion barrels. This has led to a 48% increase in tanker costs to $125,000 a day. All this makes it harder for the Russian economy to sustain the war effort as the US pushes both sides to settle the Ukraine conflict in the 28 Points Peace Plan negotiated with important Russian negotiators in Washington DC over 3 days last week. ...

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US efforts to buy or acquire Greenland and Truman's offer in 1946 of $100 million. Truman's offer was made after the war in 1946 following fears that an hostile power could use Greenland for an attack on the US. Greenland was explored for the first time by Robert Peary of Bowdoin College and the US Navy from 1886-1902, in several expeditions from east to west and north to south. He was the first to reach the North Pole, and first to prove Greenland was an island by 1890. It is these discoveries that make the US the original explorer of Greenland. He received the thanks of the US Congress and his expeditions were supported by most of the well known organizations of the US, including the National Academy of the Sciences. It is Robert Peary's prescient insight- he was made Rear Admiral in the Navy- claiming Greenland for the US, was supported by Secretaries of State of the US from Seward in 1867 to others in 1900's and 1946, by Democrat Harry Truman, and today by president DJT. US Commanders inCbief said in 1946 that Greenland was "completely useless for Denmark," and was vital to keep the eastern seaboard of the US secure. It is also as Peary said important to keep the Monroe Doctrine and US leadership in the western hemisphere. ...