I still can't believe it
On yesterday's show, KT McFarland said that she's going to a wedding of a family member soon and part of the preparation is planning who will catch the bride's bouquet. Has anybody else heard of this being a pre-planned thing? Is this just a secret that you have to have girl parts to know about? I'm flabbergasted!
Just asked my sister who is the queen of etiquette and she says it's not true, or at least not always true. And also that the whole bouquet thing and garter belt thing (whatever that is) are done much less often than before.
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Just One Thing: Truckers and tariffs
Got a fascinating email from a listener:
I own a small trucking company, 7 trucks, 6 full time drivers, we specialize in hauling livestock, though two of my drivers haul finished good southeast and produce back. When it’s slow, I lend my drivers to work with my cousins who own a company in Denver that hauls intermodal containers.
Discussion with my cousins this weekend, almost daily, they get rate requests for inbound import loads, going from the rail to final destination, where after giving a rate, the broker comes back and asks if they can go lower, as they are trying to offset tariff charges.
They brought up this situation, three weeks ago, a broker asked for an “all in” rate, to run 20 container loads from Denver to a feed lot, outside Scott City, KS. These loads are 44,000 lbs each, require the use of specialized trailers to haul. After quoting them the rate, $2.25/mile all in, the broker came back and asked if there was anyway they could do it $1.50/mile, when they said no, that at that rate, after paying for fuel, drivers wages, ancillary costs, they’d essentially being paying them to haul the load for them. The broker responded, “maybe you could negotiate a lower wage with your drivers or negotiate a lower fees (fees charged to load the container on a chassis) with the rail road”. He openly admitted that due to the impact of tariff charges, they simply don’t have the money to pay standard rates. They know someone did do the loads, but three other companies turned them down for the same reason.
They brought up other import and export loads where they routinely are hearing from brokers that the tariffs on the either end are precipitating the need for brokers to ask US truckers to accept lower rates to help out US companies with tariffs. Even regular freight being moved domestically, we’re seeing freight rates dropping or carriers being asked to lower rates to offset tariffs.
My reply: Not surprised. Very interesting story in terms of economics. Basically, the final sellers are telling the supply chain that there is elastic demand and that they think they’ll lose significant sales if the price goes up even modestly. (Or maybe they’re just seeing if they can play that card and maintain their margins but I bet it’s more of the former since the “ask” is so big.)
Additional thoughts:
So far, the impact of tariffs has been modest but that's because so many of them were delayed. I continue to believe that the ability of the supply chain to absorb tariffs going forward will be limited and we'll see the price of a lot of stuff go up enough for the public to notice. And to the extent that people stop buying certain things due to higher prices that will have ripple effects in the economy, such as lower demand for trucking.
I could be wrong...but I'm not sure just how I would be wrong because this all seems pretty obvious.
I also note that between the tariffs and the federal government's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigrants, you'll see higher prices where consumers (who are mostly voters) notice it most: at the grocery store. Trump's policies MUST make the cost of many fruits and vegetables more expensive. And plenty of other food items as well.
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Today's Guests
Shane Thomas is the founder of Integrity Health Advisors, my morning show partner for Medicare and health insurance advice and services for listeners. We'll talk about two health insurers who have announced that they are leaving the individual market in Colorado: Anthem and Rocky Mountain Health Plans. (Rocky Mountain is a subsidiary of United Healthcare)
Anthem, Rocky Mountain Health Plans pulling back in Colorado counties
Anthem, Rocky Mountain to exit Colorado's individual insurance market | 9news.com
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Trey Gowdy is a former prosecutor and former member of Congress from South Carolina who served as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Trey now has his own excellent Sunday evening show on Fox News called Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy | Fox News and is a best-selling author. His first book was non-fiction, roughly in the category of self-help and career advice. His latest, The Color of Death, is a crime thriller. A lot of fun with a great setup at the end for a sequel. I think you'll enjoy it!
The Color of Death: A Novel: Gowdy, Trey, Greyson, Christopher: Amazon.com: Books
Follow Trey on Twitter/X here: Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) / X
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Andrew Gradison is the Assistant Secretary for the Administration of Children and Families at the Dept of Health and Human Services.
We'll discuss Trump administration efforts to rein in sex education programs in schools (mostly in blue states) that they believe are either scientifically erroneous (about which I may disagree with them) or age-inappropriate (which I think is a likely problem.)
For example, from a Colorado "facilitator manual" for a class:
Page 128 (Lesson 6, Activity 6.5): “Educator Note: Over the course of the roleplay activities, students will be in a position where they must roleplay sexual pressure situations with classmates of both a different and the same gender. This may be awkward for teens who are sensitive to the suggestion of same-sex romance, for teens who identify as gay or lesbian, or for teens who are transgender or gender nonconforming. It’s important to address this situation directly and proactively.”
They started with CA but clearly CO is also in the crosshairs: HHS Defunds California’s Attempt to Indoctrinate Children with Gender Ideology | HHS.gov
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Your daily dose of stupidity
I'd like to share two stupid posts on X and my thoughts about them.
First, this:
And my reply, which I realize is a little nitpicky but I really don't like that level of innumeracy.
This one is more important:
The first tweet (and the NY Post tweet that it's highlighting) are not the stupid part.
My reply:
And now the stupid part:
My reply to that:
Here's the executive order: Prosecuting Burning of The American Flag – The White House
Basically it says "we know that flag-burning is protected speech so we're going to have the federal government use its resources to see if any episode of flag burning might have infringed on any state or local law and then we'll pressure state or local law enforcement to prosecute." It's an insane waste of government resources on an issue that nobody has been talking about and nobody thinks is an actual threat to anything.
I think this is two things: 1) Trump trying to distract from inflation caused by tariffs and 2) Trump trying to motivate the MAGA base to turn out in next year's midterms because MAGA is famous for not showing up in midterms, but rather only when Trump himself is on the ballot.
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Other Stuff
State Sen Robert Rodriguez got a TERRIBLE bill passed last year and tried to make it worse (or at least not better) in the special session. The bill is a perfect example of why Colorado has fallen so far in ratings of business-friendliness. People with no understanding of much of anything trying to regulate a very complex issue: Artificial intelligence bill gutted by Colorado Senate as deal possible collapses - Colorado Politics
And even now the Dems are looking to raise taxes to subsidize health care for illegal aliens. This tells you exactly how unafraid they are of losing an election in this deep blue state: Day Five of Special Session: Colorado legislature moves key measures forward - Colorado Politics
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This frustrates me: Colorado tax cuts: What Trump's "big, beautiful bill" means for every county - Axios Denver
Here's the study the reporter is referencing: OBBBA Average Tax Cuts by State & County Map | Tax Foundation
Why does it frustrate me? Because the reporter does not make clear that the tax benefits as described in the bill are not compared with current tax provisions, most of which (at least for individual income tax) benefit lower-income earners of tips and overtime, but rather with the assumption of the 2017 tax cuts going away and nearly 2/3 of the country getting a tax hike.
The way the reporter covers it, people will think that the BBB massively benefits upper-income earners compared to current tax rates and provisions which is not true. (There are benefits in the BBB for businesses that will likely flow through more to higher earners than to lower-earners.)
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So now we're going to dig into his birthday cards? House Oversight subpoenas Epstein estate, including for any ‘client list’ - The Washington Post
Can you imagine the Dems on the committee leaking the name of any prominent Republican who made the mistake of wishing Epstein a happy birthday, or the Republicans doing the same to a prominent Democrat?
I thought we were done with the stupidity for the day...
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Given the high likelihood of the Fed cutting rates in a few weeks, this seems like a dumb fight. To the extent that members of the Fed feel that there's political pressure to cut rates they will try to avoid doing so. (I believe they should have cut rates quite some time ago, simply based on inflation rates.) I also don't like that he's doing this based on an accusation based on what's described as a "tip". So far there isn't publicly known evidence, much less proof, of any wrongdoing at all. I am not saying she did nothing wrong; I'm saying I have no idea but you can't go attacking the independence of the Fed with a reed as thin as this one: Trump fires Fed governor Lisa Cook
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I didn't get to the Cracker Barrel story yesterday so I will today.
They put out this note that one person calls "backpedaling" but I don't think that's what it is
Blog stuff on this story from yesterday:
Conservatives are freaking out over Cracker Barrel's new logo (and, to a lesser extent, their updated decor) calling it "woke". But what about it is woke? Can't a brand that's having trouble try something new without being accused of some underlying political malady?
This, along with the hubbub over the Minnesota Vikings adding male cheerleaders (far from the first team to do so) is the subject of my recent Substack:
The new snowflakes - by Ross Kaminsky - The Ross Report
I hope you'll read and subscribe (for free!)
One other article on the subject here; there are several linked in my Substack: Cracker Barrel Didn't 'Go Woke.' It Just Went Broke.
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Can't it be OK to be hot? Why Sydney Sweeney’s Body Is Causing a Total Meltdown
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Nerdy (about energy) and very important: Fessing Up - Doomberg
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I watched an enjoyable movie (on Netflix) yesterday called "The Six Triple Eight". It's a Tyler Perry film about the only group of non-white American women to serve overseas in World War II. They were intentionally given what the Army thought was an impossible task, assuming that if the "regular Army" couldn't solve the problem, there was no way a bunch of black women would. The (racist) generals (which certainly were not all of them) were quite wrong, of course.
The Six Triple Eight - Wikipedia
Charity Adams Earley - Wikipedia
Fort Lee (military base) - Wikipedia
An interesting note: When the Biden administration went on a military base renaming campaign, working to get rid of base names that honor Confederates, they changed the name of Virginia's Fort Lee to Fort Gregg-Adams, the Adams part being the black female officer in the WAC and who led the 6888. The Trump administration undid those changes but, apparently sensitive to the idea of replacing a black woman with a white slaveholder, announced that the "Lee" in the name of the base they renamed back to Fort Lee was for a different Lee, a black "Buffalo soldier" who won the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.
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Unsurprising, and representing a critical challenge for the nation. We cannot have a situation where huge numbers of young adults can't find jobs. Stanford study: AI threatens entry-level jobs
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I don't golf but I like this story: Tommy Fleetwood: The Golfer Who Never Wins Finally Snapped His Streak—and Made Himself $10 Million - WSJ
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Top dogs, including in an undesirable category:
The top dog breeds in different U.S. states
The Most Common Shelter Dog Breeds in Every Major U.S. City - Hartley Law Firm
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Trump should stay out of this: Donald Trump threatens 'harsh measures' if Tina Peters not freed
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Don't shower (or even wash your hands) during a thunderstorm: Why You Should Never Shower During a Thunderstorm — Best Life
p.s. The odds that I'll obey this warning are vanishingly small
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Today's Videos
Seen it a dozen times and still one of my favorites:
Now you know why the Internet is down