Friday, January 09, 2026

🎵 Good Night,, Irene, Good Night 🌙

ICE drive car & van through crowd hitting protesters—shift in reverse accelerate to hit them again.

"This woman was knocked over by the car," witness said. "I had to pick her up to prevent her from getting run over."

Bystanders then pepper sprayed by masked agent from behind car.

In response to the van speeding up toward crowd—someone ran after it throwing chains at the back window.

Local police confirmed that the vehicles were driven by agents with either ICE or the Federal Protective Service.

The incident is being investigated as a hit-and-run by the Hartford Police Department in Connecticut.
Kristi Noem says the police don’t have jurisdiction. Trump signed an EO giving the Secretary of DHS authority to make that decision. And their car was stuck in the snow. And the person who filmed that has been arrested for interfering with ICE. The sidewalk was also charged in the crime. But that made it a crime scene, so the ICE agents slipped away. Interest rate caps on credit cards were raised under Reagan, when Volcker hiked interest rates to double digits to end inflation. Credit card companies complained mightily, and got the states (not Congress) to, basically, eliminate their usury laws. (You can look up “usury.” And say “Hi!” to the ghost of ol’ Ezra Pound while you’re there. If you know, you know.) That allowed credit card interest to rise to 25% or more. All of this was a good 40 years ago..

Bottom line: Congress doesn’t write insurance regulations, and it doesn’t regulate interest rates on credit cards. The states do both of those things. And the POTUS has nothing whatsoever to do with credit card interest rates. Or whether the tide comes in, or goes out. Nor can he cut off federal funds on fake allegations of fraud.
In the ‘60’s the phrase was: “America: Love It or Leave It.” It’s déjà vu all over again. The Native Americans are on line 1. They’d like to have a word about this new policy. And the old one. Maybe Trump can get a court order charging Greenland with narco-terrorism. As we would have said in my misspent youth: “That went over like a flash flood in a Fizzies factory.” (No, I’m not going to explain it to you.) BOMBS AWAY!!! There are responses on Twitter that indicate Exxon is looking for taxpayer support. Nope. Exxon, et al., want a reliable legal structure and system to work in. Saudi Arabia nationalized their oil, but maintained an environment oil companies could rely on. I know families who lived in foreign countries because Daddy worked for one of the Seven Sisters (back in the day). If that was Stavanger, Norway, no problem. But in some countries, they lived in a compound, one actively protected by the local government, who wanted the royalties (ask Trump about that concept. He wouldn’t know what you’re talking about.). Exxon is talking about basic property law protection, the kind of thing we take for granted (which is not to say oil & gas law is basic, or simple. I mean “basic” as “fundamental.”) Until Venezuela changes their laws to protect Exxon’s legitimate property interests, no major oil company in that room is interested.

Which is why they aren’t in Venezuela now. It’s not infrastructure. It’s not a $100 billion taxpayer guarantee. It’s the fact the oil companies can’t spend money on a multi year investment without laws that let them recover their investment. They want the legal protection of sound property law.* Basic capitalism.

And Trump can’t give them that. Not without going full Iraq and replacing the government in Venezuela root and branch. But that would take years. He doesn’t want to wait that long. 

Not what Trump wanted to hear, then. But I haven’t heard about him nationalizing the oil companies yet. So I don’t think Big Oil is too concerned.

*As I learned in law school, like it or not, property law is pretty fundamental to social order, and so to government. And the most basic purpose of government, is to protect (and provide) social order.
Irene, good night.🌙  😴 
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1 comment:

  1. jim, some guy in iowa11:53 PM

    I hadn't thought to draw a line between Ezra Pound and today's 'philosophers' like, say, Jordan Peterson but it's there. No bad idea ever really goes away, it just goes out of style for a time.

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