Source: SFGate
“The Hong Kong-based conglomerate that operates ports near the Panama Canal has agreed to sell shares of its units that operate the ports to a consortium including BlackRock Inc., after President Donald Trump alleged Chinese interference with the operations of the critical shipping lane. In a filing, CK Hutchison Holding said Tuesday that it would sell all shares in Hutchison Port Holdings and all shares in Hutchison Port Group Holdings. The two units hold 80% of the Hutchison Ports group that operates 43 ports in 23 countries. The consortium, comprised of BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited will acquire 90% interests in Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama, according to the filing.” (03/04/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/blackrock-strikes-deal-to-bring-ports-on-both-20201812.php
Source: The Reframe
by AR Moxon
“The fine art of celebrating while dissatisfied. Every win is a step forward, and every step forward is a celebration. Embracing the Better — a series about directional alignment.” (03/04/25)
https://www.the-reframe.com/defiant-jazz/
Source: US News & World Report
“Republicans in Congress are taking aim at four cities — often called ‘sanctuary cities’ — over their policies limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement with a hearing this week that comes as President Donald Trump presses ahead with his campaign of mass deportations. Mayors Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mike Johnston of Denver and Eric Adams of New York are set to appear Wednesday in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. There’s no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. … Courts have repeatedly upheld the legality of most sanctuary laws. But Trump administration officials have targeted sanctuary policies right out of the gate in his second term, seeing them as a key impediment to deporting people in the large numbers he wants.” (03/04/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2025-03-04/republicans-target-4-sanctuary-cities-as-trump-pushes-mass-deportations
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Trump vs. Zelensky: The Morning After | Robert Wright & Andrew Day.” (03/03/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68465
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann
“For the first time in years, the U.S. Congress is considering budget bills that could seriously rein in government spending growth. The big-budget news came out of the House of Representatives last week. The House passed its budget blueprint by a two-vote margin. House Concurrent Resolution 14 covers proposed spending for the entire U.S. government for the remainder of its 2025 fiscal year through its 2034 fiscal year.” (03/03/25)
https://blog.independent.org/2025/03/03/budget-battle
Source: TomDispatch
by Alfred McCoy
“In the weeks leading up to the recent presidential inauguration in Washington, this country and an anxious world expected many different things from what might be called (to borrow the title of the famed William Butler Yeats’s poem ‘The Second Coming’) Donald J. Trump. But nobody expected this. Nobody at all. ‘We will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley where it should be and where it belongs,’ President Trump announced to a burst of applause during his inaugural address on January 20th. Continuing his celebration of a decidedly mediocre president, best known for taking this country on an ill-advised turn towards colonial conquest, Trump added: ‘President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent …'” (03/04/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/slouching-towards-mount-mckinley/
Source: Fox News
by Grover Norquist & Alfredo Ortiz
“Now that House Republicans have agreed on a budget resolution to finance their legislative priorities, debate begins on the specific tax cuts to include in the final ‘big, beautiful bill’. At the top of this list is fulfilling President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated call to reduce the corporate tax to 15%. This tax rate cut would make the U.S. significantly more competitive and jumpstart our economy still feeling the effects of four years of anti-growth policies. According to an analysis by the Tax Foundation, a 15% corporate tax rate would significantly boost GDP, wages and jobs. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which took effect in 2018, reduced the corporate tax from 35% – one of the world’s highest – to 21%, middle of the pack. In response, U.S. corporations increased their domestic investment by an average of 20%, according to an NBER study that analyzed 12,000 corporate tax returns.” (03/04/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/15-corporate-tax-rate-25-small-business-deduction-should-trump-tax-cut-centerpieces
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The world’s largest iceberg has run aground in shallow waters off the remote British island of South Georgia, home to millions of penguins and seals. The iceberg, which is about twice the size of Greater London, appears to be stuck and should start breaking up on the island’s south-west shores. Fisherman fear they will be forced to battle with vast chunks of ice, and it could affect some macaroni penguins feeding in the area. But scientists in Antarctica say that huge amounts of nutrients are locked inside the ice, and that as it melts, it could create an explosion of life in the ocean. ‘It’s like dropping a nutrient bomb into the middle of an empty desert,’ says Prof Nadine Johnston from British Antarctic Survey.” (03/04/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20d1xp6046o
Soure: LP Alliance
“Building Maintenance is Woke.” (03/03/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUAUI-3x3Q
Source: EconLog
by Tyler Cowen
“In my reading, Pylos and Sparta, the polities visited by Telemachus, is what the world looks like when you do not have the critical faculties acquired by traveling. Pylos is the world prior to an understanding of options, as only Odysseus has seen war, anarchy, orderly kingship, and various polities based on intoxication. Sparta represents post-traumatic tragedy and intoxication as a substitute for ongoing conflict. Ogygia is the rejected and intolerable utopia. Sparta vs. Ithaca is one meaningful contrast, but most of all The Odyssey is a comparison between Phaeacia and Ithaca, so to that contrast I shall now turn.” (03/03/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/cowenodysseypart3.html
