Wednesday, March 5, 2025
China's Out: American Company Taking Control Of Panama Canal Ports
(This may sound good, but could it be really, really bad given BlackRock's reputation.)
President Trump can probably chalk this up as a win: The American asset manager BlackRock, according to an announcement made on Tuesday, will be purchasing two key Panama Canal ports from a Hong Kong-based Chinese firm. The possession of these ports by a Chinese concern has, according to President Trump, represented a strategic threat to American shipping as well as to the movement of naval vessels.
The ports in question are Balboa and Cristobal.
A consortium of firms led by BlackRock is buying two key ports in the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong-based firm for nearly $23 billion after President Donald Trump expressed concern that the strategic waterway was falling under Chinese influence.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with a portfolio of investments valued at $11.5 trillion, has agreed to purchase majority stakes in ports on both sides of the Panama Canal from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison for $22.8 billion, the companies announced on Tuesday.
The deal would shift control of the strategic ports of Balboa and Cristobal into American corporate hands, a move that aligns with the Trump administration’s concerns over foreign influence near the canal.
This appears to be part of a much larger deal.
Beyond the Panama Canal ports, the consortium will also acquire 43 additional ports in 23 countries from CK Hutchison.
BlackRock’s Fink has aggressively expanded the firm’s infrastructure investment strategy, particularly after acquiring GIP in 2023.
GIP manages a vast portfolio of energy, transportation, and utilities assets, including London Gatwick Airport, US natural gas pipelines and data centers.
It's unclear as to whether this will be enough for the president, who has insisted in the past on regaining full operational control of the canal. There are still concerns about Chinese influence, not only in Latin America but worldwide.
BlackRock itself is an organization that is not without controversy. The environmental left doesn't like them in particular for their involvement in fossil-fuel development. They have also faced criticism for their DEI and ESG efforts. But in operations of this size, the number of American organizations capable of such a purchase may well be numbered on the fingers of one hand - and better BlackRock than China.
The Panama Canal has vast strategic importance for pretty much every nation on the planet. An enormous amount of shipping passes through the canal every year, not to mention military traffic. Since the canal was built by the United States at an enormous cost, President Trump has been advocating the complete return of the canal to American control. It's not at all clear if that will happen, but at least these two key ports will no longer be in direct Chinese control.
As of this writing, the White House has not commented on the purchase.
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/03/04/chinas-out-american-company-taking-control-of-panama-canal-ports-n2186268
Cage-Free Eggs Not What They’re Cracked Up to Be
Sick of paying too much for eggs? Blame the libtards who champion the alleged interests of chickens at our expense by demanding they be cage-free:
The current bird flu pandemic has seen nearly 150 million egg-laying hens culled in the US, driving prices through the roof.
Liberal California has been one of the hardest hit, where a 2018 law mandated that all eggs produced and sold in the nation’s most populous state be cage-free by 2022, coincidentally, the same year the current H5N1 outbreak began.
Cage-free does not mean ‘free-range,’ which is why cage-free chickens are likely at the forefront of the bird flu pandemic.
Or maybe not so coincidentally.
While a 2023 USDA analysis found no significant correlation between housing type and initial infection, it’s common sense that pathogens would spread faster in cage-free facilities.
As for the USDA analysis, Big Government studies tend to find the results they look for. That’s the point of the studies.
Unfortunately, what actual science denying liberals inflict in California does not stay in California:
California had been a top egg-producer, but such regulations forced farmers to flee the state and egg production has plummeted.
That didn’t stop the mandate from having a ripple effect across the entire industry, with eight other states following suit, and today 40% of eggs sold in the US are cage-free, up from just 5% in 2010.
Until the 2000s, most US chicken farmers had never heard of avian flu.
In fact, the previous century saw only three major pandemics.
Since 2004 there have been between five and 15 outbreaks (depending on how they’re defined) with the current one by far the deadliest.
And a third of the top 10 worst-hit states mandate cage-free facilities.
In fact, of the 13.6 million egg-laying hens that were depopulated in late 2023, California alone accounted for 30% of the loss, despite producing only an estimated 4% of the nation’s eggs
Turns out, social distancing is something governments only enforce on humans, not livestock.
Corporate posturing has played a part:
Before this year, cage-free eggs, rapidly becoming the industry standard thanks to California’s market influence and buyers like Walmart and McDonald’s pledging to go cage-free, cost between 20% and 130% more at grocery stores.
Not even the chickens benefit. Crowding the birds together instead of separating them in cages not only spreads disease but results in increased stress and even cannibalism due to pecking order issues.
Avian flu is spread by wild, migratory birds and enters a facility in any number of ways, from duck poop on boots to hitching a ride on rats.
While a 2023 USDA analysis found no significant correlation between housing type and initial infection, it’s common sense that pathogens would spread faster in cage-free facilities.
Critics also say such facilities are harder to clean; this may contribute to the spread, a January 2025 USDA report suggests most commercial flock infections are tied to farm-to-farm transmission.
Many farmers and advocates argue that cage-free conditions, where birds are packed indoors without bars, are worse for bird health and happiness than standard facilities.
“They’re more stressed in a cage-free environment because of the whole pecking order issue. There’s increased cannibalism,” chicken farmer Frank Hilliker of Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs in Lakeside, Calif., told the Post.
When it comes to the well-being of our feathered friends, it’s time to put trust back in our farmers and away from cage-free ideologues.
But at least liberals get a warm glow of righteousness when they see “cage-free” on their carton of eggs.
https://nypost.com/2025/03/01/opinion/why-cage-free-eggs-are-not-all-theyre-cracked-up-to-be/
Trump EO For Immediate Expansion Of American Timber Production
By invoking a National Emergency, Trump is shit canning all of the regulatory strangle holds the Tree Huggers have burdened the Timber Industry with over the last 50 years.
Spotted Owl is on the menu again boys.
BREAKING: President Trump just signed an Executive Order terminating all regulations & processes that delay the production of timber, lumber, paper, bioenergy, and other wood products. It’s time to cut trees and use them to make houses, & other things affordable again. “The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers.”
This is going to trigger a huge economic boom here in Western Washington state, Western Oregon too.
The timber Industry has been wiped out over the last 50 years in these areas.
Companies like Weyerhauser still own hundred of thousands, if not millions of acres of timber in both states.
Modern technology will replace the lumber mills of old and if they fast track the investments it could well be within a year, a burgeoning new Lumber Industry could see truck loads of logs coming out of the forests bumper to bumper again.
Small lumber towns will be revitalized and shattered economies will spring back to life.
It will also go a long ways towards preventing the monstrous wild fires that have become all too common over the years by thinning over crowded forests and getting rid of the fuel they thrive on.
Lumber prices will come down allowing contractors to start building more affordable homes by the thousands.
Win, Win, Win.
This could be bigger than most people can even comprehend.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/immediate-expansion-of-american-timber-production/
Stolen from Bustednuckles
https://bustednuckles.net/this-is-yuge/
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Offers Sympathy To Killer And His Family
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu stooped to a new low during a press briefing in the aftermath of a Saturday incident at a Chick-fil-A restaurant where an off-duty police officer took down a knife-wielding man who tried to stab two people.
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When DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi caught wind of their remarks, she took to the Twitter/X machine on Monday and wrote this:
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However, things got worse for Wu when she responded to all the criticism of what she said by doubling down while belatedly offering praise for law enforcement.
"It's unfortunate to politicize being at the scene of a tragic incident," Wu declared according to NBC Boston. "I expressed condolences because every loss of life is a horrible tragedy. I am also grateful every hour of every day for the work of our Boston police officers."
On Tuesday, a still-unamused Bondi announced that enforcement efforts would be stepped up in Boston as a result of Wu's soft on crime approach, which has included purposely defying ICE and allowing dangerous criminal illegal immigrants to lurk on city streets:
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Trump Administration Proposes Selling 443 Federal Properties
Across 47 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, including DOJ and FBI Headquarters, Nancy Pelosi, and Dick Cheney buildings.
In a blockbuster report from Bloomberg, the Trump administration has unveiled plans to unload a massive portfolio of 443 federal properties across 47 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico—properties bloated with bureaucracy, including the headquarters of the DOJ, FBI, and even the General Services Administration (GSA) itself.
The General Services Administration (GSA) disclosed a list of 443 “non-core” assets, encompassing a mix of prime commercial spaces that currently serve as regional hubs for various federal agencies.
“We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties for disposal. Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces,” GSA wrote on its website.
“Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
These properties span nearly 80 million rentable square feet—equivalent to twelve Pentagons. The potential sale of these assets could lead to more than $430 million in annual savings on operating costs, aligning with President Trump’s commitment to trim government expenditure.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/winning-trump-administration-proposes-selling-443-federal-properties/
Makes Me Wonder If Some Ukrainian Leader Didn’t Order The Hit
If it wasn’t a Ukrainian leader, could it have been someone here in the US that is heavily connected to the Ukrainian money laundering war machine? inquiring minds want to know.
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1896675673902833823
Is it just another coincidence that Routh appeared in this Azov Battalion recruitment ad in 2022?
I Survived Another One
And I feel so much better this morning. Thank you for the well wishes and the prayers. The kidney stone I passed was about half the size of a BB. It continues to surprise me how something so small can cause such intense pain. Not to mention, to be in such pain one minute and then pass the stone and the next minute you are pain free ... well, the lower back pain from soreness lasts for a little while, but it's almost like a switch has been flipped.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Kidney Stone Relief
Well, when my wife got home from work today, I got up to go fix her a glass of tea and when I got in the kitchen the pain overrode the pain medication and I almost passed out. When my knees hit the floor my wife came running into the kitchen trying to help me get to my feet and the whole time she was saying 'Let's get to the truck.' When you have a kidney stone, you need to pee all the time, usually just a drop or two. I told her I needed to pee first. As soon as I started to pee I felt that little chunk pass through and got weak in the knees again for just a second. It's done. Hallellujah. It blows my mind how something so small can cause so much damn pain.
Thanks to those who commented. It is done.
U.S., Ukraine May Possibly Sign Minerals Deal As Soon As Today
Trump wants to announce the deal at his address to Congress tonight.
The United States and Ukraine are reportedly planning to sign the economic deal that was supposed to be signed last week before a meeting between the country’s two leaders blew up following a spat in the White House.
Reuters reported that President Donald Trump wants to have the deal signed before his address to Congress on Tuesday night so he can announce it at the event.
The report cautioned that plans may change between now and whenever the deal is signed.
The news comes after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky released a statement earlier in the day in which he shifted his tone following the disastrous meeting with Oval Office last week which ended with Trump kicking him out.
Zelensky indicated that he regretted how the meeting in the Oval Office went on Friday, but stopped short of apologizing — something that Trump allies say the president wants to see him do publicly.
It’s not clear whether any terms of the deal have changed following the meeting last week.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-ukraine-plan-to-sign-minerals-deal-as-soon-as-today
UPDATED: Democratic Script Writers Have No Imagination CULT VIDEO ADDED:
They gave the exact same script to EVERY Democrat who wanted to lie/cry on Twitter/X prior to Trump's speech.
NEW: When I saw the first one I thought, well, that ain’t so bad even if the message sucks, BUT THEN:
I did notice that four of the lowest IQ's finished last. Booker, Schumer, Warren, and Hirono.
Star-Spangled Banner Made The National Anthem By Congressional Resolution
On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the massive overnight British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. After circulating as a handbill, the patriotic lyrics were published in a Baltimore newspaper on September 20, 1814. Key’s words were later set to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular English song. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889, and by U.S. president Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Kidney Stone Update
Still haven't passed this thing. I'll give it until tomorrow morning and then go to the back-up plan and head to the hospital. The wife dug through the medicine cabinet yesterday and found a bottle of Flomax from several years ago and I've been taking them also along with drinking lots of plain water ... yukk. I usually drink about a half gallon of sweet tea a day. No tea since yesterday. We'll see. I don't want to spend hours in the hospital.
The wife has an appointment to have a heart stint put in Friday in Ocala and that involves another long drive there and then back plus 5~ hours for the procedure. Not anticipating any problems. This has been scheduled for a while and this sort of thing is fairly routine now ... but nothing is ever really routine.
I Love J.K. Rowling
(Don't tell my wife.)
These comments were made in response to John Swinney’s (First Minister of Scotland) asinine woke comment that trans women are biological women.
https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1894823646486511841
Who? UPDATE: Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
They must have had LATEEFAH IQ tested and decided to replace her with Slotkin. Slotkin is a close friend of and was endorsed by Liz Cheney.
LATEEFAH IS OUT!
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