OlDawg

Last time I was in Vancouver, it was almost Little China. I believe I read somewhere where they finally had to pass some legislation banning Chinese/foreign buyers. We used to go to Seattle Fleet Week, and book a salmon fishing guide in Victoria Island after the ferry ride from Anacortes. Wife loved salmon fishing (and fresh Dungeness crab LOL). Always a nice time in Seattle area—if you didn’t mind drizzle. Victoria Island is my second favorite place behind Switzerland. Seattle has gone to pot & Portland is worse. I probably mentioned before I didn’t leave anything on the West Coast that would make me want to go back.

Reason for my concern about Trump’s Truth Social clip. Living/working in one of the world’s largest refinery/petrochem complexes along the Texas Gulf Coast makes one seriously consider how much they trust a minimum wage rent-a-cop at the gate & on a golf cart toodling around. Iran blocking Hormuz wouldn’t hurt the U.S. near as much as getting through one of these jokes of security gates.

Diesel is a definite issue & need. It’s why I mentioned it as being something to watch in another post. I don’t think it will spike horribly more than it has in the last month or so. But, I have seen a steady rise. $3.49 is high for around the Ship Channel area though. More competition.

Diesel prices in Mineola, TX today are at a low of $2.99 & high of $3.09. You’re being robbed. Maybe you’d be more successful if you didn’t overpay for fuel? [Hidden Content]

Just to be clear, my question/concern about the clip wasn't about being presidential or professional. One need not destroy one's enemy. One need only destroy his willingness to engage. Sun Tzu, The Art of War The strike accomplished one of Sun Tzu's key principles. The clip on Truth Social just 'obliterated it' when dealing with religious radicals. This lesson should have been learned.

Let me put it this way… Would you unnecessarily taunt a sworn enemy who has an unknown number of people of unknown whereabouts in your country who are questionable enough the FBI puts out alerts?

Is it appropriate? Simple yes or no.

[Hidden Content] Okay. Who in their right mind finds this appropriate? If you find it funny, my next question: Have you ever served in combat?

Same. But not by public tweet.

Probably one of the few times we will. You also have to agree then that Trump—like him or not—was left to choose between bad choices. He made the choice that he thought was the cleanest, quickest way to possible peace and deterrent of a nuclear armed, terrorist supporting regime that wasn’t abiding by agreed to UN (not just U.S.) agreements. He targeted no civilians, and didn’t enter into any prolonged conflict—and I don’t think he will. I think he prefers to negotiate deals. But, you have to acknowledge the truth that Iran was lying about their nuclear ambitions as has been proven by 3rd parties. If you can’t do that, you’re just pissing into the wind.

What I get sick and tired of, and it’s getting worse as I get older, is 70-80 year old men with grudges and egos sending 20-30 year old men and women to die for their outdated grudges and oversized egos. I come from a military family. My father served, my brother served, I served, my son & daughter-in-law served, along with most of my nieces, nephews, and cousins. I’m just getting sick and tired of the politics by tweet, and juvenile behaviors. Too many young people are—and have been—dying. We all need to pick better so-called leaders. I dare say that most of the younger people (even those of us in our 60’s) don’t really care about the old grudges any more. We just want to live our lives with our families in peace and a level of prosperity. We tell our kids to minimize time on social media, don’t send something quick without sitting on it and thinking about it for a while, but we’ve got leaders conducting foreign policy with major stakes on the line by frickin tweet. Ridiculous and sad.

Not saying he did. Saying I would have been pissed and that’s what “I” would have done. Once you agree to a ceasefire, if you really want it, and you’ve basically already achieved massive success, then abide by the ceasefire. Don’t play 5 year old and say “I’m gonna take one more whack.” That’s amateur hour. On both sides. Both Netanyahu and Khomeini need to go. There won’t be lasting peace possible as long as those two are still in place. Too old school and neither will ever change. The Iranian people need to take care of Khomeini and crew (possibly with a little help from their neighbors), and Israel needs elections. While the Iranian regime is the weakest it’s been in many years is the perfect time. China nor Russia will step in to help. They see the writing on the wall, and neither have the forces in the area necessary to counter the U.S. at this time.

Just being in Cali hurts. And if in Seattle/Vancouver area, you better learn Mandarin.

Morning Joe’ stands up for Trump on Iran strikes and says even Hillary Clinton would have bombed nuke sites [Hidden Content]

I think he’s pretty accurate & probably privately threatened to pull support from Netanyahu. That’s what I would have done in the same position.

Your state tax on fuel is a lot higher and is hidden in the cost. What’s your local tax rate? Ours (Texas) is right at 8.2%.

Not sure what you’re asking me. Inflation went from 2.3% to 2.4% from April 2024-May 2025. Basically, non-existent.

I guess you’re discounting the fact that—with inflation at almost record highs in the last Administration (along with a union friendly Administration)—many union, hospitality, and grocery workers received very large pay increases right along with UPS, auto workers and others that increased the cost of doing business with human workers in perpetuity? Unless you’re a plumber, HVAC tech, mechanic, or skilled tradesperson of some sort, AI is coming for your job. Even the famous coders will be obsolete. As far as gas, I’d be most concerned about diesel. That’s what commerce runs on. Typical, personal blends should be down to around $2.65-2.75 after Labor Day when the summer blends aren’t needed. Maybe even less in the lower tax states. I also think some businesses are just using tariffs as a convenient excuse to pad profits.

Russia is—and has always been—a paper tiger. If people really knew what the U.S. has in their arsenal, they would not believe it. To this day, the U.S. can track any Soviet sub anywhere/any time & them never even know we’re there. But yes…I agree with your last.

I will throw my thoughts here just because… I honestly think Trump—for all his faults—is not a warmonger & doesn't want military conflict. In this, I think he’s somewhat similar to my old CIC (R. Reagan). If he can get a reset with Iran, now is the time, and he’s the person in the moment. He has the benefit of not needing oil from the Middle East as the U.S. currently produces over 2X what the next largest producing country does (Saudi Arabia), and almost as much as the rest of the world’s producers combined. The U.S. is also the largest producer of natural gas. We aren’t at the whims of oil prices due to ME conflicts like we used to be. I believe I also recently read where the U.S. still has the largest strategic stockpile of oil in the world (somewhere around 265MM barrels) as a buffer. The people of Iran need to make a change if they choose. Otherwise, it’ll be the same spiral. Good news is, the other ME countries are more supportive than in the past. This could actually work.

Can’t speak to Smurfitt, or IP as much. Did a few projects for Smurfitt back in the day, but don’t know their business that well. The paper business is very low margin. IP sold a big chunk of their business years ago to Weyerhaeuser. Not near the player they used to be. Kimberly Clark has overtaken them I believe. Weyerhaeuser is huge. A lot of consolidation in the paper mill business.

JCPOA provisions expired this year, and Iran wasn’t abiding by the stipulations even before Trump cancelled it. The Europeans and UN are/were just spineless & even complicit. Not saying the U.S. is totally clean. Our government has been meddling in Iran since ‘53. Heck, we even helped them start their initial nuclear program. (Eisenhower & Atoms for Peace in ‘57.) Many missteps. This latest strike wasn’t one of them. It may—I emphasize ‘may’—help start a clean slate. The date of the below link is interesting. [Hidden Content]

Religion

Lyondell Basell Houston has been basically shut down for almost a decade. They’ve had major expansions at newer polymer/petrochem facilities in La Porte & Chocolate Bayou. This facility was only kept running for as long as it was for feedstock for their primary businesses. They tried to sell for years. But, no one saw feasibility in trying to retrofit/modernize. Plus, the regulations imposed by Harris County & the Feds made refinery operations almost unbearable. Technically, the facility was located in Houston. The progessives in charge locally made their operation a living hell. Very similar to California. This had absolutely nothing to do with tariffs & shows the author’s ignorance of the subject.

Especially as easy as IP's are to track...