Flotsam and Jetsam - Jobs Down but Wages Up?

Capt. Ed at Hat Hair wonders how July Jobs Report Shows Stall -- But Wages Up? "The data tells us that wages are increasing by nearly 4% year-on-year and 0.3% month-on-month, both well above current inflation rates ... in the middle of a three-month stall in job creation. Is that possible? Perhaps wages lag a bit on job creation, but it's tough to believe that wages would still be going up at all if the economy had all but stopped producing jobs." zerohedge @zerohedge, "Today's jobs report is a consequence of the illegal alien labor purge: foreign-born workers down 4 months in a row, down 1.5 million since April. Native-born workers up 383K in July." JD Vance @JDVance, "I was told 6 months ago that Americans losing jobs and the foreign-born gaining jobs was an irreversible demographic fact. Turns out you just needed a new president and a new immigration policy." Quote Geiger Capital @Geiger_Capital, "Holy. Shit. I thought this was a typo… In the last 4 months, native-born Americans have gained 1.8 MILLION jobs." Sundance at CTH, President Trump Fires Commissioner of Labor Statistics, “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad — Just like when they had three great days around the 2024 Presidential Election, and then, those numbers were “taken away” on November 15, 2024, right after the Election, when the Jobs Numbers were massively revised DOWNWARD, making a correction of over 818,000 Jobs — A TOTAL SCAM. Jerome “Too Late” Powell is no better! But, the good news is, our Country is doing GREAT!” There has been something wrong with BLS for quite some time. If it wasn't political, it was just being an incompetent chief. 

AAA, Gas Prices Stay Cool As Demand Heats Up. From the Brussels Signal, In trade as in defence, the US is strong and the EU is weak. Hat Hair's Dave Strom asks if you Remember TACO? George @BehizyTweets "WATCH: Trump just hit a home run with his response to a reporter's snarky question. Reporter: "Wall Street analysts have a new term called the TACO trade.. Saying 'Trump Always Chickens Out on tariffs'" Trump: "You call that chickening out? Because we have $14 trillion now invested, committed to investing, when Biden didn't have practically anything." "You mean because I reduced China from 145% that I said down to 100%, and then down to another, and I said you have to open up your whole country, and because I gave the EU a 50% tax tariff and they called up and they said, please, let's meet right now?" That was spectacular." The high tariff rates were always a starting point for negotiations. From ET, Trump’s Tariff Revenues Smash Record With $28 Billion Haul in July, "Collections top $151 billion for the fiscal year to date as Trump’s trade policy enters a critical phase ahead of the Aug. 1 reciprocal tariff deadline." Sundance at CTH is gratified that Adriana D. Kugler Submits Resignation as Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors "President Trump will now get to appoint a replacement." Mark Tapscott at Wash Stand, GAO Budget Stand-Off: Why Is the House GOP Cutting Off Its Nose to Spite Its Face? It's what they do; I'm surprised any of them have noses at all.

Althouse was on a miscellaneous Trumpiania roll, with "Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity", "There is no precedent for politicians so aggressively raising money for their own entities when they do not have a campaign to use it for." "Writes Theodore Schleifer, in "Trump, Term-Limited, Amasses $200 Million War Chest for Political Ambitions/The money is meant to beat Democrats, but some Republicans worry it could be used to beat Republicans, too", "Elon Musk continued to bankroll Republican candidates after his public fallout with US President Donald Trump, donating millions of dollars to campaign groups gearing up for next year’s midterm elections," "Financial Times reports," and "[T]he White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away..." Regarding the last one, Katie Jerkovich at RedState elaborates Karoline Leavitt Reveals Details, Images About Upcoming Grand White House Expansion. "White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt finally revealed details and shared images about plans for a grand ballroom on the White House grounds complex, following President Donald Trump's announcement earlier this week about the upcoming expansion." From Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog, Trump Halts Biden-Era Texas Land Grab. Ace, Trump Signs EO Reversing Obama's Ending of the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, Marking the Beginning of Trump GAINZZZ, "America will no longer be celebrating weakness and slothfulness as some kind of special virtue of the very unhealthy," and The Climate Hoax Is Being Canceled with the EPA Terminating the “Endangerment Finding.” I'm sure courts will tie that up indefinitely. How dare Trump's EPA revoke an Obama EPA pronouncement? Is there anything Trump can't do in six months? From UPI, NOAA says Gulf of Mexico dead zone is smaller this year. "Area is about 30% smaller than last year, scientists say." That's the Gulf of America. 

From Sundance, President Trump Moves 2 Nuclear Subs Within Striking Distance of Russia, in response to Russian President Medvedev's saber rattling. I thought the point of nuclear subs was that they were always within striking range using long range ballistic missiles. 

Shipwreckedcrew on The Durham Report's Classified Annex -- What Did We Learn? "The details aren't firm, but it does confirm that the FBI ignored clear evidence of the Clinton Campaign's planning and execution of the worst "Dirty Trick" in U.S. political history." Sundance, DNI Tulsi Gabbard Breaks Down How the Declassified Documents Outline the Trump-Russia Hoax and thinks fn 109, Page 25 is particularly important. Vicky Taft at PJM, And There It Was — One Sentence in Declassified Docs Proves We All Were Censored to Protect Hillary Mike Benz @MikeBenzCyber, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT ***THIS*** IN THE GODDAMN CLASSIFIED INDEX THAT HAS BEEN CLASSIFIED FOR 9 GODDAMN YEARS **THIS** IS WHERE THEY COOKED UP THE 'CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE' HOAX THAT CREATED THE LEGAL PREDICATE COVER FOR THE ENTIRE CENSORSHIP INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX." At Da Fed The Marvelous Margot Cleveland outraged that the Clapper Crew Threatened Whistleblower Who Refused To Sign Off On Fabricated Intel Assessment and Shawn Fleetwood says the Docs show Soros Executive Predicted FBI Would ‘Put More Oil Into The Fire’ Of Russia Hoax. Matt Vespa notes Two of Obama's Most Prominent Russian Collusion Hoax Peddlers Penned an Op-Ed. It Got Blown Up Already. Matt Margolis at PJM thinks Brennan and Clapper Just Hit the Panic Button. Hat Hair's Beege Welborn looks at The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll Brennan and Mr John Hyde. At Ace, Angry Boxed-Wine Connoisseur AWFL Says She's Totally Proud to Have Written the ICA and the "Steele Dossier" Might Be True. "A Brennan stooge named Susan Miller was recruited to write up RussiaGate "reports" which ultimately served as the foundation of the ICA that kicked off RussiaGate. Actually she claims to have written the ICA itself, which seems to be, what's the word, a lie. But more on that later. She has now re-emerged to claim that all of her sexless partisan fantasies about Trump and Putin might have, maybe, been halfway true." PJM's Cathy Salgado reports Trump Says Russia Hoax Perpetrators Must ‘Pay a Big Price’. I'm not holding my breath. Matt Taibbi at Racket says The New York Times Can't Stop Sucking, in the context of Russiagate, but it's generally true.

Bob Hoge at RedState, Now It's His Turn: Jack Smith Reportedly Under Investigation for Violating Hatch Act, attempting to sabotage Trump's campaign. 

From ET, Judge Blocks DHS Bid to End Protected Status for Immigrants From Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, "The Homeland Security Department had argued that extending the immigrants’ protected status would undermine U.S. foreign policy and national interests." Randy Barnett @RandyEBarnett, “When a lower court’s order attempting to limit the executive is also an act of mutiny against the Supreme Court, the issue is not conflict between branches, but the legitimate hierarchy of authority within the judicial branch….” Quote Adrian Vermeule @Vermeullarmine, "On the mutiny by lower-court judges: https://nytimes.com/2025/07/31/opi."

At Da Caller, ‘RIP Democracy:’ Left-Wing Protesters Drop Coffin On Wisconsin GOP Rep’s Doorstep. John Sexton at Hat Hair reports Protesters Arrested at Offices for Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand, for not being left enough. Also, New Hampshire Bans Gender Affirming Care as Letitia James Sues Trump.

Jeff Charles at TownHall with at sad story, Cops Assault Disabled Veteran, Tase His Dog—a Federal Judge Just Gave Him a Chance to Fight Back. The dog died. 

VodkaPundit at PJM was not impressed by Kamala's Colbert Cringe-Fest. Mike Miller at RedState, hears Kamala 'Word Salad' Harris Announces Upcoming Book About Her Failed Campaign, and We Can't Wait! Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, Harris to Colbert: Trump Broke Me. Nick Sortor @nicksortor "In the MOST amount of words possible, Kamala Harris admits President Trump BROKE her, which is why she doesn’t want to run for Governor of California “The system’s broken… so I don’t wanna go back into the system.” She just GAVE UP"  Ace, Kamala Harris: I Lost Because "The System" Is "Broken;" "Democracy" Failed to Position Me For Success. "Before that: Of course she's writing a book to cash in on her Massive Historic Failure. The dollar figure of the deal is not yet known." Althouse, "And um recently I made the decision that I just for now I don't want to go back in the system. I think it's broken...."  "You are going into political oblivion." NYPo, Stephen Colbert needles Kamala Harris after she fails to answer simple question. Take me to your leader! Ace hears Mark Halperin: Biden's Inner Circle Is Threatening Kamala Harris That If She Dishes About His Cogntivie Impairment, They'll Start Admitting How Incompetent She Is "So now the very mean old man, the most absurdly thin-skinned moron narcissist on the planet -- whoops, except for Jasmine Ratchet -- is threatening Kamala Harris that if she discusses Biden's dementia in her stupid book, they'll open the vaults about her." Insty has A REMINDER THAT WE DODGED A BULLET: “Last night Joe Biden spoke before an event sponsored by a black lawyers’ association in Chicago. You can see him in the clip below. In terms of content, it was typical Biden: hateful and fact-free. Just one anti-Trump smear after another, “without evidence” as the papers like to say. But content aside, he was hardly able to read the teleprompter. He is feeble and barely functional. If he had been re-elected in 2024, he would now be just six months into a four-year term that he couldn’t possibly complete.”

A Larry video, CNN Reveals Shock Polls: Will Democrats Ever Recover? Defiant L’s @DefiantLs, "CNN: It keeps getting worse for Democrats." John Lucas at Bravo Blue, sees Juvenile Delinquents in the United States Senate "A snapshot of obstructionism and refusal to accept election results." Ruy Teixeira at the Liberal Patriot says Democrats Should Give Up on #Resistance 2.0 "It hasn’t worked and it won’t work." Capt. Ed takes note of Axios: Guess What Democrats Have Stopped Talking About? The Green Nude Eel. 

From LifeZette, JD Vance Cooks Gavin Newsom to a Crisp Over His ‘Outrageous’ Gerrymandering. At TNP, NYC’s Mamdani Bragged About Channeling Public Funds to Illegals. Shooting News Weekly, Chris Murphy Gives Gun Owners a Preview of What Dems Would Do to Gun Rights If and When They Regain Power.

John Sexton reports Border Apprehensions Hit Another Record Low in July, in a good way. Dave Manney at PJM, Not One More Number: Say Their Names or Admit You Don’t Care "We're told about the arrests in the cold newspeak spoken by the newsreader providing the voiceover as we watch footage accompanied by numbers, charts, and press statements. We learn so much, but not the most important part: What those men actually did before they were caught. . . " An example from Ace, A Cultural Enricher With 43 Prior Counts of Aggravated Cultural Enrichment Attempts to Kidnap a Child at a Virginia Mall, "This is in super-progressive, tyrannical Fairfax County, where they cover up "transgender" boys' forcible sodomization of girls in the bathroom so as not to upset The Bigots. Of course it's also a Sanctuary County." Tyler O'Neil at Da Signal finds an IMMIGRATION HOLD-OVER: Biden Political Appointee Still Holds Prominent DHS Position Under Trump. Roaches are so hard to eliminate entirely. From Twitchy, Fool Us Twice: Dem Neera Tanden Says Democrats Should Be Trusted on ‘New’ Immigration Reform Plan.

John Sexton reports The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is Shutting Down. “Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.” But we heard the feds only provided a fraction of their funding, am I right? "Say Goodbye to Sesame Street" Paula Bolyard at PJM, The CBP Is Closing Up Shop! Jim Thompson at RedState, This Week's Tsunami Scare Proved One Thing - No One Relies on NPR. From LifeZette, PBS and NPR Tied to Soros-Backed Fact-Checkers Through Taxpayer CPB Funding. Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo, "Conservatives should not forget that there has been virtually no blowback to defunding NPR. In the past, the Left would claim that Republicans wanted to execute Big Bird, and Republicans would dutifully back down. Not anymore. Simple principle: stop sending cash to your enemies." From Twitchy, WaPo’s Glenn Kessler Squeezes Out Last Laughable ‘Fact-Check’ and X Rapidly Responds With the Truth. Ace, Exactly as Predicted, EU Law Supposedly Intended to Protect Children from Porn Is Immediately Deployed Against Its Real Target: Political Speech by Adults That is Critical of the Failing, Traitorous Regime "Trump is warning effeminate ponce Keir Starmer that if the EU continues using this law to stifle Americans' speech, there's going to be big trouble." The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee "Doctor Strange Reveals That Across 14 Million Universes, Colbert’s Show Bombs In Every Single One https://buff.ly/6lXfufR."

I, for one, continue to relish "Sweeneygate!" Variety whines JD Vance Urges Democrats Angry Over Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ads to Keep It Up: ‘Continue to Tell Everybody’ Who Thinks She Is Attractive That They’re ‘a Nazi’ At USA Today, Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad triggers liberals. She looks good. They don't. Dave Strom wonders Why Do Statues of Fat Black Women Keep Popping Up? In random places. Stephen Kruiser at PJM sees Gender Sanity Is Slowly Returning to the World of Sports, but Da Wire reports a Virginia Dad was Suspended From Pool After Calling Out Boy In Girls’ Races. "Luis Fernandez wrote the word 'BOY' on a scoreboard next to the name of the young male swimmer, who won two girls' races." VodkaPundit at PJM, DOING THE 2028 PIVOT: Pete Buttigieg acknowledges ‘fairness issues’ with trans athletes in women’s sports. From Ace, CEO of Jaguar Steps Down After Disastrous Rebrand of Storied Car Company as Trans-Portation "He turned a man's brand into a trans brand. But men are 49% of the market (actually, more like 90% for a sportscar) and the trans market is.... slightly less than that, right?"

From the College Fix, ‘Race based scholarships’ are ‘unlawful’: DOJ memo. Insty, MAKE THEM PAY. MAKE THEM ALL PAY. Inez Stepman @InezFeltscher "There’s like 20 years of legally actionable material like this hanging like a sword of Damocles over every major corporation in America, we can drop it whenever we want against anyone." Quote David Decosimo @DavidDecosimo, "On my first day at BU, a colleague took me to lunch & said: “Do you know what the real miracle of your hire is? You’re a white male. Do you know how much better than every other candidate you have to be to get hired here as a white man?" I couldn't believe he'd said it out loud." And, THIS CALLS FOR, DARE I SAY IT, REPARATIONS: Melissa Chen @MsMelChen, "The anti-white bias in faculty hiring is pervasive. I spent way too much time in academia, and ended up getting to know many tenured professors who were grandfathered in long before the DEI madness. Many were serving on hiring committees where their job was to interview potential candidates for entry-level faculty jobs; some also served on tenure committees. At first it was a slow drip. Every now and then, a candidate would be denied purely because the administration prioritized a woman or a person of color for that position. By 2018, it was pretty much the conventional norm. Professor friends told me “I don’t even know why we are going through this show trial. . . ” Quote Colin Wright @SwipeWright, ANNOUNCEMENT: I’ve taken legal action against Cornell University for racial discrimination. Represented by @A1Policy, I’ve filed an EEOC complaint after leaked internal emails revealed Cornell secretly ran a faculty search in my exact field (evolutionary biology) specifically to make a “diversity hire.” The committee privately reached out to pre-selected "diverse" candidates, one at a time, to bypass open competition. Qualified white applicants like myself were excluded from even applying. This is a direct and egregious violation of my civil rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Lotsa links left at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 08.01.25 but it's a glorious cool August day, and I've got to get out. Linked at The Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links. The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Doughnut Dolly and FMJRA 2.0: World Series ’73 Week Two up on time and under budget.on/supreme-court-trump-judges-defiance.html