Notes in the Margin

Federal workers are a powerful lobby in Washington, and taxpayers pay for federal bureaucrats' wages inflated through federal laws favoring federal unions. 

President Trump is planning to appoint a two-star US general to lead the international force that may be deployed to Gaza under the US ceasefire deal.

Mercer: "Whether such crass utilitarians like it or not, the Anglo-Israeli-American genocide in Palestine is a moral matter."

Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale will be paid millions to oversee an effort to ensure that online research is slanted to push the views of the Israeli state. 

Federal interest payments are now huge thanks to rising interest rates. The Fed may soon intervene in a big way in an effort to force down yields on Treasurys. 

Japan says it will increase more bond-buying (and thus drive more inflation) to confront rising yields which threaten Japanese sovereign debt. 

Suggests that the al-Qaeda militants, who oversee massacres of Syrian Christians, is becoming a "benevolent monarchy." 

Gas is the cheapest since 2021. In a tepid economy, demand falls, and demand for oil is now outpaced by production. Gas then gets cheaper. 

Zelensky and welfare-queen European regimes still cling to fantasy that Ukraine will recover all its territory. 

Inflation isn’t an economic metric — it’s a political tactic. When governments lie about inflation, they’re not miscalculating; they’re stealing from you.