The United States has been sold down the river by our own – mislabeled – “leaders.”
We have (pardon this) all kinds of shit blowing up in the Middle East, and with the GovDown II in process and the whole airline industry on the ropes, the “Fools on the Hill” will be taking a couple of weeks off for Spring/Easter Break.
Must be nice. But what’s becoming abundantly clear? They are not public servants. At least in the same sense as, oh, the ER staff in Hospitals, the po-po’s on the street, the aid buggy cowboys, and the firefighters who have everyone’s back.
The essential difference? A blind man can see it: Time off, hours on task, right down to the turn out gear they wear. Dedication to Cause and sorry, I’m not seeing big numbers on the scorecard.
“Continuity of Government” doesn’t mean ensuring the ongoing American pride in Excellence. It means the lapdogs for the lap-dancers of the Epstein of the world are still looking out for their own asses, instead of the Public Good.
I have faith in the Country and the Constitution, and 90 percent of our Citizens. But it’s clear why Washington D.C. isn’t a state: It’s not really part of America, here lately.
The guy in the Oval? Well, for all his faults, at least he’s picking up the load from the lazy: Trump sends ICE agents to airports amid DHS shutdown, TSA staffing crisis.
A “staffing crisis” we note that the crooks on the Hill are making up for personal gain – elections ahead.
No, Country and its People come first. Or, is that hopelessly under the socialist bus now, too?
Targeting Package Monday
A good starting point – and maybe ending point is Hormuz.
Not only is Iran threatening to mine the Strait, but they also plan to hit water supplies. Oh, and anything wired to US bases, too. Iran threatens to attack Mideast electrical plants powering US bases | AP News
And if it’s armchair quarterbacking you feel like, give the grey lady a scan: Israel’s Missile Defense Under Scrutiny After Iranian Attack – The New York Times. After action, everyone lines up to second-guess, right?
Channeling Energy
With headlines of Hormuz rolling (like Donald Trump Sends Bold Ultimatum to Iran Over Strait of Hormuz), a client note from our consigliere points out that Oil and LNG matter, sure. But few realize the critical OTHER industrial chemicals feeding the global economy via the Straits:
- Naphtha: REQUIRED for the cracking of oil for both fuel products and other products.
24% of the world’s supply is now locked up with the Straits being closed (NOT a pipeline transportable product) …60% -80% of Asia’s supply come from inside the Persian Gulf - Ethylene Glycol: REQUIRED for making many chemical products including fertilizers. 53% of the world’s supply is now locked up with the Straits being closed (NOT a pipeline transportable product)
- Methanol: REQUIRED precursor chemical for many chemical production products.31% of the worlds supply now locked up with the Straits being closed (NOT a pipeline transportable product)
- Styrene: REQUIRED precursor for making many plastics. 34% of the world’s supply now locked up with the Straits being closed (NOT a pipeline transportable product)
- Also 10% of the world’s supply of Xylenes , another precursor for many chemical processes comes from the Gulf plus40% of the world’s supply of LPG’s (butane /propane – ie: cooking gas in much of the poorer parts of the world).
- Helium:, 40% of the world’s supply comes out of the Persian Gulf and goes through the Straits. which is a NECESSARY ingredient for a number of industrial products,REQUIRED FOR Integrated Circuit WAFER PRODUCTION (NO helium = NO IC production)
If there’s one – almost archetypal concept – going around the world right now it’s “Squeezed Lines.”
Doesn’t matter if you’re talking TSA delays or critical energy products “Squeezed Lines” is the common meme.
That meme says a lot about what’s next. If you work for an airline, lay back extra groceries and save for some missed payments. Not saying airlines will crumble, but… Same for TSA workers who are set to miss another paycheck on the 27th absent actual leadership on the Hill.
Going for the 200!!!
Earlier, it looked like the Train Wreck would continue: Dow futures were down 300, NASDAQ down another couple of hundred and the S&P down another 50-odd. Here’s the cliff we’d jumped off:
But then BANG!!!
A huge upside surprise in the CFNAI rolled:
“The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) increased to +0.18 in January from –0.21 in December. All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index increased from December, and two categories made positive contributions in January. The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, increased to –0.06 in January from –0.29 in December.”
None of which will take our Peoplenomics.com insiders by surprise. As I explained in the Saturday ChartPack:
“The Bears have had a good run to the downside. But in state variance, they need 2-3 days (at least) to regroup and get their crap sorted out.
The International markets are in a place where a week of rally could fit. And look at the Magic Ovals: (they are hinting possible rally nearby)”
Another dandy short-term taxable gain.
There’s times that paying short-term gains tax is a sign of success!
The Write Stuff
We’re pleased to report that G.A. Stewart has his site back up – and a very good article at G. A. STEWART’S NOSTRADAMUS TIMELINE – THE AGE OF DESOLATION.
Like Stu, I sometimes think about shutting down everything here – anything public-facing, that is. And the reason should be clear: The harder times get, the crazier people become.
And speaking of “write stuff” some very good notes in passing from a source known as Captain Gooding (who you’ll remember from Yankee Doodle?). Some of his observations on present times are just too good not to be shared. Here are three useful points:
“My point underlying all this, is that you cycle gurus, and you really are some of the very bestest out there on cycle stuff, have been seeing the current global system collapse coming for, I dunno, many decades. What did you think it was going to look like? High tea and polite conversation? The entire globalist/financialist economic system is shaking itself apart. Like an airplane which has flown beyond its flight speed limitations, we are starting to lose pieces of the control surfaces. Warren Buffett knows – his Berkshire Hathaway investment portfolio is about 50% cash – some $381 billion in cash.
Look, in 2018, Europe had a total population of over 745 million people. Around 448 million of them lived in the European Union and around 110 million in European Russia. As of today, we (USA) are just shy of 349,000,000 people. That’s less than half of Europe. Even if you only count the EU, they are still about a third larger in total population than the USA. And their leaders are intent on committing economic suicide.
As for the Purim War? We are blowing off a lot of aging stuff. Missiles in many cases nearing their shelf lives. Bombs that have been around for a long, long time. The KC-135 tankers we’ve lost were built in the 1960s. The three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles we lost over Kuwait were at least 25 years old, and that fleet is scheduled for decommissioning in the 2030s.
Those, my friend, are useful contexts. No, not a fan of war, but our digital culture has a crappy memory. Let me help:
Iran’s “Declared” Conflict and Attacks on Americans
This link (FDD’s compilation, updated as of mid-2025 and into 2026) documents a long timeline of Iranian or proxy actions causing U.S. casualties, starting with the…
- 1979-81 embassy hostage crisis (66 Americans held) and including major events like:
- 1983 Beirut embassy bombing (17 Americans killed) and Marine barracks (241 U.S. service members killed), both tied to Iran-backed groups.
- 1996 Khobar Towers (19 U.S. Air Force personnel killed).
- 2003-2011 Iraq: Iranian-backed militias/EFPs linked to at least 603 U.S. troop deaths.
- More recent: 2020 missile strike on Ain al-Asad (100+ U.S. troops with TBIs),
- 2024 Jordan drone attack (3 U.S. soldiers killed),
- and proxy actions via Hezbollah, Hamas, Kataib Hezbollah, etc.
Again, more data, more context.
News on the Back Burner
Life stumbles on. Though some days it’s less clear why…maybe to birth our AI helpers?
Living in Illinois seems a bit risky to us: Venezuelan migrant charged with murder of Loyola student Sheridan Gorman – Chicago Sun-Times
Not that Seattle is any better: Think Seattle is Destroyed NOW? You Won’t Believe the Mayor’s New Idea.
Planning to travel internationally? US just issued a worldwide travel warning, here is what it means.
Hey! National Media! What, you don’t like Italians? Trump places statue of Christopher Columbus near the White House.
At the Ranch: Ham Radio Note on the HL2
As you may recall, I take fully 3-hours off from the grind around here. Usually on Sunday morning and normally in front of the ham radio rigs. I’ve got a whole tube-type museum of gear – so much it’s never set up all at one time – there just isn’t room.
There’s a couple of Swans, dito Icoms and Kenwoods, several complete Hallicrafters lineups (the S-line clone SX-117, HT-44, and Loudenboomer amp and the SX-101, HT-32, HT-33B) and a lot of others.
The “daily driver” of choice is a Ten-Tec Omni VII. Most of my interest is CW (Morse) and 25 WPM is a nice chit-chat speed. Back up to that is a TenTec Jupiter. On voice? Good audio rules.
And that gets me to the HL2 – the Hermes Lite 2. Which – if you’re interested – you can read up on here. Hermes Lite 2 | Makerfabs Open Hardware
I was talking to one of the guys on 3806 *(LSB on the 75 meter band) who I’ve talked to for several years now. The whole time I have envied the hell out of his audio. Mean it’s like unreal – almost FM studio grade, it’s so good.
His secret sauce? Hermes Lite 2 with Thetis software. Releases · ramdor/Thetis and some really great settings.
The most amazing part of the Hermes is that using DSP for SSB generation, you don’t have the 2.3-3.0 KHz wide “camel hump” of a passband filter to deal with. DSP means vertical sides.
The other thing that comes with the Hermes is something called PureSignal. The way this works is you sample the RF when transmitting and use “adaptive distortion technology.” Essentially, you “pre-distort” an RF envelope, so that normal mixing products in successive amplifier stages are pre-emptively “mixed out.”
It’s kind of like the noise versus anti-noise in those high-end noise canceling headphones. Except this is done up at radio frequencies. The result of having a signal which is spectrally near-perfect? You get the power benefit of all those wasted spurs – resulting in a 1-3 db increase of apparent loudness (*some claim 6 db).
The OTHER thing about the Hermes is it’s heavily reliant on the user’s computer – which means not only can I have that 55″ dual 4K monitor setup (for my slowly fading eyesight), but I can also use the high quality sound system and condenser USB mic. OK, right there, audio quality takes another jump.
What my friend Kevin does next is even better: Because with broadcast and studio gear, we use noise gating. So, for example, when room noise is low, you don’t hear the blower on the linear amplifier – all that stuff goes away.
Super neat technology? Yes, but it’s not simple.
First, you need to assemble the unit which comes as a collection of three circuit boards and an enclosure. Then you will want a small linear amplifier (lots of hams use the HardRock50 style). I have one for my QRP (low power) gear which will work fine. But that only gets you into the 50-watt ballpark. So you will want more power and for this I’ve got an SB-220 that’s not often used.
Again, though, details: The SB-220 class amps came with high voltage (relatively) switching. So, you’ll want to have the Harbach Electronics T/R relay driver installed.
Last, but not least, you will need an RF Sampler. This is a precision resistor network on a pickup coil that feeds back into the transceiver in order to work out the PureSignal adaptive pre-distortion.
Sounds like a lot of work? Yeah, well, a lot more useful sitting in front of a computer than, oh, posting on social, right?
I will get into build details on ShopTalk Sunday, as it comes along. Should be a lot of fun.
ShopTalk Sunday was my latest book launch Sunday. Article here, my new book Co-Telligence is on Amazon here.
Write when you get rich,
Read the full article here
