#7

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Any of these would hit the US economy like a freight train.

The immediate effect would be a violent repricing of US risk. The Fed isn't buying bonds anymore, might even be selling them. The market depends on private buyers willing to step in. If Europe flips from buyer to seller, the imbalance turns catastrophic.

A coordinated shock, with confidence collapsing, could spike the 10-year Treasury by 150 to 250 basis points in weeks. The term premium, what investors demand to hold long-term risk, would explode.

Housing would freeze instantly. Mortgage rates price off the 10-year Treasury. If that jumps to 6.5% or 7%, mortgages blow past 10%. At 10%, housing affordability dies. Transactions stop. Construction financing evaporates.

Home values fall, wiping out middle-class wealth and killing consumer confidence.

Banks face a mark-to-market nightmare. They hold trillions in Treasuries. When yields rise, bond values fall. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in 2023 from unrealized losses on its bond book. A 200-basis point spike would create trillions in paper losses across the banking system.

Even banks that survive would hoard capital and stop lending. Small and regional banks, the ones without massive hedging operations, would be staring down insolvency.

The federal government, the world's biggest debtor, would see debt service costs explode. Interest payments already rival defense spending. A permanent rate shock pushes that past $1.5 trillion annually. To cover it, the government either cuts spending or prints money, creating an inflation spiral.

And what she claims is what the American people voted for.

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European capitals have had enough. The old playbook, where leaders like Shinzo Abe managed Trump through flattery and token concessions, isn't cutting it anymore. The policy shifts are too big this time: Ukraine abandoned, reciprocal tariffs targeting European VAT systems, steel and aluminum exemptions yanked.

So Europe is moving to what diplomats call de-risking, which really just means weaponizing the one thing Washington actually needs from them: money. The EU and UK together hold roughly $2.5 trillion in US Treasury securities. That's more than China's holdings. It rivals Japan's. If Brussels and London decided to dump even part of this onto the market, they could spike yields high enough to freeze the US housing market, trigger a banking crisis, and push federal interest payments past a trillion and a half annually.

Here's the catch: doing this would blow up Europe's financial system first.

The mechanics aren't as simple as hitting a sell button. European leaders have three ways to execute this threat, and the nastiest one doesn't even require central banks to do anything.

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France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK, and Denmark issued a joint statement: Greenland belongs to its people.Denmark is spending billions on Arctic patrol vessels and a new command headquarters in Nuuk. European troops are deploying for something called Operation Arctic Endurance.

The EU Defense Commissioner warned that a U.S. invasion would be the end of NATO.

European defense ministers now openly discussing Article 5 invocations against the United States.

Let that sink in.

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The official justification is the Golden Dome missile defense system, which supposedly requires sovereignty over Greenlandic territory for technical efficacy. Trump himself said the system depends on angles, metes, and bounds that only work if Greenland is included.

The 1951 agreement already lets the U.S. build whatever it wants at Pituffik Space Base. The administration wants sovereignty because access involves asking permission.

Sovereignty eliminates the veto.

The rare earth angle is real. Greenland sits on massive deposits. China controls most of global production and nearly all of NATO's processing capacity. The strategic dependency exists.

The solution, apparently, is to fracture the alliance responsible for containing China's actual military expansion.

Brilliant.

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#5 Indeed, Alex.

'Tis amazing to me that that is the case.

See also: Franklin Graham calling for people to pray for Trump, but remaining silent when it came to Biden.

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The Trump administration also canceled a pride concert scheduled for May, to be headlined by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington. Because, as everyone knows, singing for you is how they recruit new gay people. It's like the sirens from Greek mythology, except that instead of ending with a violent death, it ends with brunch.

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...while it makes sense to us that one could embrace the philosophy of Yehshua without necessarily embracing the religious doctrine, it does not make sense that people can embrace his religion without embracing his philosophy.

#2 Thanks for that on-target comment, Snoofy.

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The worldview is a pretty darn good one, which is why it is not too surprising there are plenty of folks who have been believers in Jesus the philosopher, even if they didn't believe too much in Jesus' religion. As many readers will know, Thomas Jefferson was particularly famous for this, and even edited a version of the Gospels in which he removed the supernatural material, and just left the philosophy. He titled the work The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. Starting in 1940, then stopping in the 1950s, and then starting again in the 1990s and continuing today, every new member of Congress gets a copy. If you are interested in taking a look at the original, the Smithsonian Institution has put a digitized copy online.

Guess we lied when we wrote, above, that the history lessons were done for the day. Sorry about that. In any case, while it makes sense to us that one could embrace the philosophy of Yehshua without necessarily embracing the religious doctrine, it does not make sense that people can embrace his religion without embracing his philosophy. What he was saying was, "Here is a moral code, by which you can get into the kingdom of heaven." Some people (e.g., Jefferson) didn't/don't believe in the kingdom of heaven, and so don't have a use for that part of it, but they do have a use for moral codes. However, if you want Part B, well, Part A is not optional. The Lamb of God was quite clear about the rules, and St. Paul (ne Saul of Tarsus) was arguably even clearer. You don't get the reward without adhering to the doctrine. And yet, there are plenty of "Christians" today who practice radical exclusivity, and who are interested not only in figuring out who is outside the tent, but in making those people pay for their alleged shortcomings. Did none of these folks read the part about "Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone?" While we are hardly degree-holders in Divinity Studies, we think we are on pretty safe ground in saying that the Son of Man would be horrified by many of the actions undertaken in his name today.

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The Trump administration also canceled a pride concert scheduled for May, to be headlined by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington. Because, as everyone knows, singing for you is how they recruit new gay people. It's like the sirens from Greek mythology, except that instead of ending with a violent death, it ends with brunch.

And it's not entirely LGBTQ material, either. Grenell also canceled a planned run of Eureka Day, a dramedy about vaccination that just had a successful run on Broadway. Presumably, that cancellation was a personal favor to Robert Kennedy Jr.

But if you're going to make the Kennedy Center a part of the culture wars, then it goes both ways. You don't just get to cancel the shows and artists you don't like; you have to be prepared to be canceled on by the shows and artists who don't like you. Heck, you also have to be prepared to be canceled on by the shows and artists whose FANS don't like you, since those fans are likely to take a performance at the so-called Trump-Kennedy Center as an endorsement of Trump in general, and of his pi**ing on the legacy of Jack Kennedy in particular.

The first to cancel, as we wrote about in the previous Kennedy Center schadenfreude item, was jazz musician Chuck Redd, who called off his annual Christmas Eve jazz concert. Grenell reacted with outrage, and sent a sharply worded letter to Redd promising a lawsuit. We have to assume this was performative outrage. Trump and Grenell had to know this was coming, right? They couldn't really be that dense, could they?

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Readers will recall, of course, that Donald Trump and his acolytes, in complete contravention of very specific statutes, managed to "rename" the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." This was a "unanimous" decision of the board, a unanimity achieved by disenfranchising all 23 ex officio board members, and muting their microphones when they tried to speak. Because the change has no basis in law, the new name will last until approximately January 20, 2029, at 12:01 p.m. And it might not last that long, because members of the Kennedy family have already sued.

This change has naturally put the Kennedy Center right at the forefront of the culture wars. That was the intent of Trump, and of his handpicked director-lackey, Richard Grenell. Trump himself said that he would decide what shows were appropriate, and that there would be no more drag shows or LGBTQ-positive programming. Not long thereafter, the new children's musical Finn was canceled by Grenell. Finn is described, by its producers, as "Finn can't shake the feeling that he's different from the other sharks. Deep inside, he discovers a colorful fish inside him"a part of himself that longs to sparkle, sing, and dance. As Finn embarks on a journey of self-discovery, friendship, and adventure, he finds the courage to be himself!"

OK, so it's an allegory for being gay (and, in case you missed the message, in the poster for the show, Finn is rainbow-colored and fabulous). But even allegorically gay is too gay for Grenell, despite the fact that Grenell himself is gay. So, no show. It's really interesting where this administration does, and does not, see "gay." Remember this is a president who loves Phantom of the Opera and "YMCA."

#75 And as I said, Ingratitude is a Cardinal Sin.

#74 In the movie X, Spike Lee presents a scene, early in the movie, where Malcom Little is getting his hair treated with lye. After washing it out (in a rather hurried manner, because lye will burn the skin), Little looks in the mirror and says "Looks white, don't it?"

Came to mind after your comment, Alex.

#69 And why would Greenland want "independence" from Denmark.

Hint: They don't.

#69 Greenland is a part of Denmark.

Like Hawaii is a part of the USA.

And Denmark is a member of NATO.

Along with the USA.

(see: NATO Article 5)

Is this the Drudge Discussion?

Nope.

Is this the Drudge Debate?

Again, negative.

#67 Major DEI Boaz.

#63 Goes without saying, Alex.

Ingratitude is a Cardinal Sin.

Shouldn't PhartPhisher and Left Hind Turds get a room?

Posted by PhartPhisher at 2026-01-17 12:01 PM | Reply | Flagged funny by Left Hind Turds (17 plonks)
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Posted by PhartPhisher at 2026-01-16 06:21 PM | Reply | Flagged funny by Left Hind Turds (17 plonks)
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Posted by PhartPhisher at 2026-01-16 03:12 PM | Reply | Flagged funny by Left Hind Turds (17 plonks)

#16 | #17 Thank you for flagging my comment.

#6 Hell, they've already invited Qatar to build a base right here in the continental United States.

#61 Informing himself is too much work for Major DEI Boazo. **

He vomits what his white "friends" tell him to vomit.

** what boaz' white friends call him behind his back and then laugh and laugh and laugh!