Welcome to The Now

 

 

  Highlights: China's weapons (specifically their aircraft) was on full display in the recent Pakistan-India conflict, and is clearly light years ahead of what the West is offering. America's addiction to the Military Industrial Complex has cost it the ability to keep up in military production (China's already testing 6th generation planes while the US equivalent is still on the drawing board). The Trump White House has no true North Star in dealing with the global economy (when China visited the US recently, the administration had not real "ask"). China has won/is winning the Trade War (US tariffs on China to drop from 145% to 30%, China lowers their tariffs to 10%, resetting the tariffs to pre-"liberation day" numbers).

 

 Actually, that lyric didn't go that way , but thinks to the push for profits:

A lot of history and information that the average American isn't aware of:

 It appears so, and it could be costly : A 10-day UPS strike would be the most expensive strike in at least a century, costing the U.S. economy upwards of $7 billion, a study by the consulting firm Anderson Economic Group found, including $4.6 billion in losses for customers, $1 billion in lost wages and more than $800 million in direct losses at UPS. If this happens, can any other company compensate? Well: "In the event of a market disruption, no carrier can absorb all UPS volume," FedEx executives wrote in an internal company memo, according to NPR . What should we watch for?  The UPS workers’ contract will expire on July 31 and 97% of union members have voted to authorize a strike if warranted, even after an agreement was reached over hot-button issues like installing air conditioning in delivery trucks amid the warmest June on record . In the end, threatening to shut things down seems to be the only option left to get the employers to the negotiation table to begin to...

 It's almost as if a higher power is trying to say, "America, you should do something about your railroad situation :" A Norfolk Southern train derailed Saturday evening in Springfield, Ohio, sending 28 cars sliding diagonally across the tracks but injuring no one, according to several state and local agencies. The crash marks the rail line's second major derailment in just over a month and comes amid lingering questions about environmental and public health in nearby East Palestine, where a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed on Feb. 3. Officials stressed that the 212-car train that derailed this weekend was not carrying toxic materials and does not pose a threat to the community. Both the Clark County emergency management agency and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency examined the site and deemed it safe. "There is NO risk to the public," said Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker on Twitter. "We're looking at clean air, clean s...