StormyMcMan

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There are two major problems with this. First, the people are still unarmed. Second, we can just look at Iraq and see how Saddam managed his people even after their economy crashed. He did anything necessary to subjugate his people, even when they were starving to death.

It turns out that Islamic fundamentalist regimes are perfectly capable of, & willing to, kill their own people to maintain power. It will be the same in Iran.

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Specifically, that ISM reading stands at 55 now, well above the 50 mark, which signals expansion. It has been rising for seven months.

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The ISM said its manufacturing PMI increased to 55.6 last month, the highest reading since May 2022, from 53.3 in June. Economists polled by ?Reuters had forecast the PMI would edge up to 54.0. The PMI this year has held above the 50 threshold, which indicates growth in the manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing, which ?accounts for about 9.4% of the economy, has been supported by businesses front-loading orders to avoid higher prices and shortages stemming from the war. An artificial intelligence buildout is also driving activity in the technology sector, blunting the ?hit on manufacturing from import tariffs.

With business inventories at very low levels, there is ample room for manufacturing to expand. The Fed reported last month that factory production grew at its fastest pace in four years in the second quarter.

Business inventories have ?declined for five straight quarters, the government reported last week.

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The ISM survey's new orders measure rose to 56.7 last month from 56.0 in June. Export orders surged and unfinished work piled up, prompting factories to boost employment. A ?measure of manufacturing employment rebounded to 52.8, the highest level ?since August 2022, from 49.7 in June. Sixty ?percent of respondents reported their firms were hiring, while 40% indicated they continued to manage headcounts, the ISM said.

Strong demand is, however, running into supply constraints.

The survey's supplier deliveries index increased to 58.9 from 57.4 in June. A reading above 50 indicates slower deliveries. The lengthening in suppliers' delivery times likely contributed to the jump in the PMI last ?month, as it is normally associated with a strong economy and high demand.

Supply constraints meant inflation at the factory gate remained elevated last month, though the pace ?of increase slowed. The survey's gauge ?of prices paid for inputs slipped to a still-high 71.1 from 73.0 in June.

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r are they full of shite and anyone can search the net and see vessels are indeed going through the strait......though not to or from iran.

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Traffic levels in the Strait of Hormuz last week dropped yet again, bringing the flow of ships through the Middle East passageway to levels not seen since March, shortly after the conflict between Iran and the United States began.

Transits were down 52.4 percent between July 20 and Sunday from July 13-19, according to London-based Lloyd’s List Intelligence. From July 19 to Sunday, daily transits were in the single digits, with only two transits on July 23 and on Saturday.

While transits are down, the actual number of daily passages could be slightly higher as Lloyd’s List Intelligence confirms ships that went through the strait without their automatic identification systems on, Lloyd’s List Intelligence Maritime Intelligence & Research Director Bridget Diakun said during a Thursday webinar.

Despite the continued rise in tensions between Washington and Tehran, ship owners continue to send ships through the contested passageway, Diakun said.

“Things change,” Diakun said. “Things change quite quickly. If there are any credible positive developments at a geopolitical level, this picture will change immediately, and we’ll see, not a resurgence, but more ships going through.”

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“We need to remember that if you want to disrupt maritime commerce, you don’t need much,” Ralby said.

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The FMLA is out of the picture due to 16 employees at my location (must have at least 20 employees for FMLA to be valid).

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Volunteered through work at a food bank one day basically loading boxes of groceries in people as they pulled through the line. I was amazed at the 100s of cars the supposedly ‘need’ the free food. 90% of them drive a nicer car than me and of course, never got out of the car or said thanks.

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There is quite a bit of copper in the old lines.

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Across the country, telecom companies have left behind more than 2,000 cables containing lead, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found, part of a decaying network installed under the old Bell System.

Reporters found cables protruding from banks, resting under bridges, snaking under water and drooping from the air at dozens of sites. Testing showed that many are leaching toxic metal into the ground and water.

Southern Louisiana’s 125-mile-long Bayou Teche flows through a region particularly dense with cables. Southern Bell filed permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starting in the 1930s to place more than a dozen cables across the bayou.

Journal reporters, with the assistance of environmental researchers, tested the water in nine places along the bayou and the sediment in three of them. Of those 12 tests, eight showed elevated levels of lead. A sediment sample near the cable in New Iberia exceeded the safety recommendation set by the Environmental Protection Agency for areas where children play.

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More importantly, I have the money to pay for the new A/C system outright. Would it be better to pay off in full at installation or finance?

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Dolly's Beaver would make a great mascot

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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

The agreement with Iran is bad for Israel and for the entire free world. Period.

The joint campaign had many achievements in weakening Iran, and they will not go to waste.

We will have to continue the campaign to topple the regime ourselves and in creative ways, and ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons.

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