It’s the Stupid Economy

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and stupid is as stupid does when it comes to losing your base.

Attribution: Doing well in the market by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com

[Dave Whamonds work has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest and many more. He has won 7 Silver Reubens from the National Cartoonists Society and several book awards. Dave has written and/or illustrated over 50 books and his syndicated comic, “Reality Check”, has appeared in newspapers since 1995.]

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45 thoughts on “It’s the Stupid Economy”

  1. alternate thread if the personal rotten economy is too personal and you need a diversion:

    The seen is the changing, the unseen is the unchanging.
    — Plato

    Attribution: Congressman Wants To Unsee The Epstein Files by R.J. Matson, CQ Roll Call


  2. Jordan Klepper covers new revelations from the unredacted Epstein files, where Trump is mentioned over a million times, and dives into the continued fallout: King Charles faces hecklers across the pond, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gets grilled by the Senate about his family outing to Epstein Island, and paleontologist Jack Horner is scrutinized for his interest in Epstein’s “girls” (and fossils). Plus, Klepper digs into RFK Jr.’s dinosaur-hunting field trip with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

  3. also in the news

    After the Trump Justice Department fails to indict six Democrats who reminded active-duty service members that they can and must refuse illegal orders, Sen. Adam Schiff tells MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell that it’s “such a shock to see the rule of law so betrayed.” Sen. Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, tells Lawrence he would say “hell no, I quit” if he was asked to a present this case to a grand jury to get an indictment against these members of Congress.

  4. back to the stupid economy

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/feb/11/markets-us-jobs-report-non-farm-payrolls-bank-of-england-business-live-news-latest

    Introduction: Markets brace for US jobs report, with White House telling investors ‘they shouldn’t panic’
    Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

    It’s non-farm payrolls day! The eagerly-awaited US jobs report is out today, and the White House has been trying to moderate expectations.

    Peter Navarro, senior counselor for trade and manufacturing to Donald Trump, was speaking on Fox News last night.

    We have to revise our expectations down significantly for what a monthly job number should look like. When we were letting in 2 million illegal aliens a day we had to produce 200,000 [jobs] a month for steady stay.

    Now 50,000 a month is going to be more like what we need. Wall Street, when this stuff comes out, they can’t rain on our parade, they just have to adjust for the fact that we’re deporting millions of illegals.

    When asked whether the number would be weak, he rowed back and said no, but stressed that investors need to expect smaller numbers in future.

    This comes after a warning from National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett on Monday. “One shouldn’t panic,” he told CNBC on Monday. “You should expect slightly smaller job numbers.”

    The data release, delayed from last week, is expected to show the economy created 70,000 jobs in January, after 50,000 in December.

    Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:

    The FTSE 100 is set to open up, after a lacklustre close on Tuesday. On quiet days for earnings reports and economic data points, the index tends to act as a barometer for commodity prices. Gold prices have strengthened slightly and are at close to two-year highs, supported by strengthening sentiment around US rate cuts this year. Copper and oil are also providing a light tailwind today.

    US stock futures are erring on the side of optimism ahead of jobs data expected later on. Hopes for a rate cut by the Fed next month have improved slightly after American retail sales unexpectedly flatlined in December, with shares in Costco, Target and Walmart all ending down on Tuesday.

    The next steer for rate setters will be US non-farm payrolls data due later today. Forecasts are for an increase in hiring from 50,000 in December to 70,000 in January. That’s still a relatively light number, but anything lower could see markets gain more confidence in the scope for three rate cuts this year. Changes to the benchmark are also in play today, which are expected to see hiring rates for last year revised downwards.

    Economists at Deutsche Bank said:

    Our US economists see nonfarm payrolls coming in at +75k, with the unemployment rate staying at 4.4%. Remember as well that today’s report will include the annual benchmark revisions to payrolls, which could rewrite some of the trends over recent history.

    We already got the preliminary number in September, which said that payrolls were -911k lower as of March 2025. However, that number can be different from the preliminary release, and last year’s preliminary benchmark revision was -818k but the final number was a smaller -589k, so not as negative as first thought.

  5. signaling a crash perchance?

  6. note to you Plato-philes:
    yeah, yeah, I know that unseeing/unchanging quote in first comment means something else, something more ethereal and philosophical than the epstein files.
    just indulging in a bit of literary license.

  11. https://www.advocate.com/politics/bad-bunny-gay-porn-andy-ogles

    “Depicting gay pornography on prime time has no place in our culture,” Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles bizarrely said, after seeing two men dancing and Ricky Martin singing.

    *What in the Footloose is he going on about?

    In a series of Facebook posts on Monday, Ogles, who has repeatedly supported anti-LGBTQ+ laws, wrote that “last night’s halftime show was a disgrace” and claimed it “mocked American families,” adding, “Depicting gay pornography on prime time has no place in our culture.” He went further in the same post, arguing that “the Bad Bunny performance is conclusive proof that Puerto Rico should never be a state,” a remark that drew immediate backlash online.

    *Even US states don’t want to be states anymore.

    In a longer statement, Ogles said the show was “pure smut, brazenly aired on national television for every American family to witness,” and claimed that “children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air.”

    *Has he seen how NFL cheerleaders dress and move, or past Super Bowl halftime show dancers? Heck fire, Andy probably has an issue with “Left Shark” for being a socialist.

    He added that the performance’s lyrics “openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities” and asserted that such content is “illegal to be displayed on public airways.”

    *Since MAGAtLand was clearly watching Bad Bunny instead of the TP USA show which was pre-taped with a paid audience from Craigslist, and poorly lip-synched by Kick Rocks because they are whining about it not being in English, how would words offend them?

    I have no idea if he changed out words that would’ve been labeled “E” because my four years of HS Spanish was long ago, and I can only read it or pick out words I know when spoken depending on the speed and accent. And yes, PueLto Ricans have an accent, as do New Yawkers (or Nuevo YoLkers).
    Anyway, I don’t know and neither do MAGAts, and unless Andy had someone translate the whole show for him & he didn’t just look up the lyrics online, he doesn’t know, either.

    “Ogles followed those posts with a formal letter dated February 9 to Alabama Republican U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, requesting a congressional inquiry into the NFL and NBCUniversal. In the letter, he argued that the Super Bowl’s scale makes it “highly implausible” that the league and the broadcaster lacked advance knowledge of the performance’s content, noting that rehearsals are conducted, production elements are submitted in advance, and networks maintain broadcast delays specifically to prevent indecent material from reaching live audiences. He asked the committee to examine what executives and standards staff knew in advance, which review and approval processes were used, whether delay protocols were applied, and what the broader implications were for broadcaster accountability.”

    *Oh, so this is because it wasn’t a white performer singing in English, with white women dancing around. I did see a clip of Stephen Mitler’s wife trying to get Mrs. Jones from the Cowboys to talk trash about BB in advance and she would not take the bait. So, the NFL must be punished for not falling in line with the white nationalist garbage.

    *I’m still wondering if Andy had problems with the same-sex couple dancing, or the women in short skirts, or if he’s still just dreaming about Ricky Martin singing about Hawaii. He really just couldn’t let it go.

  13. *Is Orange Adolf invading Mexico? Changed his mind? Did he think victims in ICE concentration camps were going to liberated? You know this entire country will be a concentration camp if the N&zis have their way, and we won’t be allowed to leave, right?
    Hmmm, is he in negotiations with someone and wanted to show how he could shut it down on a whim?

    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/faa-el-paso-airport.html

    The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly grounded all flights in and out of El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days starting Wednesday, citing “special security” instructions, and then lifted the order hours later.

    The airport sits next to Biggs Army Airfield and is near the Mexican border, about 12 miles from Juarez, Mexico. The Pentagon referred a question about the nature of the security issue to the FAA.

    Flights were initially halted until late Feb. 20 and the ban applied to a 10-nautical-mile area around the airport.

    U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat whose district includes much of El Paso, said the move to suddenly close airspace was “unprecedented” and said that “what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning, there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.”

    “There was no advance notice provided to my office, the City of El Paso, or anyone involved in airport operations,” she said in a statement. “We have urged the FAA to immediately lift the Temporary Flight Restrictions placed on the El Paso area.”

  16. Oh, the War(rior Ethos) Department was doing something nefarious at Ft. Bliss with drones, allegedly, but that doesn’t answer why the 10-day shutdown that has now been lifted.

    Also, EPSTEIN TRIALS. We have enough of the files to start investigating for the trials.

  20. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Our daily ‘ELEVEN TO NOON’ live chat airs today at 11:00 AM ET on YouTube. JOIN the chatroom here — or WATCH yesterday’s show here.

    What America is Actually Clicking: February 11, 2026

    1. CRIME: [Yesterday] A mass shooting at a high school and a nearby residence in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, has left 9 people dead and dozens injured; the female suspect died from a self-inflicted wound. Washington Post
    2. POLITICS: President Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today to discuss potential military options regarding Iran. CNN
    3. ECONOMY: U.S. payrolls saw a surprise gain of 130,000 jobs in January, beating forecasts despite a slight rise in the unemployment rate to 4.3%. Washington Post
    4. POLITICS: In a rare rebuke, House Republicans joined Democrats to block a procedural move that would have shielded President Trump’s tariff policies from congressional challenges. Washington Post
    5. NATIONAL SECURITY: The FAA has lifted a temporary closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, which was initially ordered for 10 days due to “special security reasons.” Associated Press
    6. CIVIL RIGHTS: Protests erupted in New York City after the Trump administration removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument overnight. Democracy Now!
    7. INVESTIGATION: Unsealed FBI documents reveal that a recent raid on a Georgia elections office was tied to a probe into potential 2020 election “defects” involving a conservative researcher. PBS News
    8. HEALTH: The FDA has issued a surprise refusal to review Moderna’s application for its first mRNA-based influenza vaccine, raising questions about current agency policy. KFF Health News
    9. OLYMPICS: Team USA secured a dominant 1-2 finish in women’s freestyle moguls, with Elizabeth Lemley taking gold and Jaelin Kauf winning silver in Italy. Washington Post
    10. WILDLIFE: A massive 410-pound manatee was successfully rescued by firefighters after becoming trapped in a stormwater drainage pipe in Melbourne Beach, Florida. Sebastian Daily

    These are the stories driving the most traffic across major U.S. outlets right now—not necessarily the stories we think you should read, and not always the most recent.

    A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini)

    OPEN THREAD: With the House opening the door to tariff challenges, is this a sign of shifting GOP loyalty, or just a procedural hiccup?

  23. i read one of the monks quotes, and i’m pretty sure they’re walking for inner peace, not world peace

    the misinterpretation is very Anglo

    coincidentally, s3 of White Lotus was about white westerners missing the point of eastern spirituality

  24. Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files more than Hamlet in the play? 🎭 We’re breaking down Pam Bondi’s testimony, the ballooning cost of ICE agents vs. healthcare, and the 2,300-mile peace walk of Aloka the dog.

    TODAY’S RUNDOWN
    00:00 Intro
    03:15 Pam Bondi Testimony & Epstein Files
    12:40 Trump Name Redactions (The “Million References” Claim)
    22:10 ICE Enforcement vs. Local Law Trust
    35:50 The ICE Sex Trafficking Sting Scandal
    48:20 Aloka: The Dog of Peace Pilgrimage
    55:10 Sanctuary Cities & Legislative Debates

    Watch the key moments

    “The Hamlet Comparison” 🎬

    “Aloka: The Dog of Peace” 🐕

    “ICE Budget vs. Healthcare” 📊

    Watch the full podcast here:

  25. Six L.A. power players who found themselves in the Epstein files

    By Clara Harter, Stephanie Breijo and Stacy Perman
    Feb. 11, 2026 Updated 9:10 AM PT

    The head of the L.A. 2028 Olympics committee.

    A director of big Hollywood hits.

    An NFL owner.

    A celebrity chef.

    They are among the boldface names from Los Angeles who have emerged in the latest dump from the Epstein files.

    The 3 million pages recently released by the Department of Justice have sent shock waves across the globe. Some are personal in nature; others are purely professional. The L.A. cases are each unique in their own way, with some files illuminating events that occurred more than two decades ago, before the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislane Maxwell came to light.

    Epstein, 66, was once a well-connected financial consultant who rubbed shoulders with many prominent politicians and celebrities, including Trump and Clinton. He was arrested and taken into federal custody in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. He died in custody that year. Federal prosecutors established that, from the late 1990s through the early 2000s, Maxwell and Epstein were engaged in a sex-trafficking scheme involving minors. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.

    Casey Wasserman
    The files: Casey Wasserman, who is heading the LA28 Olympic Games, appears dozens of times in documents uploaded to the Justice Department’s Epstein Library, the most striking of which contain risqué email correspondence between Wasserman and Maxwell in 2003. In an email from March 14, 2003, then-29-year-old Wasserman writes, “I think of you all the time … So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?” On April 2, 2003, Maxwell emailed Wasserman about giving him a massage: “Umm — all that rubbing — are you sure you can take it? The thought frankly is leaving me a little breathless. There are a few spots that apparently drive a man wild — I suppose I could practice them on you and you could let me know if they work or not?”

    Other documents show that Wasserman and his then-wife flew on Epstein’s private jet in September 2002 alongside Maxwell, Epstein, former President Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey and several others as part of a previously documented humanitarian trip to Africa.

    The response: In a statement the day after the files were released, Wasserman said he deeply regretted his correspondence with Maxwell, which took place before her crimes were publicly known, and that he had no personal or business relationship with Epstein. “I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them,” Wasserman said.

    Local leaders such as L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, L.A. City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez and Councilmember Monica Rodriguez have called on him to step down from his role as chair of the LA28 Olympics committee. “At the same time as Ghislaine Maxwell was orchestrating one of the most notorious sex-trafficking operations in our country’s history, she was allegedly romantically involved with the person now serving as Chair of LA28,” Soto-Martínez said in a statement. “Casey Wasserman should step aside immediately.”

    On Monday, Chappell Roan announced that she was parting ways with her booking agency Wasserman Music over Wasserman’s ties to Epstein and Maxwell. “Artists deserve representation that aligns with their values and supports their safety and dignity,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram. “This decision reflects my belief that meaningful change in our industry requires accountability and leadership that earns trust.”

    Barry Josephson
    The files: Barry Josephson, noted producer and the former head of production at Columbia Pictures, corresponded with Epstein from around 2010 to 2018, chatting about business, young girls and trading favors, according to emails released in the files. In a Feb. 19, 2011, email, Epstein asked Josephson to recommend women in their early 20s who would like to be an assistant. “I have ‘the’ girl,” Josephson responded that day, “Young, attractive, insane rack.” He said the girl worked for him on two movies and was “smart, although not a genius, but very efficient, will do anything, and tight lipped period end of story.”

    More at link

  30. An old time songwriter trick is you write songs while walking. It’s something about the metronomic effect of the steps. Check all music against my “Walkbeat Theory.”

    Truckin’ is in there.

    Stride.
    Lope.
    Strut.
    March.
    Mince.
    Stroll.
    Amble.
    Meander.
    Tip-Toe.
    Trot.
    Sprint.

  32. Meet Aloka, the unlikely four-legged hero who joined monks on their peace walk across America, ending yesterday at the National Cathedral in DC. From India to the US, one loyal pup proves that heroes come in all shapes and sizes. 🐕

  34. Been viewing some of the clips. Hard to believe such a low-blow hank of hair is the Attorney General of the United States.

  35. “If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, there is a very simple solution: Stop acting like one.”

    Watch the moment in today’s Trail Mix Podcast:

  38. “I have to make a full disclosure, and I’m horribly embarrassed to say it: Pam Bondi and I went to the same law school. Let’s just say we didn’t learn the same lessons.”

    From today’s Trail Mix podcast:

  39. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch the replay of today’s live chat on The Pam Bondi Hearing here

    The Bright Side: February 11, 2026

    1. Sports Medicine: NBA star Jayson Tatum resumed 5-on-5 drills today, marking a major milestone in his recovery from a torn Achilles. AS
    2. Conservation: The green and golden bell frog has been reintroduced to the Australian Capital Territory for the first time since the species became locally extinct 40 years ago. ACT Government
    3. Environment: After years of restoration, researchers have documented over 20 fish species, including Atlantic Salmon, returning to Toronto’s Don River. Daily Kos
    4. Education: More than 100 Auburn student-athletes visited local schools today to participate in World Read Aloud Day. Auburn Tigers
    5. Oddities: Lakers’ Jaxson Hayes received a one-game suspension for an unusual pre-game incident involving the Washington Wizards’ mascot. WSLS

    A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini) about optimism, progress, and things right in the world.

  41. 🎵
    Which o’ these things is not like the o-ther 🎶

    Laura Ingraham
    Meghan Kelly
    Pam Bondi
    That Leavett Person
    Kristi Noem

  42. Tomorrow’s starter topic…

    While DC plays budget chicken and the White House protects The Epstein Class, Putin’s bombs are still finding roofs. Russian drone strike kills twin toddlers in Kharkiv as attention drifts. We analyze the stalled aid and the war’s true current cost.

  44. We’re getting a classic education from her:

    “You don’t tell me anything, you washed-up loser lawyer,” she shouted. “You’re not even a lawyer.”

    An abusive ad hominem fallacy is a logical error where someone attacks an opponent’s character, intelligence, appearance, or personal traits rather than addressing the substance of their argument. It is a direct personal insult intended to discredit a claim by attacking the person making it. Examples include name-calling, insulting, or mocking, such as saying, “You’re too young to understand this topic”.

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