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Noted White House historians and French postcard collectors Adam and Jeff offer their thoughts on the recent demolition by the Trump Administration of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a grand ballroom. Jeff points out that renovations are nothing new to the White House as it was first completely gutted when the British burned it down in 1814. Other improvements followed such as the construction of the East Wing during Franklin Roosevelt's administration where First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt could be housed in an office as far away as possible from the Oval Office on the other side of the building. Harry Truman presided over the most massive reconstruction of the White House in the late 1940s when its interior was largely rebuilt--leaving little more than the exterior walls intact. Although Truman's renovations were criticized for being out of character with the existing architecture, no body could answer how any such character could be preserved if the White House collapsed. Donald Trump's desire to build a 25,000 square foot ballroom to house up to 1,000 guests is the latest attempt to make the "people's house" a more pleasing experience for visiting dignitaries who might otherwise have to go fetch their plates at a tent on the front lawn or relieve themselves in one of the many convenient exterior portable toilets. In keeping with this patriotic duty to make a bigger, more beautiful East Wing in which the offices of the First Lady and the White House Calligrapher will be relocated, Adam and Jeff have called on the Omaha Bugle to contribute funds to participate in this magnificent building project.

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Both Adam and Jeff retrieved their Nancy Pelosi t-shirts to honor her legacy as both the first female Speaker of the House and one of the foremost stock traders of all time. Adam pointed out that Mrs. Pelosi had begun her political career in 1987 with about $700,000 in stocks and bonds, most of which were jointly-owned with her husband, Paul. By the time she announced her retirement earlier this year, the value of her portfolio had increased more than 160-fold to over $130 million. Jeff and Adam applauded her stock picking prowess, noting that she had lapped the returns chalked up by that also-ran investor, Warren Buffet, by about 400 percent. Experts have wondered what sort of stock picking strategy she might have used with some malcontents suggesting that she may have had access to inside information in pending Congressional legislation before it was made public to assist in her selections. However, Jeff and Adam think this may be just a lot of sour grapes and that Mrs. Pelosi was very lucky and had access to a truly first-rate ouija board that they would both like to borrow. As far as Mrs. Pelosi's legacy as Speaker of the House is concerned, Jeff points out that she did lead efforts to impeach President Donald Trump on a weekly basis and offered several memorable quotes including the gem that "you have to first pass the bill to know what is in it."

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Listeners of the Omaha Bugle who enjoy working with masonry products will enjoy this learned discussion by Adam and Jeff about the BRICS organization--an international collection of "bad actors" who have tried to set up an alternative banking and trading system. Although founded by Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa, BRICS is dominated by China, who wants to supplant the United States as the numero uno actor in the global trading system. More to the point, BRICS wants to replace the U.S. dollar with some sort of alternate currency such as the Chinese renminbi. Jeff points out that China is not exactly known for its transparent financial system or its enthusiasm for intellectual property rights--both of which would be needed to attract a greater share of trade denominated in renminbi. Adam points out that BRICS is far more dependent on trade with the U.S. and the other Western powers than the reverse and may not be a very strong alliance if those markets were to be closed off. Jeff also wonders why many countries would want to join an organization that is geared to benefiting its largest members; they can obtain observer status in BRICS which confers no real benefits but imposes no real burdens. Observer nations also receive nifty BRICS t-shirts and athletic wear.

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Having completed a review of numerous academic periodicals that feature thought-provoking articles and scantily-clad models, Adam and Jeff offer their insights as to how best to end the war in Ukraine. Jeff points out that the so-called security guarantees being bandied about by England and France are not necessarily cast in stone but are "situational" and can disappear when a new government is elected or the existing government simply weasels out of its obligations by claiming that the guarantee does not apply to a particular situation. Adam and Jeff discuss the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in which Russia, among others, agreed not to use military force against Ukraine "except in matters of self defense." Fast forward to 2014 and Russia apparently concluded that invading Crimea did not constitute a violation of the Memorandum because the Kremlin really wanted to have a port on the Black Sea. More recently, President Putin decided in 2022 that he really wanted the rest of Ukraine so he went ahead and launched an all-out invasion that has since bogged down and become a war of attrition--which has caused Russia itself to suffer more than a million military casualties. Jeff believes that the only likely outcome is a sort of "frozen peace" in which a permanent ceasefire occurs--possibly without a recognition of changed borders. As far as security guarantees are concerned, both Adam and Jeff feel that Ukraine is the only actor that can ensure its own security.

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Kamala Harris' recent announcement that she would not be seeking to become the next governor of California was not a total surprise given the shellacking she suffered in the 2024 presidential election coupled with the squandering of a $1 billion campaign fund in 3-months. Many anonymous donors have said that they do not view her as a viable candidate for future presidential runs but acknowledge that she would be the leading candidate for governor in California due to her name recognition and the fact that she is unburdened by what has been and what will be. Adam and Jeff, noted experts in career opportunities for ex-presidents, suggest that she might be better suited for a university position as a linguistics professor or perhaps a name partner at a leading law firm if she could be locked into a sound proofed corner office without access to a phone or email. Turning to Gavin Newsom, the Omaha Bugle correspondents both concede that whoever is the head of the Democratic Party in California is virtually immune from challenge because policy results simply don't matter very much. Adam and Jeff believe that Newsom's disastrous record would not play well at the national level but they do acknowledge that his hair will not move even in hurricane-force winds.

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Would-be Fed governor applicants Adam and Jeff consider whether the incessant demands by American presidents that the Fed lower interest rates really makes any difference. Jeff points out that the historical interest rates for the past century or so have averaged around 6% to 8% with a few outliers in which rates were extraordinarily high or low. Politicians want lower rates because it reduces the costs of borrowing which theoretically causes people to borrow more money to build homes and factories and improve productivity. Or maybe it does nothing at all in the end. Adam, who is very accurate on occasion, suggests that the Fed funds rate has very little to do with the actual interest rates that banks charge their customers. However, Jeff argues that the Fed acts as a signal-caller for the national economy and that its actions carry tremendous psychological weight when lenders are deciding whether to raise or lower the rates for credit cards, for example, from a comparatively low 28% to a lofty 33% rate. Both Adam and Jeff feel that the fact that the dollar, like every other modern currency, is not tied to any actual tangible asset such as gold, creates enormous potential for banker mischief--which has resulted in a 96% reduction of purchasing power in the dollar in the past century.

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In the wake of the American bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, Adam and Jeff discuss the apparent lack of response by either Russia or China to the attack. Adam believes that the lack of response is due to the reluctance of both countries to call attention to themselves due to their failure to respond in any meaningful way. Jeff suggests that neither Russia or China have any type of mutual defense treaty obligations with Iran, because they would both be concerned that Tehran would pull them into a war with Israel and the United States. Indeed, any patronage by Russia and China of Iran may be nothing more than a coldhearted calculation of influence buying in the Middle East. Iran could be seen by both Russia and China as a foothold whereby they can challenge the hegemony of the United States in the Middle East without getting their hands too dirty. Jeff suggests the muted responses of both China and Russia to the bombings reflects the increasingly poor prospects facing both countries due to declining economic growth rates, declining populations, and a generally deteriorating geostrategic position in the international system.

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Adam and Jeff turn their attention to a recent report that the United Nations has lowered their predictions that the global population in the year 2100 will be at least a billion less than past estimates. Adam and Jeff return to a recurring theme that demographers, like everyone else, get caught up in the trends and forget to question the long-term viability of those very same trends. Jeff points out that many demographers take a bird's eye view of population trends whereas others ask individuals about their preferences and draw their own conclusions. In short, it appears that most women do not want to have 6 or 7 children and sit in a grass hut all day long, instead preferring to pursue careers and other opportunities that were not always available to them in the past. This mystifying trends appears to have surprised most demographers who have had to drastically revise downward their predictions about the world's population in the coming decades. In the spirit of efficiency, Jeff predicts that there will be 7 billion people in the world in the year 2100, pointing out that he did not waste any time hiring an expensive, credentialed staff that was going to get the prediction wrong anyways.