Trump, turns out, is a switch-hitter.  But not in the way some democrats have been claiming.

While being bashed by the serious left for playing golf in Scotland this weekend, turns out  the Driver-in-Chief landed a bigly trade deal over the weekend.

Here’s the guts of it in headline form:  The EU plans to completely phase out Russian gas, replacing it with American gas as part of a trade deal with the United States, – EU Commission President after reaching trade agreement with U.S.

Which is likely one  reason that early today stock market futures were up building on last week’s advance.

But here’s the thing:  Is this about to turn into a “Buy the rumor, Sell the news” week?

The Federal Reserve’s FOMC gavels in tomorrow. And it’s Maalox for lunch in money circles Wednesday when the Fed decision rolls.

For now, “smart money” is on the Fed holding rates where they were.

But risks loom:  Fed boss Jerome Powell does a half-hour of “stand-up economics” following the Fed rate call.  We expect he might throw cold water on expectations for a September FOMC cut.

THAT, kiddies, lands Trump at the end of the rough.

Presidents like to get “tough sledding” out of the way – when it can be blamed on predecessors – during the first year of their term in office.  Which leaves plenty of “wiggle-time” to set things right.

Europe is trying to cast the deal as a hard-fought negotiation.  Europe’s Iron Lady flattered dealmaker Trump to fragile trade truce.

We hear the rumors and  read the fringe. Our sense is that Euro-leaders are “crapping spiky things” because the rumor mill thinks somewhere in the Epstein “non-documents” is enough evidence to throw the Euro Powers out of continental control.

If the rumors and suppositions hold – that some of the St. James Island victims were Russian teens (and pre’s) – Putin would be pissed.  Enough to wage a long-running assault on the Euro-powers to redefine what “having your way with” really means.

This ain’t over – not by a long shot. Let’s see how Powell addresses the tee Wednesday afternoon.

For today, Dallas Fed regional numbers for coffee hour mid-morning.

Ahead: How will Trump do on the next hole? U.S. and China Meet as Trade Truce Nears Expiration.

Law-Faring 2.0?

Is a lesson being prepared for dems on how law-faring works?  Trump Claims Democrats Admit To ‘Probably Illegally’ Paying for Endorsements From Beyoncé, Oprah, and Al Sharpton.

So we asked the pet Golems about it:

“There’s no case law prohibiting payment to a famous person in exchange for a federal campaign endorsement, provided:

• The transaction is fully disclosed as a campaign expenditure,
• It’s not disguised as something else (like production costs),
• And it’s not coordinated improperly via corporate or PAC funding (though Citizens United allows independent expenditures with disclosure).

Bottom line? It’s legal—with transparency and compliance.”

Thing is, to the Ure Clan’s simplistic (read: honest) view of the law?
Citizens United was one of the biggest judicial blunders in history.

Why? Because it effectively said non-human entities have human rights.

And that’s dangerous how?

Well—if corporations can have (once-human only) rights… then so can AI.

And that is where humans lose their primacy.

Still, give it a year or three.  The charade that “voting matters” will persist as an artifact for marketing purposes.  It won’t be real.  Money rules, not people.  (Or, are you just slow?)

Takeout Tip: This whole “Who has human rights” confusion comes up in other stories when you know what to look for and think about ’em:  Sparks Fly in Harvard v. Trump Legal Face-off.

Today’s Scrollerizer

Maybe it was middle-aged White guys after all?  Was “Woke” right or is this a statistical outlier? Michigan Walmart stabbing suspect identified by police.

Woke is still wrong on most things, though: Colorado school tried to transition child without parental consent.

Then there’s the “urge to merge” down on Wall Street: Report: Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern could reach merger deal by next week. m The Southern-Union?

Details for Geeks: Starlink Outage: Unraveling the Technical Glitch Behind the Disruption

The science of blowing smoke? Laboratory aircraft studies pollution caused by forest fires in Europe

Need another scandal to fill out your summer reading list? CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Declassify Explosive Classified Annex of Durham Report in the Coming Weeks.

History continues repeating itself: Kamala Harris reportedly “DEVASTATED” as no one shows up to her event !! Um, like they did for the election?

Around the Ranch:  Weekend Lab Notes

Off on a geeky tangent to begin the week…

If you missed the ShopTalk Sunday column this week (“Shame on you, go to your corner!“) there was a hint or two at what’s going on in the lab here.  The golem notes go like this:

“In our ongoing research into coherence fields in high-frequency (HF) RF systems, we are exploring the impact of coil termination strategies—specifically, the difference between connecting the unused far end of a tapped coil, versus leaving that end unterminated.

These two approaches represent distinct electromagnetic boundary conditions: the former allows current continuity and magnetic field closure, while the latter can support floating potential nodes, standing wave discontinuities, or potentially scalar field excitation under certain conditions.

Our hypothesis is that coherence-enhancing effects may arise from asymmetric or deliberately incomplete terminations, which can modulate the geometry and phase structure of near-field regions in unconventional ways. This subtle detail—often overlooked in conventional designs—may hold key implications for the generation and detection of non-transverse wave components in experimental HF systems.”

What our research continues to find is:

“The two strategies—shorting the unused far end (connecting it to create a closed loop) versus leaving it unterminated (open)—are evaluated based on their impact on coil quality factor (Q), efficiency, loss resistance, and overall radiation performance. Textbooks emphasize practical design trade-offs, with equations like coil loss resistance $ R_C = X_L / Q $ (where $ X_L $ is reactance) highlighting how termination affects losses. Boundary conditions are implicitly tied to wave reflection: a shorted end creates a low-impedance reflection point, while an open end results in high-impedance reflection, potentially leading to standing waves or voltage maxima.

In the ARRL Antenna Book (e.g., 19th Edition), shorting unused turns is discouraged for tuning because it degrades Q due to circulating currents in the shorted loop, increasing effective resistance and losses.”

Well, fine EXCEPT that old-school ham radio transmitters (like the Johnson Ranger) use various shorting schemes for the undesired coil taps. Leaving us unclear as to whether the open (non-terminated) plate tank would have different Q (*and hence different spurious characteristics) than the terminated coil.

That (and trying to figure out where the break is on half my north solar panel array is) will likely comprise a lot of sweat today.

With 100+ coming mid week, we’re quickly getting into two-showers-a-day territory… This weather stinks.

Write when it cools off,

[email protected] /ac7x