Notes on September 1st, 2025

Smugglers sneaking dank Cali kush into the UK, and more

Hello! A happy Labor Day to me, as this is the first paid holiday I’ve had in close to four years! We’re going to keep it brief today, but there’s always something to talk about, isn’t there?

Let’s start with weekend chartbooks. Saturday's is pretty bleak, with charts showing signs of stagflation in the American economy thanks to Trump's tariffs. There’s also a lovely little paragraph of film criticism clipped for us talking about Gaslight, the 1944 film that inspired the term used for the emotional abuse tactic. Sunday is a little more fun, with an interesting chart on global financial investment. It seems that Europe isn’t getting nearly as much investment from foreign countries as they used to, an ominous sign considering that Trump is forcing Europe to invest in America. If foreign investors are gone, and domestic investment has to be exported to America, then what economy will Europe have? There’s also a good bit on the etymology of the word “fabric” as well as an anecdote with data showing the complete dominance of TSMC in the advanced semi-conductor market. To complete the set, our Labor Day chartbook isn't particularly substantial, containing a bit of poetry analysis that isn’t for me. I did quite enjoy the meme he shared of Weber being compared with Marx, but I don’t exactly have a good handle on Weber yet which I sorely need to fix. The note about population expansion in the Sahel is well attested elsewhere.

This rather dangerous article from the Times analyzes the growing weapons base of cartel activity in the northern states of Mexico. I call it dangerous because it seems to implicitly be making a liberal justification for Trump’s promise to begin waging war on cartel targets in Mexico against the government’s wishes. While there are many descriptions of capabilities and attacks, what the article lacks is a clear discussion of who these cartel members actually are, what their aims are, and where exactly they’re getting these high-powered weapons. It’s long been known to be the case that sections of the federal government, especially black ops groups, have ties to these cartel members whether that be on their official business or on the side. While I’m concerned that criminals in Mexico are easily able to make RPGs, weaponized drones and IEDs, I’m even more concerned that America is going to solve the sea of lead flowing south with simply more violence that will fail to resolve the problems. Mowing off the tops off the dandelions in your yard periodically isn’t going to solve your weed problem.

Nearly half a million federal workers were stripped of their collective bargaining rights in August, a horrific blow to the labor movement in the United States. Essentially, their right to a union is no longer protected under the law, and therefore their contracts have been ripped to shreds. In any sane country, or many insane ones, the response would be a massive, illegal wild-cat strike to refuse such an imposition against the rights of workers. Unfortunately, I find it unlikely that even the largest union disbandment that I’ve ever heard of will inspire such action. If we stay on this trajectory, we may outright lose the right to unionize in this country. Bleak times.

This article about a lawsuit against Exxon for overstating its ability to recycle plastic is now being Uno-reversed by a countersuit that's claiming that the opposing litigants are "defaming Exxon" by accusing it spuriously of the recycling issue. I wish the article went more into investigating the claim by the California DA and the NGOs involved, rather than the legal minutia of whether the case should be tried in Texas or California. Texas has a famously business-friendly judicial system, so I do accept the need to discuss legal minutia, but it seems far more pressing to resolve the matter of Exxon failing to recycle.

This article discusses the uneasy tension between Donald Trump's use of the National Guard to enforce "law and order" in DC's streets and the GOP's fanatical love of the 2nd Amendment. Guns are both a fundamental American right yet their presence must be scoured from the streets of our capital. How to square the circle? The easy answer for avoiding base ire would be to simply only take guns from Black people and Latinos, which seems to be what is de facto happening but they can’t quite openly say this. Of additional interest are the significant budget cuts faced by the AFT and DEA, whose efforts are mainly being targeted towards immigration enforcement at the moment. Do you recall the article a little bit ago about the surge in military-grade hardware in use by Mexico’s cartels? Yeah…

This Times article is just straight up insane. The writer decides to take the milquetoast liberal stance of "thanking" Trump for Federal troops policing cities to its logical extreme and questions why more mayors, especially in Red states, aren't clamoring for the same. While at first that sounds like the fun sort of “gotcha” on the level of Cheeto jokes, it’s backed up by quotes from the Mayor of DC citing the reduction in crime. While ultimately enough sources are quoted to build the case against the idea, this sort of thought experiment is caving to fascism on the simplest level.

Long-time Jacobin contributor David Moscrop opines here on the direction we're heading towards with society's understanding of employment given AI developments. I’m not as bullish on AI’s capabilities of replacing labor as Moscrop is, but I do agree that we must be planning toward a future where millions in white collar work are made redundant. Even without further AI advances, we’re seeing this reality in the United States already as junior computer programmers are no longer in demand and long-time Federal public servants are sacked summarily. And, indeed, if socialism ever actually succeeded in the United States many workers unnecessary under the new social system such as insurance claims adjusters or telemarketers would need to find new work. I appreciate Moscrop’s insistence on the human dignity of work and the pointlessness of labor organizing in a world without much work, but that much unemployment tends to bring more existential societal issues than he’s realizing.

This article from Liza Featherstone serves as a reminder this Labor Day to celebrate the idea of rest from work. She begins with a long personal anecdote of a 9 day break she took to visit relatives and enjoy a slower pace of life, and then extends this to the inadequacies of the American state to ensure enough Americans are getting time off. We take the well-trod path of pointing out how much better Europeans have it with their months-long summer vacations, though unfortunately I do think we’re reaching the limits of this argument. As Europe’s economic decline truly sets in after years of austerity failed to stave off stagnation, we’re going to see Europeans work harder and harder to keep affording the same lifestyle. Even France is talking about removing a few state holidays! We’re going to need justifications beyond appealing to the EU.

China, India and Russia are all part of a summit in Shanghai this week. India is usually too petty about its territorial disputes with China to buddy up so willingly with the PRC, but it seems that Trump’s high tariffs have pushed Modi into a fun little troika with Putin and Xi. All of this stands more from naked self-interest more than anything substantial, granted. If self-interest shifts, so will these states. But for now, this slice of BRICS could shape up to be a substantial opposition to the US-ruled global order. Mostly unrelated, but I wonder how the military parade is going to look on Wednesday? I imagine it’ll be a bit more vital than Trump’s lazy plodding parade from a few months ago.

This relatively sunny article focuses on how Bad Bunny's long stadium residency in San Juan led to a small boom in the Puerto Rican economy. It’s mostly a cheery photo diary of a fun summer in San Juan, but it is insightful in how a tourist economy works. I hope that, given the always-temporary thing that this was, that local business owners saved up the money to get through the minor bust they’re about to experience.

America is experiencing a TNT shortage, as most of the world market's supply goes to equipping Ukraine. The US, it seems, off-shored TNT since the production process also results in hazardous waste. Unfortunately, this proved to be a short-sighted move as China and Russia have shut down exports to the United States and Poland, our last supplier, is busy selling to Ukraine. While the DoD still seems to be getting its fix at a trickle, it’s becoming difficult for mining and heavy industry to get the explosives they need to operate. While there are suggestions of domestic made explosives that could fill in, its unclear how long that might take to scale up. We might have a TNT factory by 2028, but I don’t place bets on major construction projects in the United States. #Postindustrial problems

Rudy Giuliani was in a weird car accident over the weekend. Apparently his car had stopped to help a woman who was suffering under domestic violence (stranded, apparently?) on the side of the road, and then as they were pulling out their Ford Bronco after help arrived the car was struck by a nineteen-year old in a Honda. The disgraced mayor expects to make a full recovery, but it’s so weird that he keeps emphasizing his good samaritan behavior in this press release. We’re not going to start liking you again Rudy, now clear out of that hospital bed so someone with an at least neutral net effect on society can get some attention.

A 6.0 earthquake struck the east of Afghanistan, with hundreds expected dead. The aid process is further complicated by the Taliban, who as international pariahs for their extremist gender politics are able to draw little international aid for their country. As a particularly mountainous place, the country is uniquely vulnerable to earthquakes causing deadly landslides. Afghanistan was already in need of significantly more international aid than it's been getting on a regular basis; it’s quite bleak to think that further help will not be arriving.

In one last very funny addendum to the article on Mexican cartels earlier, it seems that British police are having a very hard time stopping people from smuggling weed from California on regular commercial flights. I can already see parallels with the Mexican drug trade as its understood in the states. I was particularly amused by the unsuspecting mules bringing mysterious suitcases to the UK as well as British police claiming it must be an “industrial operation” because the luggage has mostly looked the same. It probably is just the cheapest available luggage on Amazon, but what do I know? Anyway, I’m very curious to see how drug smuggling from a collapsing global hegemon proceeds.

That’s all folks, but a very happy Labor Day to my Americans in the comments! I’ll put in a little more effort for the Real Day in May.