The Invisible Air
That ship won't sail.
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We’ll be back on Monday. Merry Christmas to one and all. “Rejoice greatly”.
1. The New York Times has posted a damning portrait of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and President Trump. The reporting that produced the piece seems thorough. In response, Mr. Trump described The New York Times as “a threat to national security.” (Source: nytimes.com)
2. The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in the third quarter, fueled by robust consumer spending and a sharp rebound in exports, though momentum appears to have faded amid the rising cost of living and recent government shutdown. The stronger-than-expected increase in gross domestic product last quarter, which was reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, also reflected continued investment by businesses in equipment and artificial intelligence. Government spending, mostly on defense, also provided a lift. Gross domestic product increased at a 4.3% annualized rate last quarter, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2023, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its initial estimate of third-quarter GDP. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP would rise at a 3.3% pace. The economy grew at a 3.8% pace in the second quarter. (Source: reuters.com)
3. U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated in December amid deepening anxiety over jobs and income, consistent with economists’ expectations for a sharp moderation in consumer spending after it surged in the third quarter. The Conference Board said on Tuesday its consumer confidence index fell 3.8 points to 89.1 this month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index at 91.0. (Source: reuters.com)
4. The United States military has dispatched a number of transport and cargo planes to the Caribbean this week, as President Trump continues to ramp up military pressure on President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, whom Mr. Trump has threatened with military action. Over the past week, C-17 heavy-lift cargo planes — which are largely used for transporting military troops and equipment — conducted at least 16 flights to Puerto Rico from American military bases, according to flight tracking data reviewed by The New York Times. The C-17s flew to Puerto Rico from bases in New Mexico, Illinois, Vermont, Florida, Arizona, Utah, Washington State and Japan. It was unclear how many troops or other equipment were transported aboard those flights. Defense officials declined to comment. The United States Central Command has said that some 15,000 troops are already deployed in the Caribbean, one of the country’s largest naval deployments in recent years. On Monday, Mr. Trump called it a “massive armada” and said that he was planning action on land in Venezuela “soon.” The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Tuesday that the United States has also recently moved special-operations aircraft to the Caribbean. (Sources: nytimes.com, wsj.com)
5. The US fleet of F-35s, the most sophisticated stealth fighter jet in the world, was only available to fly half of the time because of poor maintenance by Lockheed Martin Corp., a government watchdog said. The average availability rate of F-35s throughout fiscal year 2024 was just 50% partly because the Pentagon “did not consistently hold Lockheed Martin accountable for poor performance related to F-35 sustainment,” according to a report from the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General. While “the aircraft were not available to fly half of the time” and the maintenance meant the jets didn’t meet “minimum military service requirements,” the Pentagon still paid Lockheed $1.7 billion without any economic adjustment, according to the report, issued on Saturday, 19 December. (Source: bloomberg.com. Bold/italics mine.)
6. On December 22, President Trump announced a new class of “battleships” that will be 100 times more powerful than previous battleships and larger than any other surface combatant on the oceans. The ship’s purported characteristics are so extraordinary that the announcement will surely spark immense discussion. However, there is little need for said discussion because this ship will never sail. It will take years to design, cost $9 billion each to build, and contravene the Navy’s new concept of operations, which envisions distributed firepower. A future administration will cancel the program before the first ship hits the water. Read the rest. (Source: csis.org)
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