Retiring Guy's Digest

Sunday, March 23, 2025

U.S. tourism industry takes a hit from Trump in 2025

The consequences of an outbreak of Orange Idiocy

Headline: Barron's, 3/22/2025

Elodie Mazein reports:

In just a few weeks, the US tourism outlook has clouded as a result of some of President Donald Trump's policy decisions, which have angered some foreign visitors and prompted fear of a surge in prices and a stronger dollar.
Foreign traveler arrivals in the United States are expected to decline by 5.1 percent in 2025 compared to last year, against a previously projected increase of 8.8 percent, Tourism Economics said in a report published late last month.
Their spending is expected to slide 10.9 percent.
Since the report's publication, "the situation has deteriorated further," and the outcome will likely be even worse, Tourism Economics president Adam Sacks said, citing "the effects of antipathy towards the US."

First Felon Donald Trump fiddles and USDA secretary Brooke Rollins blathers while bird flu virus mutates apace

Trump AI-generated image: Stable Diffusion

Screengrab: WATT Poultry

Headline: SciTech Daily, 3/22/2025

A research team at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has used advanced computational modeling to study how the H5N1 bird flu virus interacts with the immune system. Their findings show that the virus is evolving in ways that help it evade immune defenses, whether from past infection or vaccination, in mammals.

Published on March 17 in eBioMedicine (a journal within The Lancet family), the study highlights urgent concerns. As avian influenza continues to spread globally, it poses not only a serious risk to agriculture but also an increasing threat to human health.

The researchers found a clear trend: antibodies are becoming less effective against newer strains of H5N1. This “worsening antibody affinity” suggests that future versions of the virus may be even more difficult for the immune system to recognize and fight, raising the risk of transmission to and among humans. [emphasis added]

First Felon Donald Trump fiddles and USDA secretary Brooke Rollins blathers while H5N1 continues to circulate in cattle. (3/18/2025)

GET ME REWRITE: Serial liar Donald Trump passes the buck and throws Marco Rubio under the bus

From Heather Cox Richardson's 3/22/2025 Letter from an American:

When asked when he signed the proclamation invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, by which Trump claimed that Venezuela is invading the United States by sending alleged gang members over the border, Trump answered: “I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it.” Trump was on his way to his golf club in New Jersey, and seemed to be handing off responsibility for the declaration to someone else, perhaps Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Other people handled it,” he said. “But Marco Rubio’s done a great job. And he wanted them out, and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.”

But, as Matt Viser said in the Washington Post today, on Friday White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump personally signed the proclamation, and his signature appears on the document in the Federal Register of official government documents. The gap between the two versions of events raises questions about who is in charge of White House policy. [emphasis added]

Marco Rubio, still Donald Trump's punching bag:

March 2025

Spineless Marco Rubio cowers and caves after he betrays the Free World on live TV. (3/4)

Missing anything, Marco? (3/1)

February 2025

First Felon Donald Trumps poll parrot Marco Rubio talks out of both sides of his beak. (2/21/)

Marco Rubio Clown Show at U.S. Department of State Sycophancy. (2/13)

Meet First Felon Donald Trumps Secretary of Sycophancy, poll-parrot Marco Rubio. (2/8)

First Felon Donald Trump's clown show puppet Mario Rubio makes a great fit for his boss's small hands. (2/6)

2024

Cynical and dangerous move: Trump picks Marco Rubio as Secretary of State to make room for his daughter-in-law Lara in the U.S. Senate. (11/15)

2023