David Passmore
@davidpassmore.bsky.social
Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, Penn State (davidpassmore.net). Lifetime member, Battle of Homestead Foundation (battleofhomestead.org/). In Pittsburgh, but Niagara Falls, New York, native. Elderly Stylite (www.britannica.com/topic/stylite).
Daphy Michel, a Haitian immigrant was murdered by ICE officers when she was released from ICE custody in 20°F weather wearing just summer clothes. Just three days later, she was found dead at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh due to hypothermia. Pennsylvania officials ruled her death a homicide.
HATE IS PERSISTENT On this day in 1944, Anne Frank and family were captured after two years hiding from Nazis.
RETIRED JUDGES STUMP FOR THE RULE OF LAW Thirty sitting and retired judges, lawyers, and advocates toured from western Pennsylvania through Ohio and into Michigan to hand out pocket constitutions. They asked: What does the rule of law mean in everyday life? portside.org/2026-08-03/r...
As Retired US Judges, We’re Not Used to Speaking Out. But We Cannot Be Silent
Last October, US lawyers, judges and rule-of-law advocates traveled to Warsaw as guests of the Carter Center. Neither of us was among them. But when our colleagues returned, their stories inspired us....
portside.org
REPRODUCIBLE BUT EMPLOYED Automation can reduce the value of work before it eliminates jobs. See www.nber.org/papers/w35559
Replaceable but Employed: Automation and the Meaning of Work
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
HOW DO TARIFFS PASS THROUGH TO CONSUMER PRICES? A National Bureau of Economic Research report at www.nber.org/papers/w35561. I created a graphic explainer of this report,
TARIFFS MAKE CHINA STRONGER "The president’s tariffs and trade deals often advantage China over alternative suppliers like Vietnam or Mexico....The tariff rate for China is identical to the rate on exports from Southeast Asia." tiny.cc/tarToChina
A HORMUZ FIX WON'T FIX IT 20 MMb/d of petroleum products from the Strait of Hormuz, 1/5 of global consumption. Another 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade also passes through the corridor. Physical damage from the war will limit the region’s export capacity for years. bit.ly/4pT6n8R
Go With The Flow – Major Changes Disrupting Global Crude Oil and Refined Product Flows
Since early 2026, disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz and shifts in Venezuelan exports have shifted crude oil and product flows from their historical norms. On the U.S. domestic front, closures of Wes...
bit.ly
MONEY LAUNDERING .....gosh, we almost failed to notice thehill.com/business/600...
Capital One says Trump Organization accounts were closed after money laundering review
Lawyers for Capital One on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by President Trump’s trust over its closing of Trump Organization-affiliated accounts years ago, saying it did s…
thehill.com
"Ill deeds do not prosper, and the weak confound the strong." - The Odyssey, Book VIII: Banquet in the house of Alcinous
THEY USED TO SAY NOTHING LASTS YOUR FUTURE TURNS TO PAST Do you remember when it all began? It seemed impossible we'd ever understand That a day would come when it would all be a memory. ~ LAWRENCE (tiny.cc/PastL)
LOWER CRUDE PRICES & PRODUCTION IN FUTURE? rbnenergy.com/daily-posts/...
Waiting on the World to Change – Global Turmoil Spikes Energy Markets, But Sharply Lower Crude Oil Prices, Production Could be Just Ahead
Geopolitical developments have resulted in perhaps the most chaotic and unstable energy market in the last 50 years, but sharply lower global crude oil prices and a rollback in U.S. production could b...
rbnenergy.com
People WILL galvanize over issues that affect them locally! newrepublic.com/article/2133...
The Data Center Protests Looked Typical. They Were Anything But.
Why a “National Day of Action” uniting right and left against the techies portends a potential sea change in American politics.
newrepublic.com
BANKS ARE IMMIGRATION OFFICERS? "Regulators are pressuring banks to cut off anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant....The Trump administration has increasingly weaponized the financial system against its opponents. www.cato.org/blog/debanki...
Is Debanking the New Immigration Policy?
Financial regulators are the latest agents to be recruited in the Trump administration’s war on immigration.
cato.org
"SAVING AMERICA'S STORY"...is a Trump attempt to "de-woke" the Smithsonian. The report wants “a label at every entrance that reads: ‘Warning: the exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don’t want you to love your country.’” See heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-27-2026
FROM THE GALLERY OF SPANIELS IN THE PRESIDENT'S CABINET “The rich are in general slaves to fear and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a spaniel.” ~ Thomas Paine, "Common Sense, 1776, p. 51 WEARING THE FACES THEY KEEP IN A JAR BY THE DOOR
IMMIGRATION/PRODUCTIVITY/GROWTH There is a "large literature documenting the positive productivity and growth effects of immigration, especially high-skilled immigration." www.nber.org/papers/w35523
Immigration and Macroeconomic Outcomes in OECD Countries
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
AND, AS A FOLLOW-UP, SOME MORE INFO ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF SHEEP.... sandersinstitute.org/technofeudal...
REDUCE YOUR RUMINANT FARTING.... ...OR maybe tame your grandpa, too, so you can tamp him down to go to church with you. Ya got yer bovidae, ovines, caprinae, & cervidae, right? And, teenage boys are in this family, too, it seems. Climate change is real. www.beefmagazine.com/farm-busines...
New compound shows promise for cattle methane reduction
Rumin8 tests novel “prodrug,” which is converted into bromoform inside the rumen after ingestion.
beefmagazine.com
AUTHORITY TO TARIFF "Let’s be very clear here: tariffs are revenue measures, and the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives the power to raise revenue to Congress, not the president." heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-26-2026
July 26, 2026
From the time he took office in January 2025, Trump and his cronies have not simply challenged laws or constitutional provisions.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
"Rosy-fingered Dawn" (rhododaktylos Eos), "the child of morning rose from the Ocean, her fingers bright with roses, to bring light to immortals and mortal men."
Mentor, speaking to Nestor and Telemachus, “Death is certain, and when a man’s hour is come, not even the gods can save him, no matter how fond they are of him.” — The Odyssey, Book III, while visiting Nestor at Pylos
THE ODYSSEY I saw the Christopher Nolan production of The Odyssey on Wednesday. My reaction: drive.google.com/file/d/1K6vq...
The Odyssey Bards do not make the ills they sing of --Telemachus to his mother Penelope as she listens to sad and horrid tales from the wars
THE POWER OF PREDICTION MARKETS An interview by the Cato Institute with Robin Hanson, one of the original developers of information (aka "prediction") markets. www.cato.org/multimedia/c... My infographic explainer of the interview is attached.
IRVIN MOORE ...an amazing man who participates in morning Zoom sessions with men in central Pennsylvania. youtu.be/Byl4oNFRS3I This film is just a taste of his life story. See: www.statecollege.com/articles/loc... and pennstatermag.com/moore
Life, After Life - Documentary
YouTube video by Mo Almo
youtu.be
HANDLING YOUR CARCASS "No two beef carcasses arrive at a processing plant in exactly the same condition" A solution is hybrid automation: automating repetitive, hazardous & consistency-sensitive tasks while retaining skilled workers for judgment-based decisions. AI vision systems in the future.
23 JULY 2026: FUTURE & SPOT OIL PRICES INCREASE Futures (for delivery in the future) & spot markets (for delivery today) for West Texas Intermediate (crude oil on one chart) and Brent.
Paid Parental Leave Would Strengthen Families & Economy at Minimal Cost keystoneresearch.org/wp-content/u...
DEFINE "UNEMPLOYMENT"? Concepts and measures of unemployment drive policy and resource allocation in the U.S. The unemployed are not simply people not working. Understand how the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates this measure: usafacts.org/answers/what...
What is the unemployment rate in the US right now? | USAFacts
Unemployment was at 4.2% in June 2026. That's a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the prior month. The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force who are actively looking for wo...
usafacts.org
