He playing tomorrow?

Current Market Overview​

As of October 2024, the global black pepper market remains volatile. Prices surged earlier this year due to supply chain disruptions, adverse weather, and increased demand, but recent weeks have seen some stabilization in key regions. In India and Indonesia, black pepper prices dropped slightly, driven by increased imports and reduced domestic demand. However, the overall market remains tight, particularly in Vietnam, a major producer, which continues to face supply constraints due to unpredictable weather.

Currently, black pepper prices in Vietnam and India remain elevated, though they have dropped by 2-3% in recent weeks, particularly in Kerala and southern Vietnam. Despite this slight decrease, demand remains strong, especially from sectors like food processing and nutraceuticals in the U.S., a major importer.

U.S. Market Insights​

The U.S. remains a key player in global black pepper demand. In 2024, the U.S. black pepper market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4%, with the market value expected to reach USD 760.6 million by 2034. This growth is fueled by the rising use of black pepper in food products like sauces, ready-to-eat meals, and spice blends, as well as its increasing role in dietary supplements.

Health supplements containing black pepper are gaining popularity in the U.S. due to its role in enhancing nutrient absorption. Piperine, a key component in black pepper, is often combined with turmeric to improve bioavailability, which is driving its demand in the nutraceutical sector.

October 2024 Price Trends​

• India: Prices decreased by about 2% due to increased imports and lower domestic demand from the food processing sector.
• Vietnam: Prices have remained stable but are still 15% higher than last year due to ongoing supply challenges.
• Indonesia: The weakening Indonesian Rupiah has stabilized prices after fluctuations earlier this year.

Supply Chain and Production​

Global black pepper production continues to face challenges. The International Pepper Community (IPC) has reported an 11% decline in production compared to 2020 levels, primarily due to adverse weather and reduced investments. However, efforts in regions like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in India to ramp up production could offer some relief to the global supply chain in the medium term.

Brazil, another major producer, has reported recovery in exports after earlier droughts. This improvement could help stabilize the market by early 2025.

Market Forecast for the Rest of 2024​

For the remainder of the year, the black pepper market is expected to remain volatile but somewhat stable, with potential relief in early 2025. Key trends include:

• Price Stability: Prices are expected to remain elevated but stable, with potential decreases if production in India and Brazil continues to increase. However, any adverse weather could reverse this trend.
• Rising Demand: U.S. demand for black pepper, particularly in the food processing and nutraceutical sectors, will continue to grow, which could keep pressure on prices.
• Global Supply Constraints: Despite efforts to increase production in India, global supply constraints, particularly from Vietnam and Indonesia, will likely persist.

As of October 2024, the black pepper market shows slight easing in prices but remains under pressure from high demand. U.S. buyers should expect continued volatility, with prices potentially stabilizing in early 2025 as production ramps up in India and Brazil. For businesses, staying proactive with market trends and securing pricing during favorable conditions will be essential to navigating these ongoing challenges.



Not good news for BBQ pitmasters.... ☹️

Deplorable!:

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and a former state senator joined President Donald Trump's lawsuit against pollster Ann Selzer, the Des Moines Register and the newspaper's parent company, Gannett.
The suit alleges Selzer, her company, The Register and Gannett committed consumer fraud by publishing a poll three days before the Nov. 5 general election that showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three percentage points in the Republican-led state. Trump ultimately won Iowa by more than 13 percentage points.




That Iowa Poll also reported Iowans in the 1st and 3rd Districts preferred a Democrat over a Republican to represent them in Congress. The poll did not include candidate names. In Miller-Meeks' race in southeast Iowa, 53% of surveyed likely voters said they preferred a Democrat and 37% said they preferred a Republican.

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Miller-Meeks ended up winning the race after a recount by two tenths of a percentage point, fewer than 800 votes of about 427,000 cast.

The suit alleges polling in Miller-Meeks' race in the 1st District was, likewise, not a "miss," but "intentional wrongdoing" and "manufactured for the purpose of skewing election results in favor of Democrats," violating the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits deceptive advertising.
Miller-Meeks alleges that the poll "substantially contribute(d) to forcing Representative Miller-Meeks into an electoral struggle."

"Representative Miller-Meeks never should have been subjected to a recount — and a costly recount at that — and would not have been if not for the combined impact of the Harris Poll and the Congressional Poll on her race," the suit states.


The suit alleges that the Trump campaign and other Republicans "were forced to divert campaign and financial resources to Iowa" because of the poll.
"Proud to join President Donald J. Trump in a lawsuit against DM Register Pollster Ann Selzer and media enablers for manipulative, dishonest and fake election polls," Miller-Meeks said in an emailed statement.

Former state Sen. Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale who lost reelection to the senate, has also joined the lawsuit. The Iowa Poll did not survey for statehouse or state senate races.
The suit also argues the suit should move back to state district court. The suit was initially filed in Polk County District Court, but at the request of Gannett was kicked to federal court.

“On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump proclaimed from the Oval Office his administration’s commitment to protecting the free speech rights of the American people," Nick Klinefeldt, Des Moines Register counsel, said in an emailed statement. "This lawsuit, which seeks to suppress political speech protected at the core of the First Amendment, flies in the face of the President’s promise. The amended complaint filed only exposes this hypocrisy and reinforces that this case has no merit."

The Register and Gannett plan to continue defending themselves against the suit, Klinefeldt said. Selzer is being represented by free speech advocacy organization The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

"Mr. Trump's lawsuit, now joined by two others, does not change the core truth that the First Amendment protects speech about elections. We look forward to vindicating the First Amendment, and Ms. Selzer's rights, in court," FIRE said in an emailed statement.

Be sure to act all surprised when it happens.

Libraries that are “dues-paying members” of certain nationwide nonprofit organizations would be cut off from one avenue of state funding under legislation being considered by Iowa state lawmakers.



The Senate State Government Subcommittee advanced Senate File 238, which would halt state funding to public libraries from the Enrich Iowa program if they are members of nationwide nonprofit organizations that promote federal and state legislation related to libraries and engage in advocacy efforts at the federal and state levels.


Enrich Iowa, run through the State Library of Iowa, appropriates money to libraries for open access, interlibrary loan reimbursement and direct state aid.




Though it is not specifically mentioned in the bill, lawmakers and committee attendees highlighted the American Library Association as the bill’s main target. The American Library Association is the largest library membership organization.


Supporters of the legislation argue the ALA is politically motivated, and they disagree with content in specific library books.

Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, said she appreciates library services, but believes the ALA does not protect children from sexually explicit materials.


“The ALA does not represent Iowa values of parental rights, protection of the natural modesty and innocent childhood, protection of children's sexuality and sexual identity and protection of children from being groomed for sexual abuse and exploitation,” Salmon said.


Sen. Cindy Winkler, D-Davenport, said state funding should not be tied to organization membership, adding that ALA funding allows libraries to have access to more materials and resources.


“When we start micromanaging and taking away the leadership that is provided by our local boards in our communities, we silence the voices of the members,” Winkler said. "To associate state funding with belonging to a professional organization makes no sense at all.”

Lots to chose from.
Air Supply
Little River Band
Hoodoo Gurus
Keith Urban
Savage Garden
Men at Work
Olivia Newton John
Divinyls
Crowded House
Silverchair
Midnight Oil
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
INXS
Kylie Minogue
Sia
AC/DC
The Church

That could be $276,923 each year for each of the 13 scholarship players.

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are sending representatives to agencies across the federal government, four people familiar with the matter said, to begin preliminary interviews that will shape the tech executives’ enormous ambitions to tame Washington’s sprawling bureaucracy.

In recent days, aides with the nongovernmental “Department of Government Efficiency" tied to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have spoken with staffers at more than a dozen federal agencies, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. The agencies include the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services, the people said.

At the same time, Musk and Ramaswamy have significantly stepped up hiring for their new entity, with more than 50 staffers already working out of the offices of SpaceX, Musk’s rocket-building company, in downtown Washington, two of the people said. DOGE aims to have a staff of close to 100 people in place by Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, they said.


While much about DOGE remains unclear — including who is paying the salaries of these staffers or exactly how DOGE representatives work with the formal transition team — the agency outreach reflects intensifying efforts by Musk and Ramaswamy to propose what they say will be “drastic” cuts to federal spending and regulations. Even as the scale of their project grows, Musk and Ramaswamy are encountering a slew of obstacles, including reluctance among congressional Republicans to approve deep budget cuts and a skeptical career civil service.
Two government employees said remarks Musk and Ramaswamy have made about the civil service have made them wary of the entire DOGE effort. Longtime civil servants — some who have built their careers learning the intricacies of the federal bureaucracy — are an awkward fit with Silicon Valley’s fast-moving and disruptive culture. Many in Washington regard the tech entrepreneurs as arrogant or naive about the complexity of reining in government.
The U.S. presidential transition process traditionally involves teams from the incoming administration working with existing agency staff and officials on the transfer of power, including regular briefings. This year’s changeover is far smoother than it was four years ago, when the process was complicated by Trump’s refusal to recognize the results of the election. But the uncertain status of DOGE relative to the rest of the Trump transition team has raised new questions about who precisely is speaking for the incoming administration.


In a potential nod to the myriad challenges facing DOGE, Musk has begun tempering certain promises in his bid to achieve sweeping reform by reinventing the federal bureaucracy, eliminating entire agencies, shrinking the federal workforce and slashing historic sums from the federal budget. In an interview Wednesday night at CES, the tech trade show in Las Vegas, he said DOGE may fall short of his initial aim to cut $2 trillion in federal spending.
“I think we’ll try for $2 trillion. I think that’s like the best-case outcome,” he said. “But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting $1 [trillion].”
The idea of a commission to cut waste and regulation, long discussed among conservatives, was taken up by Musk and Trump during last year’s presidential election. Musk put $277 million toward electing Trump and other Republicans in 2024, and Trump has made the billionaire one of his most powerful advisers. After the election, Trump named Musk and Ramaswamy as DOGE’s co-leaders, assigned to identify government waste that the White House Office of Management and Budget would try to cut.


For a project named as a joking reference to a meme-based cryptocurrency, DOGE has taken numerous steps since the election to build a very real Washington operation. Over the past several weeks, DOGE has been deluged by applications that have poured in through direct messages on X, Musk’s social media site, where the group put out a public call for “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”

That led to swarms of applicants who sought to bring their experience and credentials to the attention of Musk or Ramaswamy. In a blog post, Vinay Hiremath, co-founder of the tech company Loom, described four “intense and intoxicating” weeks of DOGE-related work after he became involved.
Although he ultimately decided not to relocate to Washington for a job with DOGE, Hiremath said he had been added to multiple groups on the encrypted messaging app Signal, where DOGE is conducting much of its initial work. Hiremath did not respond to requests for comment.


The crowdsourced callouts were followed by postings for more specific roles: Just after Christmas, DOGE said it was looking for IT, HR and financial staffers for full-time, salaried positions. This week, it put out a request for software engineers and information security engineers for full-time roles, advising applicants to send over “a few bullet points demonstrating exceptional ability” along with their cellphone numbers. On X, some users have listed their IQ scores in replies to Musk and DOGE and said they included them in their applications.
Key leadership roles have also fallen into place. Steve Davis, the Boring Company president who oversaw steep cost-cutting at Twitter (now X) after Musk bought it, is helping to oversee the entire effort, and deputies have been recruited to focus on narrower aspects of its agenda, such as legislation and regulation, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Emil Michael, a former Uber executive, is one of the people overseeing the effort to cut regulations, according to one person familiar with the matter, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to reflect matters not yet made public. Trump has announced the appointment of Katie Miller, former press secretary and communications director for former vice president Mike Pence, to DOGE. Trump also said in December that Bill McGinley, the former White House Cabinet secretary whom he’d previously named as White House counsel, would serve instead as DOGE counsel.


It remains unclear exactly how DOGE will drive change. The White House budget request applies to spending in fiscal 2026, which doesn’t begin until Oct. 1. Spending for the rest of the current fiscal year is being hashed out on Capitol Hill by congressional Republicans who already have voted overwhelmingly to boost spending for the Defense Department — an agency DOGE has vowed to target.
Numerous party officials, meanwhile, are quietly wary of approving big spending cuts at the same time they are working to extend the expiring provisions of Trump’s 2017 tax legislation, which would reduce revenue by trillions of dollars. And it’s not clear how much weight Musk’s star power will carry on Capitol Hill, where federal spending is often prized for its benefits to hometown constituents. The limits of Musk’s influence were revealed in late December when Congress revised a stopgap spending bill he criticized but passed separate legislation to implement many of the specific provisions he lambasted.
As Musk’s emissaries begin to make contact with federal officials, critical questions remain unresolved about the group’s authority and responsibilities. The two federal employees expressed confusion about what DOGE is assigned to do — including whether it has Trump’s full backing.


“Every administration has to establish a relationship with its career people, because it’s the career people who keep the government going,” said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. “I think this is an important foray, but given what they have stated, it will be difficult for some career individuals to be cooperative with the DOGE people, who are not elected and are more advisers than political appointees.”

A businessman who pumped $75 million into the Trump family-backed crypto token finds himself in a fortunate position this week as federal securities regulators are hitting pause on their civil fraud case against him.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justin Sun, a 34-year-old Chinese crypto entrepreneur, asked a federal judge to put the agency’s case on hold, citing the interests of both sides and “the public’s interest.”

The Trump effect is in full force, as mortgage rates have bumped up again for the fourth straight week. The market and the economy signaling they are not prepared for the chaos that's bound to come. What a shame he has put us in this position. Middle class America already being punished by him.

Sammy Sosa leaned against the cage while Chicago Cubs prospect Kevin Alcántara took a round of on-field batting practice Wednesday morning.

As Alcántara finished hitting and stepped out, Sosa, in camp for a week as a guest instructor, greeted the 22-year-old off to the side, and a conversation promptly ensued. Those little moments already have resonated with players two days into Sosa’s visit to camp, the next chapter in his reunion with the organization following an offseason apology for “past mistakes” to the team and fans.

Back in Cubbie blue for the first time since a turbulent ending with the organization in 2004, Sosa was soaking in the opportunity to connect with players, whether it was in the dugout at Sloan Park on Tuesday or spending time in the cage. His camp visit also marked Sosa’s first time getting a look at the Cubs’ sprawling complex and facilities, and he noted with a laugh: “This building looks like Disney World — my goodness. Incredible. Beautiful. We didn’t have that when we played.”

“I’m happy to be here, blessed,” Sosa said. “I feel like I’m playing again, but it’s good. I mean, all the players are happy for me to be here. I have a lot to contribute here. … I’m like a little baby over here coming back to the field, talking to the players and trying to continue trying to help them.”

Alcántara and Vidal Bruján have savored any chance to chat with Sosa, first during the game Tuesday and again throughout Wednesday’s workout. Alcántara initially connected with Sosa at the Cubs Convention last month, calling the slugger a mentor. Sosa’s best advice to the prospect? Stay hungry.

“Play the game like it’s your last game,” Alcántara said. “Continue to play hard. … Sammy’s helped me a lot.”

Bruján is from the same town — San Pedro de Macorís — where Sosa grew up in the Dominican Republic, and while he didn’t witness the summer of 1998 mania, only a few months old at the time, Bruján remembers how “big, big, big” the slugger was in their native country. He plans to take advantage of getting time with Sosa in camp — and saw immediate payoff from Tuesday’s dugout chat.

Bruján was among a group sitting around Sosa on the bench when he received some advice on how to attack a pitch, noting to stay back on his leg and “bring the swagger.” The feedback didn’t go to waste. In the fifth inning, Bruján connected on 2-0 pitch for a no-doubt solo home run. As he watched the ball fly over the left-field wall, Bruján channeled his inner Sosa with small hops in homage to the legend’s patented home run celebration.

“Honestly, that the word from a great person and a great talent like Sammy Sosa helps you so much,” Bruján said through an interpreter. “It programs you to bring out the good ballplayer that’s inside of you. I understand that the words he gave me were key for that at-bat.”

Most Cubs players are too young to have remembered watching Sosa play, especially during his heyday. But Justin Turner, 40, recalled tuning in as a kid through his teenage years. Turner was part of the BP group Sosa watched Wednesday morning.



“Obviously he’s one of the greats, so anytime you can get a guy around like that I think you automatically revert to the little kid who was watching him do his thing, do the Sammy Sosa hop,” Turner said. “You just have a lot of respect for what he and (Mark) McGwire did really making baseball popular again with that home run race. So it’s cool to have him around.”

​

Sosa isn’t sure coaching in a larger capacity is in his future, but he appreciates teaching and discussing the mental side of the game. He’s still learning, too, as the game has evolved in his two decades away from the sport. The confidence and pizzazz Sosa played with in his 13 seasons with the Cubs was part of what made him great, beyond the 609 career home runs and MVP award. The showmanship played a role in how Sosa connected with Cubs fans.

“Every adjustment, or everything that I say to them, they’re going to take it because it’s coming from me,” Sosa said. “I worked hard every day, every day, so I never cheated myself, going to the cage every day, made sure that I was ready before the game. So when you do that, at least you have a plan to go to the plate. … Time goes fast, but I’m happy to explain to anyone or everyone who wants to listen to me and make things comfortable because this game is mental.”

This kind of officiating is par for the course in Lincoln...men's or womens. Been going on for years there.

Doesn't matter the opponent, but seems to really bubble up in high profile games. Tis the reason they get so many upsets in that arena. It's not the idiotic fans or the annoying music....it really is a couple of refs that tend to do their home games. They must be born and bred in children of the corn state. Bug Eaters all the way.

Also what's wrong with that Coley girl on the Huskers. I realize her sister played for Iowa...but she seems to be missing a few brain cells and really shows a distain for Iowa....but from her strangeness, I can see why Iowa didn't want her.

My guess is Hegseth. I don't think sobriety will work well for him.

"They greet me with a 40 and I start drinkin'
And from the 8-ball my breath start stinkin'..."