Clearing Out The In-Box -- April 9, 2023

Locator: 44346B.

Clearing out the in-box.

Passport processing, link here. Bigger story being missed.

The Department of State is committed to providing the best possible service for our passport customers. We encourage all Americans to check their passport expiration date before making any definitive plans for international travel, and to take action to renew their passport well in advance of international travel this year.

This is especially important as we approach what is expected to be our busiest summer travel season on record.

And, just like, this pops up, link here. China international flights surge. 

American factories are back, link here to The WSJ. 

Production at U.S. factories rose last year, but few things were produced at a more furious pace than factories themselves.

Construction spending related to manufacturing reached $108 billion in 2022, Census Bureau data show, the highest annual total on record—more than was spent to build schools, healthcare centers or office buildings. 

New factories are rising in urban cores and rural fields, desert flats and surf towns. Much of the growth is coming in the high-tech fields of electric-vehicle batteries and semiconductors, national priorities backed by billions of dollars in government incentives. Other companies that once relied exclusively on lower-cost countries to manufacture eyeglasses and bicycles and bodybuilding supplements have found reasons to come home.

The pursuit of speed and flexibility prompted sock manufacturer FutureStitch Inc., which has factories in China and Turkey, to open a new one in Oceanside, California, last summer—the company’s first in the U.S.

Comment: should have opened in El Paso or McAllen, Texas. Just saying.

Saudi? Oil, oil, everywhere. Link to The WSJ. 

Pence? Tone-deaf. Link to The WSJ. 

I have no time for this "wing" of the GOP which includes the governor of Texas. How does one spell "medievel"? 

One exception was former Vice President Mike Pence, a likely presidential candidate, who said on Friday, “When it approved chemical abortions on demand, the FDA acted carelessly and with blatant disregard for human life and the wellbeing of American women, and today’s ruling fixed a 20 year wrong.” 

A "20-year wrong." OMG.

And, of course, the Texas' governor's response to Uvalde, five words that should live in infamy: "It could have been worse." And, no, I'm not taking that out of context.

Elon Musk: I've flip-flopped on Elon Musk so often, I, myself, no longer know how I feel about Musk. But today, I don't have good thoughts about Musk. Link here to social media.

Reuters technology roundup: