All_Pro_Bills

If we learned anything this week, it's that the extreme left has been faking it and that yesterday's court decision has forced them to reveal they do really understand what a "women" is and they admit that men cannot get pregnant. Maybe next week we're see some intelligent debate and compromise in legislatures between the extreme positions of the "right" to abortion on demand at any time during a pregnancy without limitations or conditions paid by the taxpayers vs. a complete and total ban with no exceptions. I've got confidence that can be worked through and that 99% of American's agree a proper compromise and correct decision is someplace between those two extremes.

That's odd because what I found is French law allows abortions in the first 14 weeks and requires 2 doctors to certify the women's life is at risk or if the fetus has some fatal condition afterward. Which sounds quite restrictive relative to what it is/was here. Is that correct?

If you can get that mis-information czar lady to sing and record the lyrics to music you might have a Grammy winner here!

I'll donate a thousand bucks if Nancy demonstrates her conviction to the cause by sitting in the street in front of the Supreme Court, pours gasoline over herself, and then starts herself on fire.

I expect any sympathy and support Democrats might gain will literally go up in flames with what many expect to be violent protests and attacks on churches, pregnancy center, and other organizations and facilities. Like petulant children the left has shown no restraint if they don't get their way.

Fixed. Maybe a look in the mirror and reality check for some here?

Great response and ideas. I think there are places we agree and disagree. I don't see my view as being overly negative but rather skeptical. For one I want details and some answers to critical questions. I'll just leave it at that and write down a few ideas for thought. My read of the general consensus on the "Green" plan is we're going to unplug from the oil economy and plug into the renewable economy without missing a beat. A seamless and relatively pain free transition. I think that's a linear view of things but a review of human history reveals a more cyclical perspective on the advancement of human civilization. One step back, two steps forward if you will. My expectation is the transition period will be a time of great hardship and radical changes in lifestyle which people are not prepared to face. I drive down the street and see a sign on a neighbors lawn saying "Climate Action Now!" and I see a 4K sq ft home with 5 BR's, a 3 car garage with 5 vehicles in the driveway including 2 big gas guzzling SUV's plus a gas heated built-in pool and I ask myself if these people really have any comprehension of what they're asking for and are they prepared or willing to make any changes or sacrifices. I expect the transition will require some major changes in several things. Our living arrangements with the land and nature for one. Among other things, this means an end to 5 acre suburban 4K sq ft mega-homes on the fringes of wilderness and farm areas. It might mean commerce and business arrangements on a more localized scale. It means better use of land, for forests, for wildlife, for farming, and denser developments and maybe an end to the ex-urbs. Before the early 1950's and the introduction of the federal highway system and the automobile to the masses the suburbs really didn't exist. Another main theme is the replacement of the ICE vehicle fleet with an EV fleet. My thinking is we also need to consider options that will eliminate the need for all these cars. (see above). All this requires a lot of material inputs. Where is all of that coming from? All resources are finite and generally with the mining industry most of the cheap and easy stuff is out of the ground already. So costs are high, energy needs are high, grades are relatively low, and resources can be remote or in hostile areas or jurisdictions. Not the optimal scenario. It seems obvious the administration and environmentalists are going to block any big new domestic mining operations. Is somebody going to steamroll the movement and push it through? And then there's litigation and regulations. Are materials coming from China? The sole source of many rare earth metals. All signs point to a deteriorating relationship so I have my doubts. What about other countries? Lithium for example. There are sources in places where there is just as much resistance to mining as there is domestically. Where water is a scarce commodity. What if they don't want to ruin their local environment in order to provide Americans the pleasure of driving their EV's? Are we going to war with these countries? Force them to produce the metal by some other means? My final point is the build out of the new system isn't the only cost and challenge. There's maintenance and repair expenses and resources. All those batteries need periodic replacement. And solar and wind are weather dependent. How much back up and redundancy is needed? Where are the engineering plans and write ups containing anything like detailed specs and requirements? Right now all this stuff is at the idea level, there's no proof of concept or demonstration projects at scale to show it works, and the plan just lacks detail. If there was some national effort lead by researcher and electrical, civil, nuclear engineers and scientists from places like MIT in partnership with Federal research labs I'd feel much better about the prospects going forward. Without these details and a working prototype energy self-sufficient working community to prove out the idea I just see most of it as a dangerous fantasy.

Nixon was aware of the plans of his subordinates to break into the Democratic Committee office and they actually broke into the office. And were arrested. The focus of the investigation into his actions was more on the cover up of the truth rather than the pursuit of the truth itself. Sure Trump's no Constitutional or legal scholar but from the sound of it all Trump directed or asked officials to do specific things which they declined and refused to do citing ethical and legal objections to his requests. So they didn't break the law. The vote counts and the electoral results in the States were certified. So does it all boil down to is it a crime to ask somebody to break the law regardless of the fact they either refuse or don't commit the act? It sounds like the argument is the President asked me to do something I concluded was illegal and I said no. Was Trump stupid? Absolutely. But is it criminal ? That just seems weak to me given the world of politics today.

I've got nothing against the idea of trying to clean up the environment or anything in particular against renewable energy. But I do insist on reality. And physics and math, and an acknowledgement of the available resources and limitations of the physical world. My contention has always been the resources simply don't exist in the right place, at the right amount, at the right cost to produce the amount of renewable devices like solar panels to replace all the energy output produced by oil and gas at a cost that can be paid that allows civilization to progress. Its illogical to stake the exist of our civilization on the ability of them to produce the necessary energy output at cost and scale and reliably. It always a topic environmentalists and climate activists and renewable energy advocates avoid. Their argument is based on magical thinking. I think they know it. And given I believe most of them are very smart people it concerns me they're engaging in massive and collective deception which might lead to questioning their actual motives. If you look at the evolution of human development and civilization you'll find that over time new, more efficient and cheaper energy sources have replaced the previously dominant source of energy. This supported what is characterized as progress. Given better and more efficient sources and availability of energy even the poorest American lives a comparably better life than somebody living before the oil age. Renewables just don't meet that criteria when compared to oil and gas. They are both more costly and less efficient. Its a step in the wrong direction. So you either need to downsize civilization and energy use. Its a given we need to look for a replace for oil and gas as they're finite resources that are being depleted over time while the cheapest and easiest to produce sources are mostly used up. But solar and wind aren't the answer.

I think the real bottleneck is refining capacity. Which has been falling. I suspect some of it might be a grade issue where most gulf coast refineries are configured for heavier crude grades and what might be available is lighter which is not producing as much diesel for example. But I haven't dug into the details. Given the negativity towards the industry from the President and his administration campaigning with vows to eliminate and cripple the industry. pressuring banks and investment funds to starve the industry of capital, and on day one cancelling Keystone (which if left alone would be operational today), I'd like to hear a compelling argument that might convince a refiner to spend 3 or 4 billion dollars to add capacity in the face of the we're going to eliminate oil and gas mantra. My major problem with Biden's operating style here is that nothing seems to be thought out ahead of time and there's little concern or intelligence being utilized to consider consequences of actions and policies. Like everything is a surprise and the effect is to blame but never the cause. So let's put sanctions on Russian oil exports and sales and financial transactions but not think about how that might impact supply and prices. Stupid or don't care. Pick one, both are bad. The other thing is I don't think there's a single member of his cabinet or inner circle of advisors that have any clue or understanding of how the private sector and businesses work.

That's a lot of it. Another big part of it is they've been preparing to exist outside of the dollar based reserve currency and trade settlement system for several years. And so has China. That system is what provides the US special privileges not available to other nations. As both countries have aspirations for bigger roles on the world stage they know the path to this goal requires the establishment of a new reserve/trade settlement system and the destruction and elimination of the current system of advantages afforded the Americans. This, the financial war, is what its all about. Not some conquest of territory. Control the value of money, control everything! While I think Ukraine is clearly a US proxy military confrontation against Russia I also conclude the ongoing financial battle here is a proxy war of Russia fronting for China against the US.

I don't think that hypothetical is remotely comparable to what's happening in Ukraine. The Ukraine opposition party members are questioning the government's war policy. They are not siding or advocating for the enemy. They're questioning the government for engaging in the conflict and sacrificing Ukrainian lives under what they say is a war controlled and directed by American interests. The last part I completely agree with, Washington pulls the strings and Zelensky dances.

Make that 11 political parties that have been banned. In May, Zelensky signed into law a bill that allows the government to ban and seize the assets of any party that opposes the government's policies pertaining to the war. In other words, all public debate about the course of the war and the execution of the war is forbidden. So Ukrainian citizens questioning the merits and purpose of their governments war policies and efforts simply by expressing their "democratic" right of expression are targeted and labeled as Russian assets and following Putin's talking points. I'm wondering where they picked up that routine? It has a familiar ring, but I just can't put my finger on it!

This committee is not a court of law. But if a witness committed perjury giving testimony to the committee a couple things would need to happen in order to charge and prove they lied. 1. Who or how could anyone know they lied? My assumption is their testimony would be in contradiction with other witnesses, facts and figures, audio or video evidence, other submitted evidence, or previously provided depositions. 2. Who would need to indict and try them for that offense? My understanding is it would be referred to the DOJ for investigation and potential prosecution. Does that sound right? My problem with the perjury angle here is that every single witness testifying supports the States case. So whether they are telling the truth or not telling the truth, as long as their testimony supports the States case why would the State want to indict any witnesses for lying? As long as the committee gets a "conviction" do you really believe they care if witnesses are telling the truth or not? There just no potential for consequences or penalties for lying. Period. Absent skeptics and doubters being allowed to ask questions and provide testimony I propose they don't care one way or the other. That's the problem with this 1/6 circus.

On face value it might be concluded the US economy is doing "better" than the rest of the world. And that may be correct. The cleanest pig in the mud hole scenario. But the more important question on the price movements of the market indexes is "why" rather than "what". For me it boils down to interest rate decisions by various central banks and the relative changes in currency values and pairings. Most notably the US dollar vs. <other currencies> and the impact of economic sanctions as a result of the Ukraine war. The majors, the Euro, the Yen, the British Pound to mention a few are getting pummeled. The DOJ executed a market intervention overnight which only caused the Yen to sink further. These moves imply "money" coming out of these currencies and "into" the US dollar. Which partially explains the US markets over-performance. As the fed increases rates the Emerging Markets typically get hit the hardest. Most international loans are costed in dollars but they earn local currency on domestic sales. When the local currency falls it takes more local 'units" of currency to service borrowing. Professional investors normally flee these markets first. So crash, bang, boom goes their markets. The curious thing is one currency outperforming the US dollar is the Russian Ruble. Which for me implies the sanctions seeking to punish Russia are not working and are punishing allies and non-aligned countries more by sucking the life out of their economies and markets. A logical action might be to stop. But I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon. My expectation is US Q222 GDP will print negative and given Q122 was negative the standard criteria of two consecutive quarters of negative GDP indicates a recession will be met. I don't know what these economists are talking about when they say they expect a recession in 2023 or 2024. Its here now. The fundamental question is how far is the Fed willing to go higher with interest rates and how high is high enough to blow everything up? My expectation is not much higher. Every one percent rise in rates adds about $300B to the annual interest expense on the US debt. So how is that going to be accounted for in the annual budget? Raise taxes? Doubtful. Cut spending somewhere else? Unlikely. Print more money? Winner! More inflation, higher unemployment, less output! I expect ultimately we're headed for an inflationary depression. One thing I've been accumulating lightly are larger capitalization gold and silver royalty and streamers like Franco-Nevada, Wheaton, and Royal Gold as I expect gold will be going much higher and these stocks will see capital gains along with generous dividend payments.

Imagine if this was Florida or Texas? But no, its Saudi Arabia. If Trump was still in office I can here the statements from the WH press corps demanding he condemn the move and cancel the trip. But this is ahead of Biden's planned visit where among other things he'll beg for increase oil output from the Kingdom. An edict issued that's in conflict with every domestic principal of equality and diversity that exists. But I guess international relations are different and Washington looks the other way when it comes to strategic foreign "allies". I looked at fact checker source USAToday for any hint of the story and the required moral outrage but didn't find it. Puts Joe in a pickle so what are odds it sees the light of day in the MSM? Story below. Weeks ahead of President Biden's much anticipated trip to Saudi Arabia, where he'll meet with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom is cracking down on any items, including toys, with a rainbow on them. The commerce ministry put clothing and toy stores on notice over "rainbow colors" in the capital of Riyadh - saying such items will now be banned as they "contradict the Islamic faith and public morals and promote homosexual colors targeting the younger generation."

What I think is of no consequence to events. I'm not using force and violence to silence and crush anyone that disagrees with their rule. That's the Washington establishment. Why do you always support them? Are you a federal employee or working on a grant?

Exactly! And the establishment's zeal for going after him while members of the political class and the groups and organizations under their protection get a "free pass" from the consequences of their actions only reinforces and confirms that belief .

What I learned from yesterday's Father's Day gathering is that Joe Biden and the Democrats are in deep do-do. Nobody is listening to these excuses. The more excuses they make up the bigger the hole they dig for themselves. Maybe man-up and admit you own it Joe? And rather than beg Saudi Arabia for forgiveness and more oil maybe stay home and deliver that message to your citizens? Family and friends that we're sympathetic to social causes, Democrat leaning voters, and certainly far-from Trump "supporters" expressed dismay at the state of things and have "had it" when it comes to Biden and his crew of misfits. Even in my Blue state I get the feeling the mid-terms are going to be a bloodbath for the President. More amazing is everything is likely to get worse!

My view is based on two conclusions. One, renewables can't replace the energy output of fossil fuels at a national scale without some drastic reduction in individual energy consumption and living standards. The technologies have been around for decades and they're not cost effective and totally inferior when it comes to reliability and output. Unless you're holding your breath for the promised technological improvements and breakthroughs and plan to completely eliminate the use of oil to produce materials inputs and run renewable factories, we need to look somewhere else. Two, the Earth's climate is changing and whether some or all of it is because of human activity and some or all of it is the Earth's "natural" climate system anything we "can" do likely won't have much impact. And "save the planet"? That to me is nonsense. The planet will survive for at least a couple billion years longer. Even if it takes hundreds of thousands of years to regenerate from the damage humans have caused. I think what these climate activists don't say in polite company is their primary conclusion is there are just too many humans on the planet and eliminating a lot of them over time will produce the necessary impact. Which conflicts with the constant and eternal growth model western economies are based on. Another issue for another time. I'm not suggesting the the "free market" is perfect but over time its proven to be more effective than the central planning model. And given our government's propensity to screw up pretty much screwed up everything for the past 25 years I have no faith they could plan and execute something as complex as replacing the primary energy source of the entire country. As for tax subsidies, I could argue Solar and renewable industry isn't fundamentally different from any other industry that receives special treatment. Federal, State, and local subsidies, tax deductions and credits exist to locate facilities and buy solar panel installations and EV's.

What she really meant. Press Sec: "We are going to reverse the progress of human civilization employing energy sources with greater efficiency replacing less efficiency sources with unreliable renewables that depend on the weather to produce lower energy output at higher costs and therefore by design a lower standard of living for all Americans. With the exception of the political and power elite along with the wealthy our administration represents that will continue to have access to gasoline for the cars, natural gas to heat their mansions, jet fuel for their private jets, and diesel fuel for their private yachts ".

Joe and his cast of idiots have either intentionally or just through incompetence and stupidity done almost everything possible to make matters worse. November could see the biggest swing in the House ever. Not to mentions State and local election impacts. Stick a fork in Joe already. He's well done at just 1 1/2 years of the 4 year term. The scary thing is how bad it is already the thought of the VP taking over is even more frightening. It will be a mess making a bigger mess. Today's Option Expiration of some $3.4T in bets could provide the fuel for a decent short squeeze rally this afternoon. Then a holiday Monday. But longer term we're doomed. I don't think these clowns at the Fed have the intent or the desire to tank the economy, tank the stock markets, and tank the debt markets and the US government just to fight an inflation problem they mostly created. Also, watch as the dollar sucks the life out of emerging market plays, Euro, Yen. Not a lot of people are paying attention but Japan is totally broken and is sinking fast. With Europe close behind. And the US in the on-deck circle.

No criticism or questioning of the glorious, eternal, all-powerful, and omnipotent leader or the party or any program or edict is allowed. In the modern day "Disinformation" fighting version of the Emperors New Clothes fable the child questioning the official narrative around the "settled science" of the existence of the magic invisible thread of the Emperors suit was hauled off to a Black Site for re-education along with the parents.

Hey, Billstime would say you can never miss an opportunity to hate on dead people! 😇

I think its because the White House Oval Office is occupied by the real President. How much longer does this guy last? By November we'll all look back at today and reminisce how good it was back then.