All_Pro_Bills

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.

I don't have a lot of free time anymore since I'm busy working and taking on a second job because of inflation and deteriorating economic conditions.

The only bomb here is a fake President sitting in a fake Oval Office and an administration in way over their heads destroying the world's largest economy.

There's a bigger chance of Jesus coming down from Heaven and ringing my doorbell to ask me to bring him up to speed on what's been happening for the last 2,000 years than there is the DOJ is going to get some sort of conviction against Trump based on the proceedings and "evidence" of this Committee.

On top of it all the Abbott baby formula plant at Sturgis Michigan was knocked out of commission by flooding caused by major thunderstorms just 9 days after restarting production of baby formula. Baby's just can't catch a break here. So far the administrations response is to blame Putin for the storms and to enlist the support of all able-bodied menstruating "men" to produce enough breast milk to replace the plant capacity that's currently offline. To the administration's astonishment no milk has been produced through their program to date. MIA VP Harris has been assigned to investigate although her whereabouts are unknown and to date nobody has been able to identify the location of her hiding spot. The suspicion of administration activists is that racism and white privilege are at work here. Truth is the first paragraph is real and the second paragraph is "fake news". But given how completely disconnected from reality these delusional idiots are, tell me honestly it doesn't sound like something they'd do?

If you check US DOE EIA stats you'll find daily domestic production average is down 8 percent from the 2020 inauguration week vs. the latest reported week of June 2022. Companies are not investing as much in new capacity. Why do that when governments tell you that your industry is being phased out by their decree? Why not let the market decide that? No, climate activists decide. Because the science is settled. One things about science is its never settled as new and sometimes contradictory and sometimes supportive information and discoveries happen by researchers and scientists The industry, through the API, has responded to Biden's threats with a letter outlining 10 specific things the administration can do right now to assist the industry. Doubtful they'll do any of them. Biden is set to go begging the Saudi's for more production. Why the same level of green house gas emissions produced by consumption of Saudi oil is somehow different if its produced through use of domestic oil production must be one of those "settled science" mysteries.

Dear Joe - When you took office you told the oil industry they were no longer needed in the "Green" economy while every federal agency and department blocked and regulated out of existence existing refining capacity and any plans for new refining capacity. And now you're threatening them with action unless they refine more product. I expect old age has slowed the mind but what's the excuse for the rest of your collective brain-trust? Should we talk about cancelled and shutting down pipelines here too? I expect you're more concerned about losing the majority in Congress at this point than you are worried about the hardships faced by America families.

Good responses. I welcome the civil and respectful back and forth. So see bold above. Regards..

OK. I give up! You're lucid and ingenious response (that my point is really stupid) to what I incorrectly believed was a coherent argument has got the best of me. In the face of your overwhelming brilliance how could my argument citing the history and record of our government's propensity to engage in endless wars for almost 25 years with nothing tangible to show for it except mountains of debt, thousands of American soldiers dead, wounded, or disabled, and countless civilian deaths in almost a dozen countries have anything to do with the desire to get involved in yet another war!

What else can we expect to hear? We have a Committee 100% comprised of Washington establishment Trump haters. Political party representation is irrelevant. Not a single witness or piece of evidence or question is allowed that might contradict their preconceived conclusions. Any Representative that might have been "friendly" to Trump was vetoed and excluded from the Committee by Pelosi, in violation of the committee charter. Since when does the majority leader dictate to the minority who they can appoint on a House committee? That tells you all you need to know as the fix was in from the start. That's one reason many have fought subpoenas. As the Committee itself violates the rules governing its existence it is therefore illegitimate so how can their subpoenas be anything but illegitimate too? It's a reasonable legal argument. But the objective isn't legitimacy, or to gather evidence, uncover the truth, and forward information to the DOJ for potential prosecution. Its to discredit Trump and eliminate him from the political scene. What they don't want are a lot of "America first" candidates winning elections in November 2022 in the House or Senate, or in contests at the State level. In 2016 Trump, by accident, crashed their party and became President. Without ever holding any other political office and without any "grassroots" political support system in place with elected officials at lower levels of government holding the same objectives. That made it easy for the establishment, comprised of both major political parties to obstruct and block almost everything. In 2022 the America First movement, and Trump, are out to correct that problem. That's the threat the Committee is worried about, not 1/6. The intent of the committee is to use the insurrection narrative to discredit any and all 2022 American first type candidates and label them as supporters of the insurrection. Dangers to democracy. The biggest threat to our nation. For the Democrats its going to be one of the only themes they can run as as the administration's record to date has been nothing but horrendous. Polling numbers reflect their desperation which will only grow as November approaches and conditions in the country worsen. The last thing the Washington establishment wants are representatives of the people coming to Washington to put the interests of America and American's in general ahead of their agenda. I should add my conclusion that from all the current and coming chaos that neither political party is going to survive in their current form and "moderates" disenchanted with their respective political party affiliation will form together into a 3rd party that will eventually take charge.

Yeah, I'm the one that doesn't know what I'm talking about. Thanks for setting me straight. I finally understand that the US military industrial complex, or establishment, or deep state, or global empire if you please, is in reality an altruistic organization spreading good will and cheer across the globe asking nothing in return. Now I see the light. How could I possibly have thought they're a bunch of raging psychopaths intend on waging continuous war forever and have no regard for life or liberty? And what a tremendous record of success! Its just amazing how well its going for the Ukrainians compared to life before the Americans showed up on the scene in 2014. I can't wait to see which lucky country we're going to "help" next.