All_Pro_Bills

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.

You're the person consistently advocating for war so that kind of makes you the fascist. I've been clear on my views. I think the US establishment doesn't care what the outcome is here, win or lose, as long as the goal of weakening Russia is achieved. They're not interested in "saving" anyone. And if it takes Zelensky fighting the Russians down to the last soldier and civilian and than that's fine with the Washington war party. If Washington stayed out of it and left it to Ukraine, Russia, and the European States to settle the disagreements war could have easily been avoided.

Shouldn't your ire be directed at the UK Daily Mail for daring to question the narratives generated by the establishment war machine rather than the messenger here?

Politicians follow Friedman's law of how money is spent. The part about spending somebody else's money on yourself where cost doesn't matter but quality does or spending it on somebody else where neither cost or quality matter. The spending "their personal funds" is something they're not good at. They make a living spending the taxpayers money and putting them in debt while living the life of a financial parasite. Producing nothing of value anyone in the private sector would trade for hard currency. I applaud your financial discipline and its put you in a position of strength that most American's do not have because of circumstances and lots of frivolous spending. I call it living though the infinite funding model of life which is based on the idea the good times never end. My dad used to say unless you have some degree of financial independence you'll never have any real freedom or security. Want to know the source of inflation. https://usdebtclock.org/ In the time it takes to read this post the US government will be another $100K in debt.

Believe it or not I did not vote for Trump or Biden or Clinton in the past 2 elections. It would matter who the Democrat is though in 2024.

I'd like Trump to go away because he's the wrong person at the wrong time in 2024. A victory would mean another 4 year term of Democratic obstruction. The country will need somebody in the White House, from either party, that is actually committed and capable of pulling everyone and the country together. That means dumping the fringe ideologues on both extremes of the political spectrum and focusing on the core of American beliefs and values. Unfortunately for all of us, 1 1/2 years into the term, Biden and his administration have already demonstrated they're not up to that task. So expect things to do down hill from here until minimum 2024.

Sounds like they'd be a good match for a reality show, Nazi's vs. Antifa.

I'm sure this was a legitimate bust but this just seems to be the most docile bunch of Nazi's we've run across here. Getting into the generally accepted narrative that they're dangerous and hostile hate groups you'd expect them to play the role and come out of the back of that U-Haul guns blazin'. But from appearances they exited the vehicle in an orderly fashion, presented no resistance to the instructions and direction of officers at the scene, and just quietly and without incident surrendered. Since when do Nazi's just surrender? It just seems out of character. And no mention of any weapons or other devices. Just conspiracy to riot which sounds pretty sketchy and doesn't measure up to their rep of engaging in mayhem and destruction.

More great news in the oil markets. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Libya-Loses-11-Million-Bpd-As-It-Shuts-Down-Nearly-All-Its-Oil-Fields.html Who was it again that destabilized Libya, deposed and killed Qaddafi, and plunged the country into a lawless mess? Hint: He's enjoying the good life at a Martha's Vineyard estate purchased for about $20M in an area he and other climate "experts" are predicting will be underwater in a few years because of global warming and rising sea levels. Why would a smart guy like former President Obama drop $20 million on a piece of real estate that he believes is going to be underwater in a few years unless of course he's lying?

Larry Summers, a guy I assigned a lot of credibility to in the past regarding economic issues and opinions, stated this yesterday. On a Sunday in a CNN interview he said, "I think the banana Republicans who are saying that what happened on January 6 was nothing are undermining the basic credibility of our country’s institutions.” “And that, in turn, feeds through for inflation. Because if you can’t trust the country’s government, why should you trust its money?” So inflation is not only Putin's fault its the fault of the "insurrection". if the situation wasn't so serious it would be just comical. But given reality its also sad. An insurrection, I might add, where for the first time in the history of mankind a group of people attempted to overthrow a sitting government, a government with the most powerful military, intelligence and security forces in the history of the world, without any weapons while some of the defenders of the Capitol, the seat of power, opened the doors and welcomed them into the building. Then after occupying the building without much resistance they suddenly all just left. WTF kind of an insurrection is it when they just give up and quit for no explicable reason? I can't comprehend how anyone thinks this event was any risk to the continuation of our form of government or the republic. But Larry is right about one thing. We shouldn't trust the government.

I think its more likely the majority of posters here across the political and social spectrum are capable of producing their own conclusions generated through logic and critical thinking rather than sitting in front of the TV watching or websites and waiting for CNN. MSNBC, FOX, or some other outlet for their marching orders on narratives and "talking points".

Not really. Empires rarely reform and return. Portugal, Spain, Britian, Germany, France, and so on have had their turns through history. And I don't see the EU or the Euro zone surviving the economic downturn and chaos that's in progress worldwide. It might split into some North/South have and have-nots situation or dissolve altogether. I expect it starts with Germans growing tired of subsidizing the southern European social welfare states as they demand more and more support as things get worse and then unwinds from there.

Charged with conspiracy to riot. Which implies some knowledge of their plans by law enforcement.

Trump was right. Europe should pay more. Why should Americans work and pay taxes that go to the defense of Europe when people in countries like France take the month of August off and the entire country more or less shuts down for "vacation". I say let them work the extra 4 weeks, generate some GDP, pay taxes and fund their own defense, and give us, American workers, the month of August off. Protection isn't free.

The NYT piece had to be sanctioned and approved at the highest levels of the party and for very good reasons. An opinion piece produced by a staff writer wouldn't get printed without such consent. So I expect the intent of throwing Biden under the bus is to lay the groundwork which will allow candidates for the mid-terms to distance and dis-associate themselves from the performance of the White House and make the Senate and House races all about "local" issues vs. some national referendum on the administration's poor performance to date as demonstrated by public opinion polls. This appears to be the Republican plan at this point as I'm not seeing any "vision" or articulation of any program from the party leadership.

Help from the EU? Almost all of these economies are raging dumpster fires that depend on transfer payments from a few stronger economies like Germany, With the US close behind in conditions deteriorating. Most observers here are still fixated on the idea Putin is out to reform the Soviet Union or some other territorial conquest. What he's out to do, with China in the wings, is break the world financial order where the US and Europe call the shots. Look at today's market action for a clue. Gold was up $24 US in trading and every major currency lost ground to the US dollar except one. The Russian Ruble. The sanctions are working great. To destroy the economies of the West.

I read another fun fact today. Thanks to all the spending and borrowing facilitated by the Federal Reserve under Bush, Obama, Trump, and most recently Biden the annual US Federal budget's debt service cost will rise to $525B after the Feds next 50 basis point increase. If they're serious about stopping inflation, which I personally don't believe they are, and they keep raising rates servicing the interest on the Federal debt will become the biggest line item in the budget.

Have you already seen previews of episode two? I hope there's some cutaways to the illicit affair during the Russia investigation between the lead FBI agent and the agency attorney. I also think the actress playing Cheney needs to be replaced. For one, her characterization of the role makes her unlikable. I'm thinking Renee Zellwegger!

Too much violence for the 8 PM time slot.

I think the network cancels the series after the first season. The acting is bad and the plot line is both predictable and pedestrian.

All of this morning's data reported for May CPI figures, YOY, monthly, core and non-core measures above estimates.

Because the Committee investigation is being conducted under the authority of Congress, specifically the House of Representatives and by virtue of the separation of powers has no formal relationship to any FBI investigation or activity which resides in the Executive branch. So this is not the FBI's investigation and they are legally free to act as they choose in regards to disclosure.