Thursday, October 31, 2019

Juxtaposition

Impeachment Inquiry Resolution
Railroad



Bagging Baghdadi


Somewhere in northern Syria ...

Pulling the Wool


Today’s vote on the Impeachment Inquiry is a sham. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff have tried to pull the wool over the American voters eyes. Instead of a traditional impeachment process like what was used for Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, the vote taken today is for a process so unfair, so dictatorial that Democrats are hoping that American voters don’t find them out.

Well, I will do my small part here to burst that balloon. Two days ago I referenced this resolution ... and I need to repeat the actual plain text HERE. Republicans yesterday tried to amend this bill to make it passably fair. All 17 attempts were beaten back by the House Democrat majority ... see: C-SPAN video of Rules Committee meeting. Kind reader, take at least a half hour to watch what these Dems are pushing with this phony resolution.

Basically, instead of opening an impeachment inquiry in the Judiciary Committee, this resolution authorizes seven other committees to conduct fishing expeditions to try to find some dirt on Trump. (Perhaps, he once kicked a puppy?) And each of these House committees are given the same Gustapo-like authorities that Sniff has been using in his secret Star Chamber — no White House Counsel, no right to call witnesses, the opposition can only ask questions approved by the chairman, etc. These tactics are draconian, yet the Dems somehow think they are being fair. Their white-hot hate of Trump has obviously twisted their logic into unconstitutional illogic.

It is only after these effective seven special prosecutors have completed their fishing trips that the Judiciary Committee comes into play ... like what happened with Nixon and Bill Clinton. I can’t imagine that this might not happen until late next year. How interesting?

The Dems today might succeed in pulling the wool over America’s eyes ... but I can’t fathom the damage that this process will have done to our legislative process. Basically, they will be then empowered to negate the powers of the presidency with Fascrism dressed up as faux fairness.

Afterward: Even though this resolution is more onerous than the present process, the Dems will use this fake vote to try to badger Trump into cooperating with these 7 committee chairmen ... and most of the media will concur. Will theAmerican people understand this scam ... or is it too much in the weeds? Pelosi is betting on the latter.

Obvious Truth


If necessary, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff will burn down the White House to deny Trump his presidency.

Headlines


NSC official testifies Trump undermined national security with Ukrainian pressure

Cash-strapped Biden campaign top donors try to beef up fundraising

Republicans fear 2020 wipeout

Biden denied communion in SC church over abortion stance

UK’s Labour Party backs early election in December

Federal judge halts Alabama abortion law deemed the strictest in the nation

Dems going public with impeachment investigation ...

NPR praises terrorist Baghdadi: ‘He was a real leader’

Sessions strongly considering bid for his old Senate seat in Alabama

US consumer confidence dips in October, missing expectations

Manufacturing now smallest share of economy in 72 years ...

Trump tweets potential Baghdadi successor ‘terminated’

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Warren’s Foreign Policy


Recently I outlined Elizabeth Warren’s platform to be elected president. Missing was her stance on foreign affairs ... which she seems to studiously avoid on the debate stage ... see:  The Warren Doctrine. So I have gone back to the search engines to fill in this void and did find something she “wrote” in 2018 which lays out her vision for how she would deal with the rest of the world if elected ... see: Foreign Affairs Article. Kind reader, take some time to read this revealing article. You will find that Warren’s foreign policy is little more than an extrapolation of her socialist domestic stance. Not very detailed or insightful beyond what Trump is doing.

In short, she advocates:

- Trade policies that sound very much like President Trump’s ... although I sincerely doubt that she would pursue this stance with Trump’s tariffs spine. She does acknowledge that globalism has benefited large international companies while hollowing out American manufacturing and our middle class.

- Given this recognition, Warren offers little of how she would remedy these imbalances. She accuses President Trump of self-serving policies with little evidence to support this assertion. It seems she would fix the sins of globalism with more domestic programs, subsidies and expanded socialism. The whipped cream on this cake would be punishing US corporations with higher taxes and lower profits ... and, although not admitted to by her, crippled competitiveness.

- American technology companies must insure individual privacy both at home and abroad.

- We should use American economic power to coerce other nations toward cleaner environmental policies. Climate change is a dire threat.

- Like Trump, Warren believes we must end our involvement in endless foreign wars. Virtually all of our involvements in the Middle East have burdened our future generations with untold debt while bringing little current benefit. BUT, our focus on terrorism has distorted our domestic policies toward limiting immigration, increased racism and social injustice. Our foreign policy must be based on “fair” domestic policies.

All in all — pretty thin gruel ...

Fractured Definition


Gored — a cheer for states voting Republican

Greta Thunberg

From Diogenes’ Middle Finger blog

Gets cheeky ...

Buried News


There is hardly a more powerful group of opinion influencers than those invisible backbenchers who write the headlines and synopses for newspapers, websites and cable-news scrolls. In many cases readers get no further than the work product of these news filterers.  And, often, depending upon their biases, these scribes can alter the entire meaning of a story by how they couch it in their headlines and short intros.

So, kind readers, always be on guard for deceptive headlines ... particularly when they run against the grain of the media outlet you are reading ... or the meme you have seen elsewhere. Best to read the rest of the story ... particularly the last few paragraphs where the real news may be buried.

Headlines


Trump impeachment  witnesses leave a trail of tantalizing clues

S&P 500 jumps to record high on strong earnings, trade-deal progress

Trump greeted by boos, chants of ‘lock him up’ at World Series game ...

Impeachment witness Bill Taylor led Ukraine delegation for group advised by Hunter Biden

Brown: California fires show ‘the horror’ world will face from climate change

Chart analysts say new record gives investors the green light to jump back into bull market

Russia ‘doubts’ it [Baghdadi takedown] took place ...

Report: Democrat [Rep.] Kate Hill to resign

Trump says phase one of China trade deal is ‘ahead of schedule’

Cramer on stock record: We need apologies from trade-war naysayers who said US would be damaged

Survey: 1 in 3 millennials see Communism as favorable ...  70% likely to vote socialist ...

FNC’s Wallace presses Pence: ‘Why didn’t the president notify’ Pelosi

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Impeachment Inquiry Resolution


On Thursday Nancy Pelosi has indicated she will hold an “Impeachment Inquiry Resolution” vote. Some people are confused whether this vote will sanction an impeachment inquiry wherein Republicans can call witnesses, have White House Counsel present for friendly witnesses and cross examine, in public, the witnesses that the Democrats bring forward.

Come-on ... you know this woman better than that! Already some naive commentators are calling this an impeachment inquiry vote. Will she allow such a vote in which Democrat House members who were recently elected from Red districts will have to go on record dissing our president? I sincerely doubt it. Nor do I believe this will morph into a truly fair process.

I think that this Thursday Pelosi resolution will read something like this:

“Fair Process Resolution”
“Are you in favor of  starting a fair process that might lead to an impeachment inquiry ... such process maintaining the current Adam Schiff process rules ... but might allow some witnesses being called in public at the discretion of Chairman Schiff ... and with the policies and procedures he deems appropriate. A ‘present’ vote on this motion should not be considered to be an official endorsement of an impeachment inquiry process.”

Such is pissant politics ...

Afterward: Here is more detail on this matter: NBC News Story. be careful, it is from fake news ... and here is the actual Resolution Text. Read this resolution. I was close. If you think this is giving Trump due process, you must be denser than AOC.

Little Green Men


If flying saucers really existed, you would think that these otherworldly stalkers would somehow make themselves known other than just offering us visual specters. We should verifiably hear from them ... or even see them on TV ... or actually have little green men showing up at Mar-a-Largo ... anything more than just cigar-shaped lights in the sky and body probings of space cadets.

Color me an ET skeptic.

Headlines


ISIS leader killed in daring U.S. raid in Syria, Trump says

Trump confirms ISIS Baghdadi is dead after US raid in Syria — ‘He died like a coward’

No U.S. troops killed ... Pelosi, Congress not told over leak fears ...

Trump: [Baghdadi] ‘Died whimpering, crying, screaming’

Brussels fears accidental Brexit crash-out

Trump wants to make a deal with Exxon and others to tap Syrian oil: ‘We should be able to take some’

New York magazine: Biden — least formidable front-runner ever ...

Media Meltdown ... Clapper: Region now *more* dangerous ...

Ousted Republicans plot rematches with Trump back on the ballot

Trump told Mattis to screw Amazon out of $10 billion cloud contract

41% of the world’s people are under 24. And they’re angry ...

British police foil 24 terror plots since 2017

Monday, October 28, 2019

Shemale


Trending: Transgender female bicycle race winner. Seems fair to me ...

Eye Opener


Suggestive Clues:

- It is reported that al-Baghdadi was released from an Iraqi prison in 2009 under the Obama administration

- Obama and his administration insisted on calling ISIS as ISIL ... suggesting that it was meant to have a wider reach

- Obama once called ISIL the “JV Team” trying to take the spotlight off of it

- Obama’s rules of engagement against ISIS meant that we could not bomb the oil trucks smuggling oil into Turkey from the Syrian oil fields ... which pelf was supporting other of its operations

- Obama’s precipitous pullout from Iraq left enormous amounts of US military equipment to be used by ISIS (remember all those pictures of our tanks in ISIS hands?)

- It took Trump two months to destroy the ISIS machine when Obama couldn’t do it in two years

- Continued rumors circulated that the Benghazi operation was the center of Hillary’s efforts to transfer Gadaffi’s arms to ISIS

OK, that is the setup ... now read the eye-opening revelation of why and how Obama, Hillary and John Kerry secretly had their thumb on the scale for ISIS. I know this is shocking ... it stunned me. But listen to Kerry and read his words on this matter HERE!

Funny how things are beginning to make some sense.

Headlines


Former Bolton aide asks court if he is required to testify

There may be no industry with more at stake with an Elizabeth Warren presidency than energy

[Gen.] Kelly warned Trump he would be impeached

Rep. Brooks [R- AL]: ‘There better dadgum well be a quid pro quo’

Blowback from Trump’s appearance throws HBCU into chaos

SoftBank is turning to its Spirit leaders to bail out WeWork — they’ll need to do better this time

World War 3 in space would destroy banking system ...

Bernie picks up coveted Iowa endorsement

Politico to partner with PBs News Hour to host December Democrat debate

Millions in California are facing wildfire danger and more blackouts

Russia tests disconnecting from the internet ...

Brother of Sandy Hook victim says Biden lied about visiting victms

Fractured Definition


Bumblebee — a clumsily arranged quilting party

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Fractured Definition



Emissions — when Mormons proselytize over the Internet ... instead of door-to-door.


Deflection


The Democrats are masters at deflection. All these California wildfires are not due to forest mismanagement on the part of these woke Libs. They are caused by that ogre “climate change” which, in turn, is Trump’s fault for pulling out of that Paris climate fraud.

Increased crime rates in many cities around the country are not due to open borders and sanctuary-city policies.  They are caused by Trump’s xenophobia and his racism.

Trump was involved in Russian collusion to win against Hillary ... when just the opposite was true. This trope is classic deflection or also known as transference by the shrinks — accusing me of doing what you, in fact, are doing.

I actually am surprised that the Dems haven’t started to make this same case — Trump is the true deflector ... and his investigation into all the intelligence community‘s malfeasance in 2016, 2017 and 2018 is to cover up for what his minions are doing today. This would be known as deflecting a deflection.

Shush ... not too loud!

Potholes


A downside of steel-belted radial tires is that localities are now far less diligent about fixing their streets and roads. (Once, a car hitting a pothole meant you likely needed at least one new tire.)

Take a Few Beats


Simple solutions to complex problems don’t always work ... but sometimes they do. That is why one should take a few beats before jumping in with an unstudied opinion about developments in convoluted situations ... like northern Syria.

Fractured Definition


Mumu — a child’s drawing of a cow

Ko-Ko

Adam Schiff in costume


The Lord High Executioner!

Headlines


DNC raises threshold for December debate

UAW members approve labor deal to end GM strike; union selects Ford next

Senate Democrats demand Bill Barr recuse himself from ‘Trump Ukraine matters’

Judge rules DOJ must turn over Mueller grand jury material to House Democrats

Microsoft snags hotly contested $10 billion defense contract, beating out Amazon

Blackouts loom for millions in California

IG Horowitz: FISA abuse probe report ‘near completion’

How Biden would strengthen unions

Why Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency is in trouble

Kurds: Turkey continuing genocide despite ‘ceasefire’

Report: Republicans on Intel can review transcripts with Dem staffer

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Schiff Hits the Fan


Rep. Adam Schiff is conducting as unfair an “impeachment inquiry” process as he can get away with ... see: JohnHinderaker’s Take. Dear reader, please read this op-ed with an open mind.

And how can he get away with playing the Lord High Executioner? Because America’s media and Nancy Pelosi want him to ... no other reason.

History will shed a tear ...

Headlines


Warren and Sanders race to out-left each other, and moderates are terrified

Federal deficit increases 26% to $984 billion for fiscal 2019, highest in 7 years

Trump accuses Obama of treason ...

Democrats have to watch Trump get justice award from black organization

Trump organization considers selling Washington hotel

Trump advisor Peter Navarro fighting ‘Phase One’ of China trade deal, sources say

Soros: Tide turning back to globalists ...

Michael Moore floats possibility of President Pelosi

U.S. sending armored vehicles into Syria to defend oil fields, Pentagon chief confirms

US and China are close to finalizing some sections of the trade deal, US trade representative says

Court documents: FBI ambushed Michael Flynn, then celebrated ...

Fling: Flynn’s lawyers claim proof that Lisa Page altered FBI interview record to frame him

Friday, October 25, 2019

Quotable Quote


“I’ve never wished a man dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with great pleasure.” — Mark Twain (found at Mostly Cajun blog)

Conspicuous Consumption


A bottle of 1926 single malt scotch whisky recently sold for $1.9 million ... see: Decanter Story for details.

Conspicuous Consumption


The price for a ticket to tonight’s World Series game between the Washington Nationals and the Huston Astros could run you $8,000@ or more ... see: Yahoo Story.

The Warren Doctrine


Socialism is good ... should be adopted

Eliminate private healthcare insurance

Healthcare and college education should be free

Forgive all outstanding $1.6 trillion of student loans

Impose a 5% annual tax on wealth over $50 million

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Amazon should be broken up

Open our borders to all and eliminate ICE

Global warming is real ... we must get rid of fossil fuels.

Reparations should be paid to all black slave descendents

 Gun control is essential even if this means restricting the 2nd Amendment

Transgender illegal immigrants must be welcomed

Criminal justice reform must be expanded


[Notice anything not addressed in the above?]

Obvious Truth


Most of the mega-wealthy are very short-sighted, unimaginative and parochial in how they spend their riches. — Anon.

Headlines



Senate Republicans duck for cover after explosive Taylor testimony

Federal Reserve economist says growth would have been better with negative interest rates

POLL: Approval of [impeachment] inquiry hits new high; 55% ...

Impeachment star witness has long history with Burisma-backed think tank

Maxine Waters slams Zuckerberg, raises specter of breaking up Facebook

Trump says ceasefire in Syria is ‘permanent’ and he will lift sanctions

Judge Judy endorses Bloomberg for president

Military leader of Syrian Kurds thanks Trump

Biden way ahead of the pack in new national poll

IBM and Google disagree on quantum computing achievement

Google computer beats 10,000-year task in mins!

Adam Schiff desperate to hide inconvenient William Taylor testimony

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Vintage Protest

From daily timewaster blog

Nuf said ...

Whoopi Cushion


One of the downsides of an electric car is that it is too quiet and pedestrians and bicyclists don’t know it is nearing them ... risking accidents. A proposed solution is for eclectic cars to put out some type of continuous sound from an on-board speaker. Suggestion: How about a Whoopi Cushion?

How Nice!

Found on Mostly Cajun blog

They also reduce CO2 and carbon emissions from everything except raging forest fires. Is this what is meant by the Green New Deal?

The Trump Doctrine

MAGA!

A country without borders is not a country

Free trade is not necessarily fair trade

The US is not the world’s police force

Nationalism over failed globalism

This country will never be socialist

America needs to be energy independent

Bring manufacturing back to the United States

We must have the world’s premier military force

Be careful who you pick for your enemies ... and for your friends

Immigration should be welcoming but selective ... aim for contributors

We must take care of our veterans

Repeal and replace Obamacare

Strong economic growth and full employment across all ethnic groups

Our cities should be clean and crime-free

Alliances should be lived up to ... by all parties

Love of country and pride in country

Headlines


Trump’s quest for vengeance against John Brennan

Elizabeth Warren pushes Treasury Secretary Mnuchin for answers on overnight lending issues

[Trump’s] Tax return fight spreads to Supreme Court ...

Donald Trump: Impeachment a Democrat-led ‘lynching’

States antitrust probe into Facebook balloons to 47 AGs

Home prices are overheating again, causing buyers to turn away

[Mayor] Pete focus groups found gay a barrier for black voters ...

Barack Obama dines with Robert De Niro amid impeachment inquiry

Premiums for popular Obamacare plan to drop by 4%

The year that changed Boeing: Airplane maker struggles to regain footing since first 737 Max crash

Pump: Worries grow over Fed efforts to fix funding issue ... $99.9 billion more!

2020 panic: Democrat establishment hoping for ‘white knight’ to enter race

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Socialism

From daily timewaster blog

What’s yours is mine ...

Star Chamber

Beria and Stalin

The Democrats, under Representative Adam Schiff,  have now gone behind closed doors, without Republicans being allowed in, where they interview some deep-state Trump haters ... and then hold back transcripts of these Star Chamber happenings from Republicans. Next they leak selective testimony, real or concocted, to cooperative media to try to drive down President Trump’s favorability ratings so that he will be forced to resign.

This process is so diabolical that Republicans were forced to storm this secret chamber today where this charade was being orchestrated ... in order to expose it ... please see: Washington Times Story. This is not an impeachment process. It is not even an impeachment inquiry. This is a desperate attempt to distract the American public from the obvious ... that many of these Democrat combatants are either under jeopardy for malfeasance during Trump’s run for the presidency and during his attempt to govern once elected ... or are trying to protect those who did.

So Hose Democrats have gone from a kangaroo court to an Inquisition wherein Republicans were allowed very limited legal rights ... to this Star Chamber where they are totally excluded. This is not just undemocratic, it is tyrannical ... worthy of the old Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria.

I return to the biggest paradox of this farce — the Democrats want the American public to turn against Trump and force him out of office ... but, at the very same time, they are desperate to find a candidate who can defeat the Orange-man next November. They must not believe that this Star Chamber “lynching” (lacking legal process) will succeed. Which is it?

A Federal Case


The US Federal Reserve Bank has had to inject massive amounts of funds into the banking system recently as shortages have caused overnight interbank lending (repo) rates to spike over 7% whereas normally these rates hover around 1.9% ... see: CNBC Story. Many economists are scratching their heads as to why this drying up of liquidity has occurred. I have a thought ... bear with me.

Now, I’m not an economist nor do I play one on this blog ... but I think I might have an idea what is going wrong. Over the last many months the Fed had reduced its balance sheet by over $600 billion (see chart) ... that had been bloated during the repeated “quantitative easings” employed during the Obama administration to hold our economy’s head above water.

The then-Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke expanded the Fed’s balance sheet by $3.6 trillion to $4.5 trillion (again see chart) by buying government bonds and mortgages ... see: Investopedia Entry This basically means that this same amount of readily-available money (M1) had been injected into the banking system ... resulting in pushing up asset prices and slightly stimulating the economy.

Enter stage right in 2017 President Trump ... and, as a reward, the Fed began to “burn off” its balance sheet, see: guerillastocktrading and the above chart. And the Fed also increased interest rates by 2 percentage points ... while Trump was reducing taxes and regulations. These are countervailing forces ... yet our economy started to grow much faster than had been the case. However, these Fed actions, combined with Trump’s trade war with China, has started slowing our economy down somewhat ... which would suggest a lower need for liquidity injections from the Fed.

So what is going on? My conclusion: Once any banking system gets used to a certain money supply, it cannot easily adjust to a markedly lower one ... no matter what Professor Bernanke had assured us. This may be due to inherent sluggishness in how the velocity of money changes?

Quotable Quote


”We are going to give Donald Trump a fairer trial than he deserves.” — Rep. Eric Swalwell (former California Democrat candidate for president)

Perversity

Who wants free healthcare for illegal aliens?

This blog has pointed out before that one major benefit of Trumpism is a rebellion against the elite establishment ... which has brought benefits, both economical and social (see: Obvious Truth). As a result, some think that upsetting the Apple cart (pun intended) can bring political rewards. So what do we find? We find that Democrats are falling all over each other to be the biggest rebel. Confiscated guns! Free healthcare for illegal aliens! A wealth tax! Let prisoners vote! Ban fracking! Medicare for all! Free money ($1000 per month) for everyone! And on and on and on ...

The more outlandish these proposals, the more each proposer stands out ... trying to be like Trump was in 2016 ... and ascend to the presidency. But, like many charlatans, these bozos have forgotten that rebellious ideas need to make sense. They ignore that benefiting a few of us is not benefiting all of us. And rebellion for rebellion’s sake is hollow. No, it’s not just hollow, it’s perverse.