A pocket of hope in Appalachia. Plus: Stumbling toward the White House, The Free Press in Israel, and two Zoomers duke it out over the Apple Vision Pro.
Jobs surging? Look beyond the headline at the actual report. Full-time jobs actually decreased. Part-time jobs surged. Now do an experiment. Next time you’re in a diner or store talk to the waiter and clerk. Ask them how many jobs they have. Many will say 3. I know because I have had those conversations. Part time work is unstable work with few if any benefits and exhausting. But that is how Joe Biden’s America is feeding its children.
I think all the money that was printed for COVID is still splashing around. There remains a lot of construction going on. But the whole system feels very fragile to me. I was talking with my banker the other day, and credit card debt has never been higher, and mortgage defaults are also very high. Everybody is barely surviving. We buy things to assuage anxiety, and that continues, but one crash, all that HAS to contract, and we are in some serious trouble.
Another troubling conversation I had was with an acquaintance in commercial real estate, and he said the owners of his company think we are on the verge of a mild depression. I remember 2008. Things seemed fine until they weren't.
Joe Biden is not a good President. All these illegal aliens are eating up an enormous quantity of resources intended for Americans, that were already not being doled out intelligently, or in most cases sufficiently. What the proper role of government is, is another debate, but that OUR TAXES should be spent on OUR PEOPLE is such an obvious truth that you would need a degree from Harvard or Princeton to doubt it. You would need that much practical training in DoubleThink and aggressive cognitive dissonance.
For many years I've quoted Zig Ziglar's line that "Economists have successfully predicted 57 out of the last 3 recessions", but my personal feel is that although things seem OK right now, I have started quizzing people I know around the country to try and keep an eye on things, because my gut tells me the carpet is getting ready to be pulled out from under our feet.
We REALLY need to reelect Trump in November. We're not inviting him as a house guest. His manners and style are not relevant. His POLICIES are the only connection most of us will have with him, and his policies are what we desperately need.
Try to imagine a President who has been more ANTI-American people than Biden? Well, Obama, but he’s Joe’s puppetmaster. For all Trump’s warts, at least he’s on our side.
And yes, I am expecting a crash worse than 2008. Also expecting homeland terrorist attacks from all the illegals Biden/Obama let in.
People loved to dump on Trump, that he wasn't smart, or he was crazy or this and that. But what I THINK he showed is that being a really good President is no more complicated than TRYING to be a good President, and not spending your whole term or terms selling out America to people who don't like us and don't want us to succeed, and who very much want us to fail;, or, in the case of people like Nikki Haley, very much want us to wage a bunch of wars that are hugely profitable, and after which we walk away in failure, as in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
America has one more chance to do the right thing. If we put back in another America hating President--Biden, Michelle Obama, Gavin Newsome or any of them--then our standard of living is going to decline steadily, our children will have a much worse future, and it is very, very unlikely freedom will survive, and it's quite possible most or all of us will be killed in a nuclear war that didn't need to happen, an engineered pandemic, or something else.
What is most disturbing about all this is that I think most people on the Left get this unconsciously, making their continuing bellicose defense of the indefensible tantamount to a death wish. Most Leftists on some level are suicidal, and they just want to drag the rest of us down with them.
Unsaint, I think so many Democrat voters have Stage 5 TDS! I have heard many say they would rather see America fail than have Trump as President again. Of course, all the failures under Biden just get blamed on Trump anyway!
The absurd things Biden has said about the border … that “it’s been a disaster for 100 years”, giving Trump NO CREDIT for how much success he was having controlling the number of illegals coming in through the southern border!
My question is, IF Trump slowed the influx, WHY did the flood gates open as soon as Biden took office??
I think that sort of suicidal thinking comes from profound self loathing. How could you love yourself when you hate your country, hate your kind, hate your community, and feel revulsion for everything you are? Why not just burn it all down? These thoughts are latent in nearly all left wing narratives.
And it is almost comical that we are looking at a President who is not just not doing his job--which would be bad enough--but literally threatening force against Texas over his RIGHT not to do his job.
It's more or less literally like a security guard at secure facility that provides golf carts, maps and water bottles to everyone who walks up to the gate--people whose entrance he was supposed to prevent--and who then pulls their gun on another guard who ATTEMPTS to start doing the basic job in a common sense obvious way.
If treason is giving aid and comfort to our enemies, which in this case would be supporting people who are not Americans over people who ARE Americans, and completely eradicating a basic layer of national protection, then that is treason.
As a Texan, it is infuriating to hear these Blue State Governors & Mayors call it a “Governor Abbott Crisis” and blaming HIM for sending A FEW illegals (compared to the numbers here in Texas!) to their Sanctuary cities!
Blame Biden damnit! Dems KNOW it’s this Biden Regime’s fault & failings, but they will never go against the Left’s talking points!
Amen but to them it’s “bad man orange” is to blame for everything.
And dangerous MAGA white supremacists are more of a threat than millions of illegal aliens many of whom have actual criminal backgrounds and some have been known to have ties to terrorist orgs and murderous regimes.
Stupid on steroids. It’s to divert attention from Biden’s failings and scandals. Not that Trump doesn’t have flaws. His basic ideas about America and defending her people both here and abroad. Our government has been an adversary to more than half the country with no signs of stopping. If I hear one more elected moron, celebrity bozo or journalist call our country a democracy I might implode.🤬
If Russia succeeds in Ukraine it will invade the Baltics and Poland. Putin is trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union. This will lead to WW III. Ignorance of history and myopia are disqualifying. in yesterday’s press conference Biden couldn’t remember the name of the organization waging war on Israel. Dementia is also disqualifying. I’ve seen no evidence that Tump is not still very smart but he needs to free himself from the naive and isolationist Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican Party. And he needs to act Presidential or he may lose to Gavin Newsom in November.
I see ZERO evidence that Putins aims extend beyond his STATED aims, which are claiming/reclaiming fir Russia the areas that were supposed to be made autonomous by the Minsk Accords.
Putin is not an imbecile. He knows that subversive and destructive elements in our government want war with him. He wont give them what they want, because war is not in his interest.
My best guess is that the whole world is largely under the control of a covert and unelected set of oligarchs, and that Russia is the sole genuine holdout. This is why they are working so hard at sparking a war which makes ZERO strategic sense for us. We have ZERO strategic interest in that region generally.
Putin’s very clearly stated goals are to eliminate and annex Ukraine, but you apparently have missed that. Also stated is the recovery of the entire Soviet empire, which includes the former satellites states in E Europe as a zone of influence. A key goal is to completely go back to Russia as a totalitarian state based on eternal enmity to the US. Only complete ignorance of history and a worldview based on whatever you can learn on cable or dubious Internet sites allows such bland assessments of an existential foe of the US. Didn’t notice until now the name of your newsletter; I guess it’s Moderate Trump Cultists United for Putin.
You have regurgitate the MSM talking points put out the DNC. Good boy. Now get over to RFK Jr podcast and listen to some he has on the Ukraine war and come back to us Ukraine has zero national security interest to the United States. We have no business being there. We had no business in the 2014 overthrow of a democratically president but yet we’re behind it. Not a fan of a Putin either but we need to understand the real world and not the fake one the MSM tells you. Tucker Carlson is going to interview Putin you should listen to it.
We should listen to Putin, but also keep in mind that he is not a man of his word. When he took Crimea (and I think, by and large, the world accepted this because of the lack of response) after Obama's ill-advised support of revolution, he promised he had no interest in Kyiv (his speech to the Federation Council in 2014 seemed earnest, but it turned out he was lying). Kyiv would have fallen two years ago if not for the poor organization of his attack.
In other words, instead of what he said then, which was that he recognized what's mostly Kyivan Rus as potentially an independent ally of Russia, it seems more likely he is trying to annex it as a buffer to NATO (and in doing so, actually invading NATO countries).
Is that a strategy for negotiating down to keeping Crimea and adding eastern and southern Ukraine and having that recognized by the world? Hard to say. Many think he sees the west's war on energy as an opportunity to recreate the kingdom of Catherine the Great, which, with the EU unable to defend itself because of its energy policies, seems realistic.
Should we react? I don't know. Not reacting means no NATO. And Biden is just as committed to the war on energy. But it also means acknowledgement of China and Russia as the unquestioned leaders of the new world. That's not good, especially if we continue to rely on China for our energy needs.
Oh, FFS. Russia is not invading the Balkans. Or Poland. All the invasion plans go the other way.
One could understand why Russia might think it was a good idea to invade Poland though. Polish nationalist insiders (Brzezinski types) have been pushing hard on taking back a historical Poland that existed for a short time over the past 500 years.
Trump was significantly more presidential than Biden. He had some rough edges but in general did a far better job in every category. He had a viscous enemy in most of the MSM (including print or digital media) that tried ceaselessly to misconstrue everything he said or did. It was rightly tagged as Trump derangement syndrome (TDS). Every one and every thing was better off from Trumps policies.
Gavin Newsome would be even more disastrous than Biden. If that happens an all out civil war is almost guaranteed. Everyone better hope that doesn’t happen.
I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out for many years. It seems it will take a lot of really bad things that they can't blame on anyone else, but I'm not sure that's enough.
Narcissism, clinically, is a really hard thing to treat, not least because grandiosity feels good. The only thing that brings narcissists into therapy is problems.
The system MAY crash. That may be our future. Prepping is certainly mainstream now, at least among the sorts of people I know and feel some commonality with.
I was replying to your comment above” What is most disturbing about all this is that I think most people on the Left get this unconsciously, making their continuing bellicose defense of the indefensible tantamount to a death wish. Most Leftists on some level are suicidal, and they just want to drag the rest of us down with them.”
They would destroy it because they don’t like their situation? Still I don’t think it’s narcissism as much as the hollowness of self that is so common today.
Yup. That’s why the sale of firearms has risen so dramatically.
Ppl we know who’ve never owned them are buying them. We always advise them to take the time to train in the use of them and to keep up regular practice.
The left is foolish and naive. They honestly believe themselves superior and thus are better able to make decisions for us whether we like it or not and that disagreeing is a clear sign you just aren’t educated or smart enough to understand their enlightened positions.
When the whole country goes up in flames they’ll blame it on climate change.
I suggest for home defense a 12 gage magnum pump shot gun or a Tarus Judge pistol. For carrying around a small 380 pistol with hollow point ammo with laser sights. The 380 is small and easy to carry in your pocket or purse. The laser makes it easy to hit your target.
For long distance an M14 7.62 rifle. Many people prefer the M16 but the round is a small caliber and may not take your opponent down. The heavy caliber does more damage to the human body.
I have a shotgun (which, amusingly, I purchased with my Covid check) for home defense.
I think a handgun would be better, but I don't dare to buy one. Even though it's been a while since a DNA-based suicidal impulse reared its head, I don't want an easy and *sure* method available to myself.
Sometimes the only thing that deters my occasional bouts of depression and subsequent suicidal thoughts is the idea that it’s such an abomination to God that it’s a likely disqualifier in passing judgement, even for Christians.
As lifelong Texans, and hunters, we have 2 shotguns, several long rifles, and 4 handguns - one (I got for Christmas a few years ago) that has a laser 🔴 and it is my favorite! It is amazing how much easier it is to hit your target!
Hope I never have to use it except at the gun range for target practice!
According to the NRA, most home invasion shootings happen at about 15 feet. At 15 feet the pattern is about 2 feet wide. Point and shoot. You can be 10 inches off and still hit the bad guy.
Oh, I am sorry I called him/her/they/them a bad guy. I should have said, a misguided, victim of a brutal, racists, police state society.
I though civilians can’t get M16’s as they are fully automatic. The M15 was the semiautomatic made for civilian use. A shotgun is easier to hit your target without needing the same accuracy as shotgun shells disperse “shot”. Most pistols take some skill and need training to effectively use for targets further away than a few yards. The problem in recent years has been getting ammunition. I like the 9mm because it’s a strong enough round to stop most targets and our pistols that employ the 9mm don’t have as much recoil. A 22mm just doesn’t have the stopping power. A laser sight is most definitely a significant help.
As I’m sure you can tell I’m no expert in firearms but my husband is as is our son.
Currency in a EOTWAWKI scenario would be alcohol, ammunition, tobacco and maybe food.
The AR 15 was what the M16 was called before it became a military weapon. It fires a 223 round and only the military version can be switched from semiautomatic to fully automatic. Civilian versions are semiautomatic.
I liked it because it was light and had little or no kick but the small round didn't have the knockdown power of a larger caliber rifle.
Be very careful. Having a gun and having the mindset to use a gun are Not The Same Things. I make no bones of the fact the the only thing that I fear more than not having a gun if the SHTF on any scale is having to use it.
Be thoughtful, train as realistically as you can, and be well.
(Irrelevant stuff: Spent most of my Navy enlistment at a reactor plant prototype outside of Idaho Falls. Interesting place; sorta heartlandish, though some would say not the Real Idaho because of the Navy presence.)
Especially pumpkins filled with tannerite. A range we used to go to for an outdoor monthly “fun” shoot had a pumpkin shooting every October. The explosion was really fun. Who doesn’t like blowing stuff up?
Biden (and Obama) has intentionally managed to create the worst illegal immigration in American history. And yet the long term damage it has done to American citizens must not be obvious to every representative and senator based on two votes. It’s literally now a matter of life, safety, and well-being of Americans, and Biden/democrats are still on the side of illegals.
That’s exactly their goal. So many come here and then vote in the same idiotic policies that decimated the countries they came from!! It’s a lose-lose proposition.
I don't think they care about the immigrants. They care about breaking the system so we will grant them the power to fix what they broke. And once we do that, they will make sure that we can't get that power back.
Remember the Greek island where NGO's dropped more illegals than the population of the island? Those concerned with the subject might take a look at the T. Carlson interview with Bret Weinstein on his recent trip to Panama and the Darien Gap where he found sequestered camps filled with military aged Chinese men on their way to the American southern border. Add a possible why the CCP did not use an mRNA vaccine on their populations. And a logical conclusion. The Biden/Ukraine cash for influence scandal is only one example of a traitorous D.C. that has gladly sold America and the American people down the river to DNC/CCP/WEF/EU Davos slaver land.
How about criminal play already underway? Soros/Davos dollar distortion placing political operatives inside the American criminal justice system. HSBC, Bank of America etc. building special teller windows for and washing cartel cash. The flooding of Europe and America with unvetted illegals, who then arm themselves, make the streets unsafe for the citizen, and murder at will with bomb and knife. Or, "Here's a debit card.. feel free to beat police officers senseless without consequence.." And why, with the free peoples of Europe in open revolt against the land grabbing life destroying NATO/WEF/EU Davos thugdom is American "legacy media" silent as a church mouse? We know why. It's time to wake up and smell the fascism.
Self protection? Absolutely!! But the last place anyone here wants to be is in a firefight. The American Republic, its Constitution and the free citizen are the premier engines of human dignity and survival. Anyone here can list a dozen instances of the consequential harm emanating from the DNC fascist machine. The first rationalization of the lying criminally insane is to blame the victim. Stop being one. The first step for American survival was put in place in 1776. It sets clear lines of demarcation between the free citizen and tyranny. Remember who you are. Act accordingly.
"Nice car!! I love those Bavarians. So meticulous./ Y'know, I remember when things were a lot more fun around here./ When good was good and evil was evil./ Before things got so fuzzy." Don Henley GARDEN OF ALLAH
Yep. I remember Biden responding to the question of an American revolt with the line “we have tanks, F16’s and nuclear weapons so let’em try”.
Hope we don’t have to go there but you’re right. In fact it’s our DUTY to over throw tyranny. I think it will be more of a civil war between true conservatives and leftists. If that were to occur then the territory that the left retains will surely be a hellhole. Look at all the states and cities they run.
It’s not in my nature to lie, so please explain with details exactly how republicans voted, so I can blame them instead of Biden, Mayoris, and the rest. I’m smart enough to know elites exist in both parties and they play games by blaming the other party.
Thank you NCMaureen for your rational thoughts. i woke up in a bad mood and was happy to see your comment. I am so upset by what the Republicans did last night with the Mayorkas impeachment. I don't feel well at all.. Trump is on our side.
Why be upset at the Republicans? Almost all of them voted FOR removing that demonic dwarf. But did you forget that every single disgusting Democrat voted AGAINST impeachment?
She might be a Democrat or just incredibly stupid. Some people aren’t smart enough to recognize that there is a clear choice. How many Democrats voted to impeach the lying moron who claimed for 2 years that the border was closed when in fact it was wide open?
I think he is referring to the people who identify as Republican but not enough to do what most Republican voters want. There are too many of them. But their numbers are declining with each passing election. Republican voters have really got to learn how to be more discerning.
They should have impeached him for perjury -- and actual high crime -- by saying repeatedly under oath that the border was closed and secure. Instead, they tried to impeach him for doing what the president, his boss, wanted him to do.
Far, far, far more important than avenging ourselves re: MyYorkie is assuring that border bill does not pass. If it does 4999 a day will come in eithout an eye being blinked and citizenship will be expedited. It is a very, very bad bill.
Can someone in this thread tell me one thing Trump actually did as president that helped the poor or the middle class. I’m not talking about what the stock market or the economy was like during his presidency, which typically is a result of previous presidents’ policies. Nor am I’m talking about words at speeches and rallies where he does a good job of painting this picture that it’s us “true Americans” against the invaders. I mean an action/decision.
Nope! Gas prices are entirely dependent upon the global market place. It is a commodity. Neither Republican nor Democrat can do a damn thing to make a significant dent.
It was America who affected the global market place by being the leading exporter. Biden leaves the energy market place in the hands of the Middle East and Russia. Of course America can and has made a serious dent under Trump. He also lowered taxes and regulation. He also used tariffs and hard power to affect other countries' policies. Trump closed the border and cut off the funding of the terrorists that Biden reinstated. If you don't admit to yourself the chaos and destrution that Biden has wrought you will just guarantee that more will come.
Charles- I understand your point, but I would disagree w/ the word "entirely." Presidents can make policy choices that affect long and short term gas prices. (See Forbes article excerpt below)
Of course one can only speculate as to whether Putin would've invaded Ukraine if Trump were President etc. But this is just 1 factor.
I think it's pretty clear that Biden's policies are geared against fossil fuel production and use. Just like one of the best ways to reduce tobacco usage was to tax the hell out of tobacco, Making the use of gasoline engines inconvenient at best has been the goal of this administration.
From Forbes/Robert Rapier:
The Putin Effect
But now let’s discuss something that President Biden did impact. I often point out that a President has few handles for impacting gasoline prices in the short term. Those handles are primarily 1). Releases of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; 2). Changing the gasoline tax; or 3). Involvement in a war with a major oil producer. All of these things can have a rapid impact on gasoline prices.
When it looked like Russia was massing troops on Ukraine’s border, oil prices broke out above the 2021 range. In January 2022, the average price of WTI moved up to $83.22/bbl. In February, when Russia actually invaded Ukraine, the average price jumped to $91.64/bbl. I attribute this price rise primarily to Vladimir Putin, combined with the world’s response to the invasion.
How? Energy independent? In what way? Seriously. How were we energy independent? But beyond that question, I’m asking what Trump did, an action he made to make something happen. Re gas prices. The truth is that presidents have almost zero influence over real time gas prices…though their policies can affect prices years later.
We pumped lots of oil & actually were able to sell some. Strategic reserve (emptied by Biden) was full. Pipeline OK'd. H
Trump is the one who lifted Obama's restrictions. Trump removed many regulations that help businesses. stock market soared, successful businesses hire more people, etc etc. None are so blind as those who refuse to see.
Example: in 2020 Trump worked out a deal with OPEC that oil producing countries would cut back production. They did and are not back to prepandemic levels. Could this possibly be cause of high gas prices?
No president can take credit for stock market behavior...that's not to say actions on the part of a president never influence the market...but. I'm not sure what I said that you're referring to. Also are you referring to Trump's claim that he is currently influencing stock market gains, which is silly. (Note: The market rose when Biden was elected.) It may be rising now due to strong economic indicators. Whatever...I am one of the lucky ones who actually has some investments to care about. But I want so so so much more from a president. In other words, as much as I love that I can get "free money" via investments in the market, I think there are more important things. It's not necessarily an indicator of how well people are managing. Look at the fact that the stock market has been generally rising, while income inequality has become a bigger and bigger problem. Note how the banks are doing well while families are struggling. What is Trump doing/did/proposing to do that even began to make a nod toward shifting that reality. He talks a good game, but show me the money.
No you stated market runs flow from the policies of previous Presidents. I sarcastically asked if the recent market run is the result of Trump’s policies. I’m not sure if Trump had made this boast. I ignore most of Trump’s boasts. As for Biden I wonder why we have a 25th Amendment if it is never used
Most of this conversation has turned into a purely political one.
One very important part of the article had to do with this new tech. I only saw advertisements for it over the past 24hrs. It looks like a bad idea and I totally believe it is the precursor to an even more estranged society. One comment by a woman in the article noted that this concern was raised for every step in technological advancement, from the phone to cell phones to the dawning of the digital age that has been evolving for the last 30+ years. She said the concerns turned out to be baseless and society survived.
I disagree. Smart phones especially have significantly altered social interaction. Just go into any public place and you’ll see most ppl completely isolated on a human level and staring at their phones. Kids (teens) will sit in the same room not talking but texting one another. They are addicted to the rolling, shallow and quick paced garbage videos on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat that are frequently moronic and obscene.
Technology can be great for accessing vast amounts of information yet it is resulting in a dumbing down. This new in your face thing seems cool but I tend to agree with the young woman who saw the potential for bigger problems, not less. While too many will be traveling to other “places” in a virtual setting they will not be present in the place they are. It’s just a coincidence but I was pondering the nature of the not too distant future and a “ready-player-one” type of social structure seemed likely to me. That is if we don’t annihilate ourselves in a nuclear war or have a zombie apocalypse which now seems possible since the Wuhan Lab has continued its gain of function work on COVID virus strains and has produced one that has quick acting damage to the brain. All of the mice given the virus died almost immediately. This was on a news station I saw last week. That was the scariest thing I’ve heard yet. Seeing as how careful they were to contain COVID 19 I have no confidence they will do better with this. The chinese government cares little about the humans living there and more about global power. Not smart really but it is in keeping with the evil of the CCP.
Yes and yes. So true. And that’s reflected in that chart - the only thing Biden polls better on is how he treats immigrants (and within the margin of error for “democracy” which is a weighted word at best)
I feel like the economy is shaky as well. Too many people depending on part-time jobs, too many people opting out of working, too much government money sloshing around for those who choose not to work, it all seems like a house of cards.
It’s worse than just the items or symptoms you mentioned. Ppl are way up in debt again as well as a big uptick in foreclosures. There isn’t a sector of the economy that isn’t seeing some slide but hey, Jeff Bezos, Mark Suckerburg, Bill Gates and few dozen other obscenely wealthy people are making more $ than ever! YAY!
I wish I knew the answer to that issue. I have a friend who says the same thing. It seems like the old noblesse oblige would be helpful, but beyond Bill Gates, I don't know if Bezos or Zuckerberg have any inkling of that.
It’s worse than just the items or symptoms you mentioned. Ppl are way up in debt again as well as a big uptick in foreclosures. There isn’t a sector of the economy that isn’t seeing some slide but hey, Jeff Bezos, Mark Suckerburg, Bill Gates and few dozen other obscenely wealthy people are making more $ than ever! YAY!
My best friend's husband works in IT for a bank. He has a specialized set of skills that he has been retained for when things were reorganized. But he is *still* afraid he will be laid off.
Absolutely. Any person convicted in a criminal court should be disqualified.
But unless you are a complete dunce you understand Trump was subjected to two extremely unfair and partisan trials, and that the evidence presented was absurdly inadequate, to the point that the patent miscarriage of judgement speaks to why we NEED Trump, to at least start trying to address a corrupt system that benefits radical lunatics, to the detriment of the rest of us.
Simpler than that, I suggest; even a wise man like Mr Wiseman (whack!) seems oblivious to the fact the prices established prior to the positives he lists do not like magic go back down. (Gasoline, for one, is still stubbornly north of three bucks even here in the PRNJ. (Inside baseball; it's enough cheaper here than in NY (even after Mr Chrisitie's infamous el foldo) that there are queues at the near-border gas stations every Friday.)
CJ-it depends on the county taxes too! My border Jersey NY county is high. If I drive North, I can get Jersey prices -no lines (but have to pump my own!)
Amen on that. All the worthless DEI/CRT/CORRUPT federal agents, elected or appointed need to just go. Where is immaterial, though the further the better.
Trump needs to really clean house and outright fire the leadership in every agency. I think he’ll have a decent pool of competent, (hopefully not hostile) replacements. No matter what he does, the leftist nutters who have taken over the democrat party will insist he’s a fascist, racist, dumbest person alive. They will stay hung up on every superficial detail of his persona while misconstruing every action taken and amazingly I still hear ignorant chatter about his Russian ties. If I’m not mistaken it was Biden’s son who was paid a fairly large sum by the wife of the mayor of some big city (Moscow I think) in Russia. Not Trump or any other member of his family, so who’s profited again exactly?
Of course this all depends on the integrity of each state to have fair elections. Im not gonna hold my breath. The abortion issue was more detrimental in the midterms than the GOP expected. They hopefully got a plan to have better messaging and to back off too restrictive a stance. Most moderate republicans are pro-choice but with limitations.
This is going to be the ugliest mudslinging election in a long time. TDS continues to be a common disorder among liberals in general and leftists in totality.
We are heading straight into some kind of existential crisis in America. How that will play out is anyone’s guess but I think it will be rough. I just hope it’s not bloody too.
I was hoping Fetterman would break rank on the Mayorkas vote.Demscwin elections because their commie ways always put the party ahead of their individual beliefs.
Is it possible that the three who voted “no” were secretly Democrats. No of course not. Politicians would never deceive their constituents. A large African animal has just entered the room & it an’t an elephant.
Most of them just don’t want to lose their indentured servants.
I guess most of these really wealthy, elitist democrats don’t understand that when their policies destroy America their cash cows will perish soon after.
Meanwhile the little people will suffer their foolishness
Good questions. I rather believe the reason they dropped the investigation into the leak about the Roe decision was because it revealed that one of the justices who dissented on the reversal took it into their own hands just to affect the midterms and indeed it did.
I may be wrong but why did every media outlet just drop it like a rock?
Kudos to Hazard, Kentucky, for at least TRYING to solve a problem the government created. It seems the Leviathan Bureaucracy, aka our government, has grown into a career oriented organization and no matter how idealistic a politician starts out, they stay in long enough and they get corrupted. What's the saying...power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. TERM LIMITS all across the board!
After the JFK murder and mass assassination of truth speakers across America in the '60's the "drug war" was put in place to build the surveillance state watching you though your computer screen right now. And they did it on the American tax dime. They still are. And will continue to do so at every opportunity.
Hazard personal recovery and all addictive illness is based on accepting that you are indeed ill and, the hard work of a total realignment of psyche and life. It requires abandonment of cozy victimhood, acceptance of personal agency and responsibility and the commitment to create and live inside a truth/fact based human reality. For those dealing with creeping totalitarianism and addicted to hysteria, blame and victimhood the American Constitution is the handbook for recovery.
I would follow up with how much they are using their credit cards and how high the interest rates are on them. Is your debt load shrinking or expanding with all the work you are doing? People are getting crushed from both ends. Thanks for a great post.
" The really worrying thing for Biden is that 20-point gap on the economy even with the GDP expanding, inflation cooling, jobs surging, and consumer sentiment finally improving."
GDP is a Keynesian fantasy metric; it assumes that "spending drives economies". The Broken Windows Fallacy debunked it a long time ago. "Inflation cooling" doesn't mean prices are going down; they're still much higher related to paychecks and will stay so. Plus inflation is grossly under-reported, failing to account for things like shrinkflation.
Jobs are not "surging"; to the contrary, there are layoffs in a lot of areas and lots of people feel insecure in their jobs. The hiring market is terrible for those laid off. Finally, "consumer sentiment" is inaccurately measured by underreporting inflation and then using that to assume that the larger dollar amounts being spent represent people buying more stuff, when what they actually represent is people paying more for their necessities.
The Left has every MSM outlet spitting out "Why are stupid people unhappy about the economy when it's so awesome?" articles. These are all gaslighting.
How typical that you would assign exclusivity to Biden for problems that have plagued the US for decades. The disappearance of the middle class began in earnest with Reagan if I recall
Is lying a part of your DNA? You must be a life long Democrat. Calling the architect of the demise of the Evil Empire an "amiable dunce." If the middle class were disappearing the cohort of lower class Americans would have grown under Reagan. But instead it shrank as the upper class increased. The middle class prospered under President Reagan as he tamed inflation and set the economy onto decades of growth. The lie that Reagan was the enemy of the middle class is hilarious - a fiction invented by partisan fools such as Reich. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e4491bc9-9aa0-45c3-943a-a86c1497828c/the-reagan-prosperity---november-1995.pdf
Yes, people doing it for themselves, not expecting government to help.
I had the “pleasure” of determining what services are available for older people in my community. Services behind miles of red tape, waiting lists, disqualifying details, and unanswered phone calls. Seems that people have government jobs to explain all sorts of service programs and how your little old lady doesn’t qualify.
My church people step up and take care of our older people in need.
That is a fundamental difference between the liberal and conservative mind set. Liberals believe it's the governments job to provide everything through other peoples money. The conservative is more in line with all of us should help through our efforts and our money to help the less fortunate. Believe it will get worse as the younger generations look more and more for government to fund them.
The government long ago strayed from its actual role of protect and defend and became the Nanny.
Something the Founders well understood when they bequeathed to us a government of limited power with checks and balances. A notion that the regressive "progressives" have worked tirelessly to undermine for over a century.
The "government" is using American tax payer dollars to fund the insertion of political operatives inside of key American cultural and social institutions for the express purpose of capturing and destroying them. On the flip side those controlling the D.C. hog trough have gone International. The Biden/Ukraine canker sore is only one instance of billions being syphoned into numbered "globalist" bank accounts no accountability or solutions forthcoming.
There are no liberals/conservatives, democrats/republicans, communist/capitalist, etc. Only the hyperrealistic psyop of the totalitarian lie and the free peoples of the world. For Americans there is the Constitution. Everything else is pathology.
You have just identified the fundamental problem with the "nanny state." The problem isn't that our quite wealthy society designates a certain (frankly generous) amount of resources to help those in need. The problem is that the bureaucrats who run the programs ostensibly designed to help those people rapidly turn every program into a government jobs plan, in which the primary beneficiaries are the bureaucrats. They become increasingly entitled and decreasingly service oriented. The programs become sclerotic and highly resistant to change or reform - programs that aren't doing their job can't be canceled or fixed and good money follows bad. This is also the main problem with Obamacare. It created tens of thousands of new bureaucratic jobs, in both the public and private sector, and a new and expanded entitlement mindset among the public and especially these bureaucrats, but did little to reduce the cost of healthcare or insurance.
Does anyone seriously think the poll question about treating migrants humanely and protecting immigrant rights was valid? Protecting immigrant rights? WTF is that? The right to steal, rape and beat up cops? To live in rec centers and schools while American citizens get leftovers? The right to Visa cards and new phones and new Nikes? To get hotel rooms or shelters while veterans especially elderly vets are kicked out?
Holy Christmas Batman, where’s the reality when you look at actually controlling the border where Joey is in the septic tank having already gone down the toilet.
The ads for Trump and the Rs write themselves. If they don’t capitalize on this, we deserve to be Cuba.
One word…..disgusting. We the people need to demand change. You think health care accessibility is bad now? Just wait. Once the Boomer docs all retire and aren’t replaced, we’ll be in a world of hurt. Once my husband retires in a few years, our town will be with one less physician as they’ve been trying to recruit a second (in his specialty) for over 5 years.
Since many of the older doctors have now retired, our small town would have very few if not for the government-run clinic. And the doctors who come to work there are usually only there long enough to get credit toward their student loans. The ones that stick around long term are the bad ones, who can't get a practice elsewhere.
Fortunately, we have plenty of really good nurse practitioners. Most of them come here to stay because of ties to the area.
I use a NP as my primary. I increasingly believe that we need to allow nurses to do more. I trust a nurse with 5 years experience over a Doctor fresh out of med school.
Same here. It has been my experience over the past 40 years that nurse practitioners are much better at listening and communicating than most doctors. They're well-trained, but they've managed to dodge whatever it is about medical school that sucks the humanity out of medical students and/or implants a god complex.
Many of our specialists used to be local…now they drive an hour to staff the clinic and even then, it’s hard to recruit. Something’s gotta give for rural America.
They love to make up vague "rights" that empower themselves, while telling us we don't actually have a right to free speech or to own guns. Or a president who is capable of giving an interview.
I hate to tell you this, but sympathy for illegals is being pushed in the schools. In my local high school, The Leavers (about an illegal Chinese woman) is being read and the students have to write a paper on one of the "many egregious" horrible things the US government does to illegals. And that's just one book/paper in one class in one grade.
Thank you FP for such a good story on the impact that corrupt political policies, big pharma and the cartels have had on devastating these Appalachian people and their communities. You can see it all over the northern and western areas of my home state of North Carolina. This tragedy should serve as a perfect example of why there should not be another penny sent to Ukraine, Israel or any other nation and repurpose our taxpayer dollars to rebuilding our communities that have been ravaged by the politicians, corporate cabals and international criminal organizations. But of course there's no honeypot of corrupt cash for the politicians in doing that, nor does it help the stock price of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. These are the same corrupt assholes who continue to shut down coal mines for "green energy" and telling the laid off coal mine workers that they should learn to code. The same ones that have shipped all the textile and manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China and SE Asia. All this devastation is a result of corrupt DC elites who hate & manipulate the working poor and who've completely gutted the nations middle class to enrich themselves and their cronies. I'd wager every penny I have that Mitch McConnell has never made a single visit to Hazard, Kentucky.....ever. Just proving he's one of the top scumbags in Washington that needs to be tossed out on his turtle looking ass. F*ck these people.....they are the true enemy of our county.
On a positive note, there are some great artists that have made a big difference in fighting the addiction epidemic in the Appalachia's. Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, S.G. Goodman, and Chris Stapleton to name a few. There's an annual music event that is worth attending and supporting called Healing Appalachia.
They indeed hate ALL working people. Look what they did, purposely, to the growing middle class black communities post WW2. Look how they’ve removed tech schools from high schools. Decimated anything decent in public school systems, all over the county. Drug the kids. Ignore the “uneducated” parents. The middle- we are the middle- and we need to stop fearing change and understand lobby groups run our country.
Yep. Manufactured fear. Disinformation. Bitch slap crisis of the week depression. Learned helplessness. Tightening control of access to food, water and shelter.The slow destruction of the American middle class and the ascent of the DNC/CCP/WEF/EU Davos totalitarian juggernaut. It is retrograde 20th Century A-Bomb pathological utopian/fascist pathology.
If Russia had taken Ukraine then NATO (American GIs) would be facing Russian soldiers across a fence line in Romania and Poland. Putin is serious about reclaiming the Soviet empire and history is replete with examples of the dangers of ignoring or placating the whims of tyrants. Ukraine has cost us 3.5% of our DOD budget. Its peanuts compared to the cost of a real war with Russia and while tragic, better for Ukraines to die for their soil than Americans. I don't understand why this reality, a reality that has guided American foreign policy for 80 years is suddenly not understood by certain parts of our society.
Yeah......I'm not buying that bit about Putin trying to get the band back together. I am looking forward to the Putin interview by Tucker Carlson. My guess is that it will shine a different light on the entire situation in Ukraine. My bet is that they've been lying about the war in Ukraine this entire time. Everything from the history of what started this conflict, to how the war has been progressing. The media is terrified that we might hear another side that doesn't line up with what's been parroted for the past 2 years.
"Better for Ukraines to die for their soil than Americans".....tell that to the mothers of the 300K+ dead Ukrainian sons. How about do everything we can so that no one dies.
For example, talks in Belarus, actually produced an agreement between Ukraine and Russia to bring the fighting to an end.
The Russians were ready to end the war if Ukraine accepted neutrality like Finland once did and commit to not join Nato. Then Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kiev and said: ‘Do not sign anything with them at all; just go to war,’”.
Putin's actions speak volumes for what he wants. I agree with Tulsi Gabbard that we should have unequivocally stated Ukraine was not eligible for NATO status and our Neocon approach has not helped, but Putin has been very forthright about his intentions of greater Russia and the entire world can see the atrocities he is happily prepared to take to further the cause.
You are absolutely correct in that we should have stated not eligible for NATO-but once again we meddle and stick a stick in the hornets nest-and profit for politicians. I am so tired of wars that really could have been avoided-almost all of them since WW2
No problem with disagreeing. That said, I'm an ally of Israel and completely support the Israeli people and the Israeli state. They are the most powerful nation in the middle east. The US has been supporting their military and economy for over 75 years and through the 1973 Yom Kippur war, it was needed. All I'm saying is that they can now support themselves in every respect. We don't need to continue to send billions to them especially when our nation is completely upside down. How can I care for my neighbor and his family if mine is in ruin?
I am surprised and disappointed by your video about the Israeli captives. I support the effort to keep awareness of their ongoing tragedy in people's minds, but you went past that into Israeli politics, essentially using this tragedy as a cudgel against the government.
There was no indication that you had sought to interview a representative of the government, or any of the many people with family among the captives who do 𝗻𝗼𝘁 share Yair Golan's politics or the opinion that there are concessions that are not being made but should be. The idea that we can refuse Hamas nothing if it's the price of the captives' return is obviously wrong. Were Hamas to demand that we sacrifice some random Israeli, many would rush to volunteer to be the sacrifice, but I doubt any of the family members you interviewed would be willing to wield the knife. And rightly so.
Freeing untold numbers of terrorists is, according to many who blame Netanyahu for this debacle, how he caused it, via the Shalit deal (and it's worth mentioning that support for the Shalit deal was mostly on the Left, not the Right). Now the same people are saying he's evil for not wanting to do it again. Leaving Hamas in power means increasing the risk of more October sevenths in the future, as well as more garden-variety rockets, shootings, bombings and stabbings.
And it's worth taking a moment to remember the soldiers who are fighting right now for the dual goals of destroying Hamas and returning the captives, many of whom disagree with the assessment of every single person you interviewed, all the while risking -- and sacrificing -- their lives for those people's loved ones. I have seen their bravery and the purity of their intentions, their overpowering need to give the "last full measure of devotion" to their countrymen, their family. They deserve better than this.
I'm not condemning anyone, least of all those with relatives among the captives, for whatever opinion they hold, but you're journalists and have some responsibility to offer a fuller picture.
Michael, you touch upon an issue that I think about often. I will pose a question to illustrate the point ( this will anger many liberal american jews): how many american jews at this point are more focused on 1) the hostages or 2) getting netanyahu out of power?
I hear that, but I won't assume that anybody is more concerned with politics than with the hostages. That would be slanderous. By the same token, I think it's slanderous to assume that Netanyahu cares more about his political advantage than about the hostages.
Do I think that a lot of arguments are in bad faith, or simply not well thought out? Certainly. But not caring about the hostages? It'd take solid evidence to make me believe that about someone.
Fair point. But I intentionally used the words "more focused. " obviously most care but my point was that many are now more focused on bibi in my opinion based on the materials I read and comments I hear
I accept that, but what you're seeing may be the result of there being not much to say about freeing the hostages, whereas there seems to always be more to say about this government.
There is a reason why I believe that the fate of the state of Israel is of vital importance to world Jewry, including those of us in the U.S.
History has shown that the Jewish People, over the last 2000 years at least, in whatever country of their dispersion in which they found themselves, sooner or later were subject to discrimination, exile, and worse. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the same cannot or will not happen in the U.S.
The difference today, is that there is a place of refuge where Jews can run to, and be welcome. That is why those who wish the Jewish people ill are working so hard to destroy that refuge, by any and all means necessary.
Israeli politics are none of our business. That is the business of the Israeli electorate. Israel's safety and security, however, must be.
I also respect your POV, but don't understand how it translates into practicality.
"I think Americans should be America first and I think Israelis should be Israel first. "
So, for example, looking back in history, if you were around at the time of the refusal of the US government to allow the docking of the Jewish refugee ship St. Louis in an American port, would you have been "an American first", and support your government's action? In a more recent example, regarding the overwhelming rejection of the JCPOA by the Israeli population and government, would you stand by the Obama administration's position, even if you thought it was faulty? How about UNSC Resolution 2334 on which the Obama administration abstained?
" If someday the government violates our constitution and attacks American Jews then I intend to make my stand here and fight and die on my native soil."
Does that make sense for you, or your parents, or your children? Do you think that the Jewish citizens of Germany should have "stayed, and fought, and died" in Buchenwald or Dachau rather than try (even if often futilely) to escape?
I am not sure what your exact point may be but if directed at me personally I will respond more fully. If it is more generic I agree fully- let Israel do what it needs to do and we need to do what we need to do.
It seems to me: Accepting that Hamas maintains power by looting funds intended to aide actual Palestinians, with knowing complicity on the part of government (tax dollar funded) NGO's, is a replay of the countless problems that stem from the machinations of billionaire financiers who directly profit from manufactured crisis at every opportunity. Everything in place across the globe is to prevent implementation of a truth/fact solutions based goal by objective dialogue.
The familiar tactic is the pathological narcissistic/poseur virtuosity of setting fire to the landscape and while everyone else is trying to put it out looting it for everything they can get their hands on. The actual vital human/financial resources that would have solved the problem have been destroyed and everyone involved is poorer from the experience. Except the looters. Who if confronted, will blame the victim. It's pathology not politics. If it isn't stopped the American people will ultimately find themselves in the same situation as the Palestinians. Thrall to the machinations of slavers and thugs who wander the world looting the lives and futures of anyone and everyone with no regard to consequences. Because for them, there are none. Think of Genghis Khan as a central banker.
You should read Gadi Taub’s piece this week in Tablet magazine. He discusses how the “end the war to get the hostages now” effort is linked to the prior anti-judicial reform movement to overthrow Netanyahu. He also explains it in his podcast with Mike Doran which is featured on Tablets home page. You may not agree with all of his politics, but he is an articulate, well-informed journalist with a PhD in American History and he recognizes American Jews’ slavish attachment to the Democratic Party. (Before anyone attacks me, I’m a Jewish Independent who left the Dems 10 years ago).
My son texted me the other day saying "we need to think about the Apple vision Pro." I wrote back its "$3500 so that's a hard no." I got an "OMG" in return. He had no idea of the cost.
The issue with tech like the Vision Pro is not that it takes you out of reality, or that it allows you to play a more immersive kind of game. People complain about new tech all the time. You would return to reality eventually, just like you do with your phone. The problem is that when people return to IRL they would then take one look around and go back as fast as they can to pretend world. People choose tech immersion even now because they really feel they have no control over their day to day lives or their day to day lives are so hard that escapism is the only thing that helps them survive. Too bad that those in charge truly have no idea what the average person deals with on a daily basis. Trump isn't ahead in the pols because people feel good about the world around them. But I digress.
Listien, the part of the article that actually caused me to guffaw is when the writer says the Vision Pro is the cost of a vacation. That is some privileged shit right there.
Considering my overhead, the idea of a vacation of any kind beyond a staycation is a pipedream. So no, haven't priced airline flights. But I do watch the travel vlogs on YouTube. Some of those first class levels are truly fun to contemplate- if I ever win the lottery :)
but of course, not just flights! Just add up costs, hotels, food, land travel on site- etc. Just price out a Disney trip for a family of 4. I have no idea, but I'm guessing (w/ airfare) it would easily top $3,500!
I think your choice of vacation is part of the issue. If someone is struggling to pay grocery bills, a trip to Disney shouldn't be anywhere on the radar.
Growing up, we didn't fly anywhere, we camped rather than stayed at hotels and we mostly made our own food, so food costs were the same as at home.
But we live in a country where people begging for government help regularly have new smart phones so....
IKR? We don’t take those kinds of vacations. To me that’s a whole lot of money. I don’t consider myself poor either though. It’s all relative in the end. The cost of living in NYC makes the cost of living in say some podunk Appalachian town seem free. Wages in the one that barely allow for necessities could afford living large in the other.
"The really worrying thing for Biden is that 20-point gap on the economy even with the GDP expanding, inflation cooling, jobs surging, and consumer sentiment finally improving."
It's bad enough to swallow that swill but do you have to peddle it for those liars, too? Try going to the grocery store or gas station. That inflation is cooked into prices and wages haven't kept pace. Moreover, asset prices are up, along with interest rates, so housing and rent are even less affordable and Americans are more in credit card debt (at over 28% interest rates) than ever. Biden's economy is a mess and you need to stop pretending otherwise. Americans with assets can exult over the recent run up in the market (how long will that last?) but how about a little compassion for those who are struggling. Just another reason why I detest Democrats more by the minute.
It always pisses me off when I read these idiot journos say “inflation is abating”. No dimwits, the RATE is abating but inflation is way up. It compounds, it doesn’t reset every month to zero. You’d think they’d see that when they get their daily (twice, three times?) Starbucks, but no. I guess when you’ve sold your soul to the dnc narrative, reality must not intrude.
BTW, I notice eggs jumped 16 cents this week. Almost up to $2 a dozen again.
His best bet is to keep his mouth shut and let the media remind people he isn't Trump. All the dems are going to try to do is make sure their base gets out and votes (maybe multiple times if possible). I think at this point everyone has made up their mind, if the contest is between these 2 people. Biden doesn't really have anything to stand on, so he is, like the last few Dem candidates, mostly running as "Not Trump"
My biggest issue is that so many people don't understand inflation. If, say, a year ago inflation was 6% and now it is 2% yes technically inflation went down in a year. But it still means overall it is going up, just slower.
These dumb numbers games bug me so much. But more so when folks like the author buy into it. They should be smarter than that...especially if they are going to write about it.
What's funny about that is that the only real problem there is that Mitterand is dead. Biden says he has done things he hasn't done, and met people he hasn't met, nearly EVERY TIME he goes off script, and I think he was doing this LONG before he developed full blown Alzheimers. The press has always covered for him, and his Corn Pop moments, which would be funny if this guy were not the President.
One hallmark of dementia is the inability to know what is true. Several family members have/had Alzheimer’s and another had age-related dementia; things they believed were true were mind-blowing. But to them it was gospel truth. No matter your feelings about Biden, it’s a cruel disease (and he has no business being President).
It is easy to get 97 percent of the vote if the Democrats act like the mafia—which they do—and run around making it impossible for anyone else to run or get on the ballot. I wonder how Biden would have done if the party “preserving democracy” actually allowed voters to make a choice. Why was Kennedy exiled? North Korea indeed.
And when the illegal alien military aged men invaders from countries that hate us do their October 7 atrocities around the country, will the wearers of those things see them coming? Cannon fodder.
“Biden loses to Trump by five points. (The pair were neck and neck back in September.) And then here’s what voters said”
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Was the poll conducted the way elections are where street hustlers and nightclub promoters are paid to collect votes aggressively and oversample Democrats in a huge way? No? Okay so ignore the poll.
I for one was disappointed there was no survey results on how the dead and illegals see the election. My guess is they are at least 90 percent for Slow Joe. So until all of the dead and illegal voters are polled, I will not believe the survey.
I feel like the easiest way to secure the border would be to propose a law where people coming here illegally could not vote for at least 4 generations ( if you come here illegally then neither you or your children or grandchildren etc could vote - ever - because you don’t get that benefit of citizenship if you don’t come the legal way. I feel like Biden would close the border tomorrow
I was just reading a story about the president of the city council in Atlantic City who is charged with filling out and submitting mail in ballots for people who didn’t vote and didn’t know their ballot was being used by someone else and these ballots were counted in the last election. How often did that happen? Does anyone know what is the guardrail against people doing that? It sounds like it was pretty easy for him to get away with. If the democrats want these mail in ballots then they are going to have to convince people that guardrail are in place to prevent things like this. I can’t think of any way that they can prevent fraud with mail in ballots
Has anyone watched the 4 minute speech of Mollie Hemingway speaking before congress today? She brought up a lot of really interesting points which at any time would be worth talking about. Other than the mention of censorship I have never heard any of these talked about at the Free Press. It’s like if you read the Free Press these things aren’t even happening.
You know, when you get to be my age, 86, you note that many of your relatives, friends and acquaintances have died, and virtually all of them, rich, middle and poor, spent around $500,000 in Medicare money during their final years, having paid in at most $50,000 during their work years, and you wonder, "How long can this keep going on?" My closest friend spent $600,000 of Medicare money last year, and died 6 months later. During his work years he had paid into Medicare $26,000.
I am fairly certain that that amount is not actually spent. There is a reason that Hospitals and the like don't generally list the prices for their services. Insurance rarely pays the same amount YOU would pay if you had to pay out of pocket. I doubt the government does either.
That said, I am sure it is still a money losing endeavor. But, everything the Government does generally loses money
Verrry interesting, what the gov pays. My only hospitalization, for observation of chest pains, two days, $10,500 discounted to $5,000, because I was paying cash -- I didn't have "part B," at the time.
I find it interesting that when Google had those AR glasses people went nuts. "I don't want someone's camera pointing at me all the time!" "Oh, they look so stupid". But Apple does it in an even more obtrusive way and its the best thing ever. I sometimes wish I was an Apple fanboy so I could understand why people spend 500 bucks on a watch they use primarily to know if they need to pull their phone out. Let alone 4000 bucks to be even move over connected than we already are.
Jobs surging? Look beyond the headline at the actual report. Full-time jobs actually decreased. Part-time jobs surged. Now do an experiment. Next time you’re in a diner or store talk to the waiter and clerk. Ask them how many jobs they have. Many will say 3. I know because I have had those conversations. Part time work is unstable work with few if any benefits and exhausting. But that is how Joe Biden’s America is feeding its children.
I think all the money that was printed for COVID is still splashing around. There remains a lot of construction going on. But the whole system feels very fragile to me. I was talking with my banker the other day, and credit card debt has never been higher, and mortgage defaults are also very high. Everybody is barely surviving. We buy things to assuage anxiety, and that continues, but one crash, all that HAS to contract, and we are in some serious trouble.
Another troubling conversation I had was with an acquaintance in commercial real estate, and he said the owners of his company think we are on the verge of a mild depression. I remember 2008. Things seemed fine until they weren't.
Joe Biden is not a good President. All these illegal aliens are eating up an enormous quantity of resources intended for Americans, that were already not being doled out intelligently, or in most cases sufficiently. What the proper role of government is, is another debate, but that OUR TAXES should be spent on OUR PEOPLE is such an obvious truth that you would need a degree from Harvard or Princeton to doubt it. You would need that much practical training in DoubleThink and aggressive cognitive dissonance.
For many years I've quoted Zig Ziglar's line that "Economists have successfully predicted 57 out of the last 3 recessions", but my personal feel is that although things seem OK right now, I have started quizzing people I know around the country to try and keep an eye on things, because my gut tells me the carpet is getting ready to be pulled out from under our feet.
We REALLY need to reelect Trump in November. We're not inviting him as a house guest. His manners and style are not relevant. His POLICIES are the only connection most of us will have with him, and his policies are what we desperately need.
Try to imagine a President who has been more ANTI-American people than Biden? Well, Obama, but he’s Joe’s puppetmaster. For all Trump’s warts, at least he’s on our side.
And yes, I am expecting a crash worse than 2008. Also expecting homeland terrorist attacks from all the illegals Biden/Obama let in.
People loved to dump on Trump, that he wasn't smart, or he was crazy or this and that. But what I THINK he showed is that being a really good President is no more complicated than TRYING to be a good President, and not spending your whole term or terms selling out America to people who don't like us and don't want us to succeed, and who very much want us to fail;, or, in the case of people like Nikki Haley, very much want us to wage a bunch of wars that are hugely profitable, and after which we walk away in failure, as in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
America has one more chance to do the right thing. If we put back in another America hating President--Biden, Michelle Obama, Gavin Newsome or any of them--then our standard of living is going to decline steadily, our children will have a much worse future, and it is very, very unlikely freedom will survive, and it's quite possible most or all of us will be killed in a nuclear war that didn't need to happen, an engineered pandemic, or something else.
What is most disturbing about all this is that I think most people on the Left get this unconsciously, making their continuing bellicose defense of the indefensible tantamount to a death wish. Most Leftists on some level are suicidal, and they just want to drag the rest of us down with them.
Unsaint, I think so many Democrat voters have Stage 5 TDS! I have heard many say they would rather see America fail than have Trump as President again. Of course, all the failures under Biden just get blamed on Trump anyway!
The absurd things Biden has said about the border … that “it’s been a disaster for 100 years”, giving Trump NO CREDIT for how much success he was having controlling the number of illegals coming in through the southern border!
My question is, IF Trump slowed the influx, WHY did the flood gates open as soon as Biden took office??
I think that sort of suicidal thinking comes from profound self loathing. How could you love yourself when you hate your country, hate your kind, hate your community, and feel revulsion for everything you are? Why not just burn it all down? These thoughts are latent in nearly all left wing narratives.
And it is almost comical that we are looking at a President who is not just not doing his job--which would be bad enough--but literally threatening force against Texas over his RIGHT not to do his job.
It's more or less literally like a security guard at secure facility that provides golf carts, maps and water bottles to everyone who walks up to the gate--people whose entrance he was supposed to prevent--and who then pulls their gun on another guard who ATTEMPTS to start doing the basic job in a common sense obvious way.
If treason is giving aid and comfort to our enemies, which in this case would be supporting people who are not Americans over people who ARE Americans, and completely eradicating a basic layer of national protection, then that is treason.
As a Texan, it is infuriating to hear these Blue State Governors & Mayors call it a “Governor Abbott Crisis” and blaming HIM for sending A FEW illegals (compared to the numbers here in Texas!) to their Sanctuary cities!
Blame Biden damnit! Dems KNOW it’s this Biden Regime’s fault & failings, but they will never go against the Left’s talking points!
Amen but to them it’s “bad man orange” is to blame for everything.
And dangerous MAGA white supremacists are more of a threat than millions of illegal aliens many of whom have actual criminal backgrounds and some have been known to have ties to terrorist orgs and murderous regimes.
Stupid on steroids. It’s to divert attention from Biden’s failings and scandals. Not that Trump doesn’t have flaws. His basic ideas about America and defending her people both here and abroad. Our government has been an adversary to more than half the country with no signs of stopping. If I hear one more elected moron, celebrity bozo or journalist call our country a democracy I might implode.🤬
Unsaintly Unknowing
If Russia succeeds in Ukraine it will invade the Baltics and Poland. Putin is trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union. This will lead to WW III. Ignorance of history and myopia are disqualifying. in yesterday’s press conference Biden couldn’t remember the name of the organization waging war on Israel. Dementia is also disqualifying. I’ve seen no evidence that Tump is not still very smart but he needs to free himself from the naive and isolationist Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican Party. And he needs to act Presidential or he may lose to Gavin Newsom in November.
I see ZERO evidence that Putins aims extend beyond his STATED aims, which are claiming/reclaiming fir Russia the areas that were supposed to be made autonomous by the Minsk Accords.
Putin is not an imbecile. He knows that subversive and destructive elements in our government want war with him. He wont give them what they want, because war is not in his interest.
My best guess is that the whole world is largely under the control of a covert and unelected set of oligarchs, and that Russia is the sole genuine holdout. This is why they are working so hard at sparking a war which makes ZERO strategic sense for us. We have ZERO strategic interest in that region generally.
Putin’s very clearly stated goals are to eliminate and annex Ukraine, but you apparently have missed that. Also stated is the recovery of the entire Soviet empire, which includes the former satellites states in E Europe as a zone of influence. A key goal is to completely go back to Russia as a totalitarian state based on eternal enmity to the US. Only complete ignorance of history and a worldview based on whatever you can learn on cable or dubious Internet sites allows such bland assessments of an existential foe of the US. Didn’t notice until now the name of your newsletter; I guess it’s Moderate Trump Cultists United for Putin.
🪒🛎️
Russia is most definitely controlled by unelected oligarchs. Maybe just not the same ones to which you refer.
If the Sekrut Kabal controlled everything we would know it. But they do have their fingers on a lot of scales, don't they?
Lose to Gavin Newson! Now that is scary but so is the ever senile Joe. Hell, the entire left is scary stupid and dangerous.
You have regurgitate the MSM talking points put out the DNC. Good boy. Now get over to RFK Jr podcast and listen to some he has on the Ukraine war and come back to us Ukraine has zero national security interest to the United States. We have no business being there. We had no business in the 2014 overthrow of a democratically president but yet we’re behind it. Not a fan of a Putin either but we need to understand the real world and not the fake one the MSM tells you. Tucker Carlson is going to interview Putin you should listen to it.
We should listen to Putin, but also keep in mind that he is not a man of his word. When he took Crimea (and I think, by and large, the world accepted this because of the lack of response) after Obama's ill-advised support of revolution, he promised he had no interest in Kyiv (his speech to the Federation Council in 2014 seemed earnest, but it turned out he was lying). Kyiv would have fallen two years ago if not for the poor organization of his attack.
In other words, instead of what he said then, which was that he recognized what's mostly Kyivan Rus as potentially an independent ally of Russia, it seems more likely he is trying to annex it as a buffer to NATO (and in doing so, actually invading NATO countries).
Is that a strategy for negotiating down to keeping Crimea and adding eastern and southern Ukraine and having that recognized by the world? Hard to say. Many think he sees the west's war on energy as an opportunity to recreate the kingdom of Catherine the Great, which, with the EU unable to defend itself because of its energy policies, seems realistic.
Should we react? I don't know. Not reacting means no NATO. And Biden is just as committed to the war on energy. But it also means acknowledgement of China and Russia as the unquestioned leaders of the new world. That's not good, especially if we continue to rely on China for our energy needs.
Oh, FFS. Russia is not invading the Balkans. Or Poland. All the invasion plans go the other way.
One could understand why Russia might think it was a good idea to invade Poland though. Polish nationalist insiders (Brzezinski types) have been pushing hard on taking back a historical Poland that existed for a short time over the past 500 years.
https://www.businessinsider.com/chilling-predictions-world-future-ten-years-decade-2015-12
Trump was significantly more presidential than Biden. He had some rough edges but in general did a far better job in every category. He had a viscous enemy in most of the MSM (including print or digital media) that tried ceaselessly to misconstrue everything he said or did. It was rightly tagged as Trump derangement syndrome (TDS). Every one and every thing was better off from Trumps policies.
Gavin Newsome would be even more disastrous than Biden. If that happens an all out civil war is almost guaranteed. Everyone better hope that doesn’t happen.
So, how do we get those suicidal leftists to recognize they are masters of our demise?
I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out for many years. It seems it will take a lot of really bad things that they can't blame on anyone else, but I'm not sure that's enough.
Narcissism, clinically, is a really hard thing to treat, not least because grandiosity feels good. The only thing that brings narcissists into therapy is problems.
The system MAY crash. That may be our future. Prepping is certainly mainstream now, at least among the sorts of people I know and feel some commonality with.
I was replying to your comment above” What is most disturbing about all this is that I think most people on the Left get this unconsciously, making their continuing bellicose defense of the indefensible tantamount to a death wish. Most Leftists on some level are suicidal, and they just want to drag the rest of us down with them.”
They would destroy it because they don’t like their situation? Still I don’t think it’s narcissism as much as the hollowness of self that is so common today.
Yup. That’s why the sale of firearms has risen so dramatically.
Ppl we know who’ve never owned them are buying them. We always advise them to take the time to train in the use of them and to keep up regular practice.
The left is foolish and naive. They honestly believe themselves superior and thus are better able to make decisions for us whether we like it or not and that disagreeing is a clear sign you just aren’t educated or smart enough to understand their enlightened positions.
When the whole country goes up in flames they’ll blame it on climate change.
I’m definitely expecting the terrorist attacks. Annie’s getting a gun. Janie’s got a gun.
I suggest for home defense a 12 gage magnum pump shot gun or a Tarus Judge pistol. For carrying around a small 380 pistol with hollow point ammo with laser sights. The 380 is small and easy to carry in your pocket or purse. The laser makes it easy to hit your target.
For long distance an M14 7.62 rifle. Many people prefer the M16 but the round is a small caliber and may not take your opponent down. The heavy caliber does more damage to the human body.
I know I will get blow back for my choices.
I have a shotgun (which, amusingly, I purchased with my Covid check) for home defense.
I think a handgun would be better, but I don't dare to buy one. Even though it's been a while since a DNA-based suicidal impulse reared its head, I don't want an easy and *sure* method available to myself.
Stay strong
The shotgun wouldn't be sure enough?
Sometimes the only thing that deters my occasional bouts of depression and subsequent suicidal thoughts is the idea that it’s such an abomination to God that it’s a likely disqualifier in passing judgement, even for Christians.
Those are choices for a man with strong hands who wants it to be seen. Dear lord. Those pistols are overpowered, not concealable. There's reasons that Glock is used by all branches. https://www.sandboxx.us/news/why-is-the-glock-19-the-favorite-pistol-of-special-forces/
Even a glock is too much for many women. Best have something you can handle. It might be useful.
I heartily agree on laser sights. In real situations, it helps people hit what they intend to.
As lifelong Texans, and hunters, we have 2 shotguns, several long rifles, and 4 handguns - one (I got for Christmas a few years ago) that has a laser 🔴 and it is my favorite! It is amazing how much easier it is to hit your target!
Hope I never have to use it except at the gun range for target practice!
The S&W Bodyguard fit in the palm of my hand, 6 in the clip and 1 in the chamber.
No blow back from me, only thanks for the info LP much appreciated 😄
I would really like to get a Judge. I have a .45 Colt 1911 but haven't taken it to the range in a long time. That shotgun feature would be nice.
The 1911 is a classic.
Polecat, a Taurus Judge is an excellent choice for home defense! Easy-to-shoot cross between a shotgun and a pistol.
According to the NRA, most home invasion shootings happen at about 15 feet. At 15 feet the pattern is about 2 feet wide. Point and shoot. You can be 10 inches off and still hit the bad guy.
Oh, I am sorry I called him/her/they/them a bad guy. I should have said, a misguided, victim of a brutal, racists, police state society.
I though civilians can’t get M16’s as they are fully automatic. The M15 was the semiautomatic made for civilian use. A shotgun is easier to hit your target without needing the same accuracy as shotgun shells disperse “shot”. Most pistols take some skill and need training to effectively use for targets further away than a few yards. The problem in recent years has been getting ammunition. I like the 9mm because it’s a strong enough round to stop most targets and our pistols that employ the 9mm don’t have as much recoil. A 22mm just doesn’t have the stopping power. A laser sight is most definitely a significant help.
As I’m sure you can tell I’m no expert in firearms but my husband is as is our son.
Currency in a EOTWAWKI scenario would be alcohol, ammunition, tobacco and maybe food.
I have a friend who bought 5,000 rounds of 223/5.56mm to use as currency in case of a catastrophe.
The AR 15 was what the M16 was called before it became a military weapon. It fires a 223 round and only the military version can be switched from semiautomatic to fully automatic. Civilian versions are semiautomatic.
I liked it because it was light and had little or no kick but the small round didn't have the knockdown power of a larger caliber rifle.
Be very careful. Having a gun and having the mindset to use a gun are Not The Same Things. I make no bones of the fact the the only thing that I fear more than not having a gun if the SHTF on any scale is having to use it.
Be thoughtful, train as realistically as you can, and be well.
(Irrelevant stuff: Spent most of my Navy enlistment at a reactor plant prototype outside of Idaho Falls. Interesting place; sorta heartlandish, though some would say not the Real Idaho because of the Navy presence.)
Happiness is a warm gun. Bang. Bang. Shoot. Shoot.
Especially pumpkins filled with tannerite. A range we used to go to for an outdoor monthly “fun” shoot had a pumpkin shooting every October. The explosion was really fun. Who doesn’t like blowing stuff up?
I’ve got several.
Biden (and Obama) has intentionally managed to create the worst illegal immigration in American history. And yet the long term damage it has done to American citizens must not be obvious to every representative and senator based on two votes. It’s literally now a matter of life, safety, and well-being of Americans, and Biden/democrats are still on the side of illegals.
I wonder what the dems think America is supposed to do with all the illegals.
Have we ever heard about their plans to employ them? Educate them?
(Irony off)
Just get them registered to vote for Democrats. Nothing else is important.
That’s exactly their goal. So many come here and then vote in the same idiotic policies that decimated the countries they came from!! It’s a lose-lose proposition.
I don't think they care about the immigrants. They care about breaking the system so we will grant them the power to fix what they broke. And once we do that, they will make sure that we can't get that power back.
Well put.
Remember the Greek island where NGO's dropped more illegals than the population of the island? Those concerned with the subject might take a look at the T. Carlson interview with Bret Weinstein on his recent trip to Panama and the Darien Gap where he found sequestered camps filled with military aged Chinese men on their way to the American southern border. Add a possible why the CCP did not use an mRNA vaccine on their populations. And a logical conclusion. The Biden/Ukraine cash for influence scandal is only one example of a traitorous D.C. that has gladly sold America and the American people down the river to DNC/CCP/WEF/EU Davos slaver land.
How about criminal play already underway? Soros/Davos dollar distortion placing political operatives inside the American criminal justice system. HSBC, Bank of America etc. building special teller windows for and washing cartel cash. The flooding of Europe and America with unvetted illegals, who then arm themselves, make the streets unsafe for the citizen, and murder at will with bomb and knife. Or, "Here's a debit card.. feel free to beat police officers senseless without consequence.." And why, with the free peoples of Europe in open revolt against the land grabbing life destroying NATO/WEF/EU Davos thugdom is American "legacy media" silent as a church mouse? We know why. It's time to wake up and smell the fascism.
Self protection? Absolutely!! But the last place anyone here wants to be is in a firefight. The American Republic, its Constitution and the free citizen are the premier engines of human dignity and survival. Anyone here can list a dozen instances of the consequential harm emanating from the DNC fascist machine. The first rationalization of the lying criminally insane is to blame the victim. Stop being one. The first step for American survival was put in place in 1776. It sets clear lines of demarcation between the free citizen and tyranny. Remember who you are. Act accordingly.
"Nice car!! I love those Bavarians. So meticulous./ Y'know, I remember when things were a lot more fun around here./ When good was good and evil was evil./ Before things got so fuzzy." Don Henley GARDEN OF ALLAH
Yep. I remember Biden responding to the question of an American revolt with the line “we have tanks, F16’s and nuclear weapons so let’em try”.
Hope we don’t have to go there but you’re right. In fact it’s our DUTY to over throw tyranny. I think it will be more of a civil war between true conservatives and leftists. If that were to occur then the territory that the left retains will surely be a hellhole. Look at all the states and cities they run.
Linda in Mi
Are you ignorant of how Republicans voted or are you lying?
It’s not in my nature to lie, so please explain with details exactly how republicans voted, so I can blame them instead of Biden, Mayoris, and the rest. I’m smart enough to know elites exist in both parties and they play games by blaming the other party.
This is not R vs D--it's the elites v the rest of us.
Thank you NCMaureen for your rational thoughts. i woke up in a bad mood and was happy to see your comment. I am so upset by what the Republicans did last night with the Mayorkas impeachment. I don't feel well at all.. Trump is on our side.
Why be upset at the Republicans? Almost all of them voted FOR removing that demonic dwarf. But did you forget that every single disgusting Democrat voted AGAINST impeachment?
It’s all a game. They do not care about the life and safety of Americans. They care about themselves and the funding for their next reelection.
What you write is true for both political parties.
Bruce Miller
She might be a Democrat or just incredibly stupid. Some people aren’t smart enough to recognize that there is a clear choice. How many Democrats voted to impeach the lying moron who claimed for 2 years that the border was closed when in fact it was wide open?
I think he is referring to the people who identify as Republican but not enough to do what most Republican voters want. There are too many of them. But their numbers are declining with each passing election. Republican voters have really got to learn how to be more discerning.
They should have impeached him for perjury -- and actual high crime -- by saying repeatedly under oath that the border was closed and secure. Instead, they tried to impeach him for doing what the president, his boss, wanted him to do.
Far, far, far more important than avenging ourselves re: MyYorkie is assuring that border bill does not pass. If it does 4999 a day will come in eithout an eye being blinked and citizenship will be expedited. It is a very, very bad bill.
Castlelove, DON’T be upset! It is a tactic that has been used many times, which will allow for another vote!
If you don’t subscribe, Red State is a great platform with wonderful, informative articles that “explains” facts most Americans aren’t aware of.
Just a suggestion!
I agree with you, Maureen, especially about the terrorist attack.
Can someone in this thread tell me one thing Trump actually did as president that helped the poor or the middle class. I’m not talking about what the stock market or the economy was like during his presidency, which typically is a result of previous presidents’ policies. Nor am I’m talking about words at speeches and rallies where he does a good job of painting this picture that it’s us “true Americans” against the invaders. I mean an action/decision.
Made us energy independent! Gas prices down. Just that 1 factor made life more affordable for all of us!
Nope! Gas prices are entirely dependent upon the global market place. It is a commodity. Neither Republican nor Democrat can do a damn thing to make a significant dent.
It was America who affected the global market place by being the leading exporter. Biden leaves the energy market place in the hands of the Middle East and Russia. Of course America can and has made a serious dent under Trump. He also lowered taxes and regulation. He also used tariffs and hard power to affect other countries' policies. Trump closed the border and cut off the funding of the terrorists that Biden reinstated. If you don't admit to yourself the chaos and destrution that Biden has wrought you will just guarantee that more will come.
Charles- I understand your point, but I would disagree w/ the word "entirely." Presidents can make policy choices that affect long and short term gas prices. (See Forbes article excerpt below)
Of course one can only speculate as to whether Putin would've invaded Ukraine if Trump were President etc. But this is just 1 factor.
I think it's pretty clear that Biden's policies are geared against fossil fuel production and use. Just like one of the best ways to reduce tobacco usage was to tax the hell out of tobacco, Making the use of gasoline engines inconvenient at best has been the goal of this administration.
From Forbes/Robert Rapier:
The Putin Effect
But now let’s discuss something that President Biden did impact. I often point out that a President has few handles for impacting gasoline prices in the short term. Those handles are primarily 1). Releases of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; 2). Changing the gasoline tax; or 3). Involvement in a war with a major oil producer. All of these things can have a rapid impact on gasoline prices.
When it looked like Russia was massing troops on Ukraine’s border, oil prices broke out above the 2021 range. In January 2022, the average price of WTI moved up to $83.22/bbl. In February, when Russia actually invaded Ukraine, the average price jumped to $91.64/bbl. I attribute this price rise primarily to Vladimir Putin, combined with the world’s response to the invasion.
How? Energy independent? In what way? Seriously. How were we energy independent? But beyond that question, I’m asking what Trump did, an action he made to make something happen. Re gas prices. The truth is that presidents have almost zero influence over real time gas prices…though their policies can affect prices years later.
We pumped lots of oil & actually were able to sell some. Strategic reserve (emptied by Biden) was full. Pipeline OK'd. H
Trump is the one who lifted Obama's restrictions. Trump removed many regulations that help businesses. stock market soared, successful businesses hire more people, etc etc. None are so blind as those who refuse to see.
Example: in 2020 Trump worked out a deal with OPEC that oil producing countries would cut back production. They did and are not back to prepandemic levels. Could this possibly be cause of high gas prices?
So does that mean the current market run is thanks to Trump? Well in your own words you concede a Trump accomplishment.
No president can take credit for stock market behavior...that's not to say actions on the part of a president never influence the market...but. I'm not sure what I said that you're referring to. Also are you referring to Trump's claim that he is currently influencing stock market gains, which is silly. (Note: The market rose when Biden was elected.) It may be rising now due to strong economic indicators. Whatever...I am one of the lucky ones who actually has some investments to care about. But I want so so so much more from a president. In other words, as much as I love that I can get "free money" via investments in the market, I think there are more important things. It's not necessarily an indicator of how well people are managing. Look at the fact that the stock market has been generally rising, while income inequality has become a bigger and bigger problem. Note how the banks are doing well while families are struggling. What is Trump doing/did/proposing to do that even began to make a nod toward shifting that reality. He talks a good game, but show me the money.
No you stated market runs flow from the policies of previous Presidents. I sarcastically asked if the recent market run is the result of Trump’s policies. I’m not sure if Trump had made this boast. I ignore most of Trump’s boasts. As for Biden I wonder why we have a 25th Amendment if it is never used
Most of this conversation has turned into a purely political one.
One very important part of the article had to do with this new tech. I only saw advertisements for it over the past 24hrs. It looks like a bad idea and I totally believe it is the precursor to an even more estranged society. One comment by a woman in the article noted that this concern was raised for every step in technological advancement, from the phone to cell phones to the dawning of the digital age that has been evolving for the last 30+ years. She said the concerns turned out to be baseless and society survived.
I disagree. Smart phones especially have significantly altered social interaction. Just go into any public place and you’ll see most ppl completely isolated on a human level and staring at their phones. Kids (teens) will sit in the same room not talking but texting one another. They are addicted to the rolling, shallow and quick paced garbage videos on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat that are frequently moronic and obscene.
Technology can be great for accessing vast amounts of information yet it is resulting in a dumbing down. This new in your face thing seems cool but I tend to agree with the young woman who saw the potential for bigger problems, not less. While too many will be traveling to other “places” in a virtual setting they will not be present in the place they are. It’s just a coincidence but I was pondering the nature of the not too distant future and a “ready-player-one” type of social structure seemed likely to me. That is if we don’t annihilate ourselves in a nuclear war or have a zombie apocalypse which now seems possible since the Wuhan Lab has continued its gain of function work on COVID virus strains and has produced one that has quick acting damage to the brain. All of the mice given the virus died almost immediately. This was on a news station I saw last week. That was the scariest thing I’ve heard yet. Seeing as how careful they were to contain COVID 19 I have no confidence they will do better with this. The chinese government cares little about the humans living there and more about global power. Not smart really but it is in keeping with the evil of the CCP.
I so hope I’m wrong.
Yes and yes. So true. And that’s reflected in that chart - the only thing Biden polls better on is how he treats immigrants (and within the margin of error for “democracy” which is a weighted word at best)
I feel like the economy is shaky as well. Too many people depending on part-time jobs, too many people opting out of working, too much government money sloshing around for those who choose not to work, it all seems like a house of cards.
It’s worse than just the items or symptoms you mentioned. Ppl are way up in debt again as well as a big uptick in foreclosures. There isn’t a sector of the economy that isn’t seeing some slide but hey, Jeff Bezos, Mark Suckerburg, Bill Gates and few dozen other obscenely wealthy people are making more $ than ever! YAY!
I wish I knew the answer to that issue. I have a friend who says the same thing. It seems like the old noblesse oblige would be helpful, but beyond Bill Gates, I don't know if Bezos or Zuckerberg have any inkling of that.
It’s worse than just the items or symptoms you mentioned. Ppl are way up in debt again as well as a big uptick in foreclosures. There isn’t a sector of the economy that isn’t seeing some slide but hey, Jeff Bezos, Mark Suckerburg, Bill Gates and few dozen other obscenely wealthy people are making more $ than ever! YAY!
My best friend's husband works in IT for a bank. He has a specialized set of skills that he has been retained for when things were reorganized. But he is *still* afraid he will be laid off.
Can we draw the line at "convicted of sexual assault?"
Absolutely. Any person convicted in a criminal court should be disqualified.
But unless you are a complete dunce you understand Trump was subjected to two extremely unfair and partisan trials, and that the evidence presented was absurdly inadequate, to the point that the patent miscarriage of judgement speaks to why we NEED Trump, to at least start trying to address a corrupt system that benefits radical lunatics, to the detriment of the rest of us.
Simpler than that, I suggest; even a wise man like Mr Wiseman (whack!) seems oblivious to the fact the prices established prior to the positives he lists do not like magic go back down. (Gasoline, for one, is still stubbornly north of three bucks even here in the PRNJ. (Inside baseball; it's enough cheaper here than in NY (even after Mr Chrisitie's infamous el foldo) that there are queues at the near-border gas stations every Friday.)
CJ-it depends on the county taxes too! My border Jersey NY county is high. If I drive North, I can get Jersey prices -no lines (but have to pump my own!)
Amen on that. All the worthless DEI/CRT/CORRUPT federal agents, elected or appointed need to just go. Where is immaterial, though the further the better.
Trump needs to really clean house and outright fire the leadership in every agency. I think he’ll have a decent pool of competent, (hopefully not hostile) replacements. No matter what he does, the leftist nutters who have taken over the democrat party will insist he’s a fascist, racist, dumbest person alive. They will stay hung up on every superficial detail of his persona while misconstruing every action taken and amazingly I still hear ignorant chatter about his Russian ties. If I’m not mistaken it was Biden’s son who was paid a fairly large sum by the wife of the mayor of some big city (Moscow I think) in Russia. Not Trump or any other member of his family, so who’s profited again exactly?
Of course this all depends on the integrity of each state to have fair elections. Im not gonna hold my breath. The abortion issue was more detrimental in the midterms than the GOP expected. They hopefully got a plan to have better messaging and to back off too restrictive a stance. Most moderate republicans are pro-choice but with limitations.
This is going to be the ugliest mudslinging election in a long time. TDS continues to be a common disorder among liberals in general and leftists in totality.
We are heading straight into some kind of existential crisis in America. How that will play out is anyone’s guess but I think it will be rough. I just hope it’s not bloody too.
Didn’t you get the memo from Paul Krugman? Everything is great, we rubes are just too dumb to see it.
Krugman is a Democrat shill. Has always been so. I ignore him.
But, but … he won the Nobel Prize for Economics!
Yeah, and Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize…
Al Gore too! They both essentially got it for not being George W. Bush.
Anyone who references Paul Krugman has proven that they are clueless about reality.
She knows that. She was being sarcastic. The we rubes thing should have been the giveaway.
It’s weird how the insane number of criminal aliens we allow into the country does not impact the “available jobs” number.
I’m kidding it’s not weird they came here to be parasites.
And yet they couldn't even impeach Mayorkas. And note that every single Democrat voted in lockstep. To sell out America.
I was hoping Fetterman would break rank on the Mayorkas vote.Demscwin elections because their commie ways always put the party ahead of their individual beliefs.
She’s put the Salvadoran gang members on round the clock security on Nob Hill…
Sorry - that was about Pelosi
Yeah Pelosi is sorry alright.
Why is Paul acting up again? Sorry. Couldn't resist.
He’s in the Senate he had no vote.
Is it possible that the three who voted “no” were secretly Democrats. No of course not. Politicians would never deceive their constituents. A large African animal has just entered the room & it an’t an elephant.
Nothing new then. Thank you ya commie idiots.
Most of them just don’t want to lose their indentured servants.
I guess most of these really wealthy, elitist democrats don’t understand that when their policies destroy America their cash cows will perish soon after.
Meanwhile the little people will suffer their foolishness
And when every Republican votes in lockstep it's what, sticking to their principles?
When was the last time 100% of the Rs voted in lockstep on anything? When was the last time the 3 liberals on Supreme Court DIDN'T vote in lockstep?
Good questions. I rather believe the reason they dropped the investigation into the leak about the Roe decision was because it revealed that one of the justices who dissented on the reversal took it into their own hands just to affect the midterms and indeed it did.
I may be wrong but why did every media outlet just drop it like a rock?
How about being right?
Aren’t they cutting your grass? I think Nancy Pelosi has a few of them doing housework or something.
She’s put the Salvadoran gang members on round the clock security on Nob Hill…
Very true. Companies just love part time/casual employees. The only place they seem to hire full time employees is in their HR departments.🤔
Where they can double up on DEI points.
Yes but that is in part because of mandated benefits.
Ouch. That was rapier-sharp wit.
Kudos to Hazard, Kentucky, for at least TRYING to solve a problem the government created. It seems the Leviathan Bureaucracy, aka our government, has grown into a career oriented organization and no matter how idealistic a politician starts out, they stay in long enough and they get corrupted. What's the saying...power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. TERM LIMITS all across the board!
After the JFK murder and mass assassination of truth speakers across America in the '60's the "drug war" was put in place to build the surveillance state watching you though your computer screen right now. And they did it on the American tax dime. They still are. And will continue to do so at every opportunity.
Hazard personal recovery and all addictive illness is based on accepting that you are indeed ill and, the hard work of a total realignment of psyche and life. It requires abandonment of cozy victimhood, acceptance of personal agency and responsibility and the commitment to create and live inside a truth/fact based human reality. For those dealing with creeping totalitarianism and addicted to hysteria, blame and victimhood the American Constitution is the handbook for recovery.
Amen. Whoever thought it was a good idea to give only Congress the authority to implement term limits was either naive or drunk.
I would follow up with how much they are using their credit cards and how high the interest rates are on them. Is your debt load shrinking or expanding with all the work you are doing? People are getting crushed from both ends. Thanks for a great post.
And many of the full time jobs are government jobs.
" The really worrying thing for Biden is that 20-point gap on the economy even with the GDP expanding, inflation cooling, jobs surging, and consumer sentiment finally improving."
GDP is a Keynesian fantasy metric; it assumes that "spending drives economies". The Broken Windows Fallacy debunked it a long time ago. "Inflation cooling" doesn't mean prices are going down; they're still much higher related to paychecks and will stay so. Plus inflation is grossly under-reported, failing to account for things like shrinkflation.
Jobs are not "surging"; to the contrary, there are layoffs in a lot of areas and lots of people feel insecure in their jobs. The hiring market is terrible for those laid off. Finally, "consumer sentiment" is inaccurately measured by underreporting inflation and then using that to assume that the larger dollar amounts being spent represent people buying more stuff, when what they actually represent is people paying more for their necessities.
The Left has every MSM outlet spitting out "Why are stupid people unhappy about the economy when it's so awesome?" articles. These are all gaslighting.
How typical that you would assign exclusivity to Biden for problems that have plagued the US for decades. The disappearance of the middle class began in earnest with Reagan if I recall
Is lying a part of your DNA? You must be a life long Democrat. Calling the architect of the demise of the Evil Empire an "amiable dunce." If the middle class were disappearing the cohort of lower class Americans would have grown under Reagan. But instead it shrank as the upper class increased. The middle class prospered under President Reagan as he tamed inflation and set the economy onto decades of growth. The lie that Reagan was the enemy of the middle class is hilarious - a fiction invented by partisan fools such as Reich. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e4491bc9-9aa0-45c3-943a-a86c1497828c/the-reagan-prosperity---november-1995.pdf
Jeezzez! Where'd you come from?
Where are those numbers of part-time jobs and multple jobs available?
Yes, people doing it for themselves, not expecting government to help.
I had the “pleasure” of determining what services are available for older people in my community. Services behind miles of red tape, waiting lists, disqualifying details, and unanswered phone calls. Seems that people have government jobs to explain all sorts of service programs and how your little old lady doesn’t qualify.
My church people step up and take care of our older people in need.
That is a fundamental difference between the liberal and conservative mind set. Liberals believe it's the governments job to provide everything through other peoples money. The conservative is more in line with all of us should help through our efforts and our money to help the less fortunate. Believe it will get worse as the younger generations look more and more for government to fund them.
The government long ago strayed from its actual role of protect and defend and became the Nanny.
What the government gives you, the government can take away.
The government exists purely to enlarge and empower itself.
Something the Founders well understood when they bequeathed to us a government of limited power with checks and balances. A notion that the regressive "progressives" have worked tirelessly to undermine for over a century.
If only they'd have added term limits to the constitution.........if only
Well the good news is that many states are spreading their wings. So an amendment might be possible.
The "government" is using American tax payer dollars to fund the insertion of political operatives inside of key American cultural and social institutions for the express purpose of capturing and destroying them. On the flip side those controlling the D.C. hog trough have gone International. The Biden/Ukraine canker sore is only one instance of billions being syphoned into numbered "globalist" bank accounts no accountability or solutions forthcoming.
Except our inalienable rights. They’re bequeathed by our creator NOT the government.
Oh, wait, much of the left doesn’t believe in a creator so...those rights just might not be so inalienable after all.
I heard it on the grapevine -- "Governments don't want to govern, governments want to control."
Shocker!! NOT
There are no liberals/conservatives, democrats/republicans, communist/capitalist, etc. Only the hyperrealistic psyop of the totalitarian lie and the free peoples of the world. For Americans there is the Constitution. Everything else is pathology.
Perhaps but they (the govmint) can make our lives ever more miserable with the stroke of a pen.
Their pathology becomes your poverty.
And a poor one at that...
You have just identified the fundamental problem with the "nanny state." The problem isn't that our quite wealthy society designates a certain (frankly generous) amount of resources to help those in need. The problem is that the bureaucrats who run the programs ostensibly designed to help those people rapidly turn every program into a government jobs plan, in which the primary beneficiaries are the bureaucrats. They become increasingly entitled and decreasingly service oriented. The programs become sclerotic and highly resistant to change or reform - programs that aren't doing their job can't be canceled or fixed and good money follows bad. This is also the main problem with Obamacare. It created tens of thousands of new bureaucratic jobs, in both the public and private sector, and a new and expanded entitlement mindset among the public and especially these bureaucrats, but did little to reduce the cost of healthcare or insurance.
"Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program." - Ronald Reagan.
Does anyone seriously think the poll question about treating migrants humanely and protecting immigrant rights was valid? Protecting immigrant rights? WTF is that? The right to steal, rape and beat up cops? To live in rec centers and schools while American citizens get leftovers? The right to Visa cards and new phones and new Nikes? To get hotel rooms or shelters while veterans especially elderly vets are kicked out?
Holy Christmas Batman, where’s the reality when you look at actually controlling the border where Joey is in the septic tank having already gone down the toilet.
The ads for Trump and the Rs write themselves. If they don’t capitalize on this, we deserve to be Cuba.
One word…..disgusting. We the people need to demand change. You think health care accessibility is bad now? Just wait. Once the Boomer docs all retire and aren’t replaced, we’ll be in a world of hurt. Once my husband retires in a few years, our town will be with one less physician as they’ve been trying to recruit a second (in his specialty) for over 5 years.
Since many of the older doctors have now retired, our small town would have very few if not for the government-run clinic. And the doctors who come to work there are usually only there long enough to get credit toward their student loans. The ones that stick around long term are the bad ones, who can't get a practice elsewhere.
Fortunately, we have plenty of really good nurse practitioners. Most of them come here to stay because of ties to the area.
I use a NP as my primary. I increasingly believe that we need to allow nurses to do more. I trust a nurse with 5 years experience over a Doctor fresh out of med school.
Especially if he/she went to any Ivy.....
Same here. It has been my experience over the past 40 years that nurse practitioners are much better at listening and communicating than most doctors. They're well-trained, but they've managed to dodge whatever it is about medical school that sucks the humanity out of medical students and/or implants a god complex.
Many of our specialists used to be local…now they drive an hour to staff the clinic and even then, it’s hard to recruit. Something’s gotta give for rural America.
What town or area are you from
Midwest. Why?
I wonder what the responses would have been if the "issue" were rephrased to include the word "illegal" in front of the word immigrants.
They love to make up vague "rights" that empower themselves, while telling us we don't actually have a right to free speech or to own guns. Or a president who is capable of giving an interview.
Yes, we don't have a migrant problem. Or even an immigration problem. We have an invasion of illegal aliens problem.
And the Super Bow interview was only going to be three minutes long.
I hate to tell you this, but sympathy for illegals is being pushed in the schools. In my local high school, The Leavers (about an illegal Chinese woman) is being read and the students have to write a paper on one of the "many egregious" horrible things the US government does to illegals. And that's just one book/paper in one class in one grade.
The indoctrination process is long and tedious but oh so necessary if the the leaders of the coming brave new world want compliance.
And want it they do.
Thank you FP for such a good story on the impact that corrupt political policies, big pharma and the cartels have had on devastating these Appalachian people and their communities. You can see it all over the northern and western areas of my home state of North Carolina. This tragedy should serve as a perfect example of why there should not be another penny sent to Ukraine, Israel or any other nation and repurpose our taxpayer dollars to rebuilding our communities that have been ravaged by the politicians, corporate cabals and international criminal organizations. But of course there's no honeypot of corrupt cash for the politicians in doing that, nor does it help the stock price of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. These are the same corrupt assholes who continue to shut down coal mines for "green energy" and telling the laid off coal mine workers that they should learn to code. The same ones that have shipped all the textile and manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China and SE Asia. All this devastation is a result of corrupt DC elites who hate & manipulate the working poor and who've completely gutted the nations middle class to enrich themselves and their cronies. I'd wager every penny I have that Mitch McConnell has never made a single visit to Hazard, Kentucky.....ever. Just proving he's one of the top scumbags in Washington that needs to be tossed out on his turtle looking ass. F*ck these people.....they are the true enemy of our county.
On a positive note, there are some great artists that have made a big difference in fighting the addiction epidemic in the Appalachia's. Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, S.G. Goodman, and Chris Stapleton to name a few. There's an annual music event that is worth attending and supporting called Healing Appalachia.
Please check it out. https://healingappalachia.org
They indeed hate ALL working people. Look what they did, purposely, to the growing middle class black communities post WW2. Look how they’ve removed tech schools from high schools. Decimated anything decent in public school systems, all over the county. Drug the kids. Ignore the “uneducated” parents. The middle- we are the middle- and we need to stop fearing change and understand lobby groups run our country.
The Department of Labor is doing its best to kill the gig economy by classifying everyone as an employee.
Yep. Manufactured fear. Disinformation. Bitch slap crisis of the week depression. Learned helplessness. Tightening control of access to food, water and shelter.The slow destruction of the American middle class and the ascent of the DNC/CCP/WEF/EU Davos totalitarian juggernaut. It is retrograde 20th Century A-Bomb pathological utopian/fascist pathology.
Sounds ominous indeed and no doubt is. Too bad we’ve been lured into this mess.!
I hope the greedy m-fers that set this in motion are crushed when it all comes crashing down.
Evil is cannibalistic so even if the Davos/WEF crowd survives they will have a nightmare reality.
If Russia had taken Ukraine then NATO (American GIs) would be facing Russian soldiers across a fence line in Romania and Poland. Putin is serious about reclaiming the Soviet empire and history is replete with examples of the dangers of ignoring or placating the whims of tyrants. Ukraine has cost us 3.5% of our DOD budget. Its peanuts compared to the cost of a real war with Russia and while tragic, better for Ukraines to die for their soil than Americans. I don't understand why this reality, a reality that has guided American foreign policy for 80 years is suddenly not understood by certain parts of our society.
Yeah......I'm not buying that bit about Putin trying to get the band back together. I am looking forward to the Putin interview by Tucker Carlson. My guess is that it will shine a different light on the entire situation in Ukraine. My bet is that they've been lying about the war in Ukraine this entire time. Everything from the history of what started this conflict, to how the war has been progressing. The media is terrified that we might hear another side that doesn't line up with what's been parroted for the past 2 years.
"Better for Ukraines to die for their soil than Americans".....tell that to the mothers of the 300K+ dead Ukrainian sons. How about do everything we can so that no one dies.
For example, talks in Belarus, actually produced an agreement between Ukraine and Russia to bring the fighting to an end.
The Russians were ready to end the war if Ukraine accepted neutrality like Finland once did and commit to not join Nato. Then Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kiev and said: ‘Do not sign anything with them at all; just go to war,’”.
So here we are......
Putin's actions speak volumes for what he wants. I agree with Tulsi Gabbard that we should have unequivocally stated Ukraine was not eligible for NATO status and our Neocon approach has not helped, but Putin has been very forthright about his intentions of greater Russia and the entire world can see the atrocities he is happily prepared to take to further the cause.
You are absolutely correct in that we should have stated not eligible for NATO-but once again we meddle and stick a stick in the hornets nest-and profit for politicians. I am so tired of wars that really could have been avoided-almost all of them since WW2
I disagree with you about Israel, for too many reasons to list. All of them obvious.
Besides, we can reduce wasteful spending and help those in real need if we had the courage.
I know, I know.........if is a hideous word.
No problem with disagreeing. That said, I'm an ally of Israel and completely support the Israeli people and the Israeli state. They are the most powerful nation in the middle east. The US has been supporting their military and economy for over 75 years and through the 1973 Yom Kippur war, it was needed. All I'm saying is that they can now support themselves in every respect. We don't need to continue to send billions to them especially when our nation is completely upside down. How can I care for my neighbor and his family if mine is in ruin?
America has been invaded by Muslims. Most aid to isreal requires isreal use the $ to buy weapons from American companies
You sound like a Muslim supporter
Well, we actually *might*need to continue sending them billions — because we keep sending billions to Israel’s enemies…
We can reduce spending but government waste will always be with us.
Love Childers and Stapleton music.
word.
Love Tyler Childers
Nice analogy and sadly too right...
I am surprised and disappointed by your video about the Israeli captives. I support the effort to keep awareness of their ongoing tragedy in people's minds, but you went past that into Israeli politics, essentially using this tragedy as a cudgel against the government.
There was no indication that you had sought to interview a representative of the government, or any of the many people with family among the captives who do 𝗻𝗼𝘁 share Yair Golan's politics or the opinion that there are concessions that are not being made but should be. The idea that we can refuse Hamas nothing if it's the price of the captives' return is obviously wrong. Were Hamas to demand that we sacrifice some random Israeli, many would rush to volunteer to be the sacrifice, but I doubt any of the family members you interviewed would be willing to wield the knife. And rightly so.
Freeing untold numbers of terrorists is, according to many who blame Netanyahu for this debacle, how he caused it, via the Shalit deal (and it's worth mentioning that support for the Shalit deal was mostly on the Left, not the Right). Now the same people are saying he's evil for not wanting to do it again. Leaving Hamas in power means increasing the risk of more October sevenths in the future, as well as more garden-variety rockets, shootings, bombings and stabbings.
And it's worth taking a moment to remember the soldiers who are fighting right now for the dual goals of destroying Hamas and returning the captives, many of whom disagree with the assessment of every single person you interviewed, all the while risking -- and sacrificing -- their lives for those people's loved ones. I have seen their bravery and the purity of their intentions, their overpowering need to give the "last full measure of devotion" to their countrymen, their family. They deserve better than this.
I'm not condemning anyone, least of all those with relatives among the captives, for whatever opinion they hold, but you're journalists and have some responsibility to offer a fuller picture.
Michael, you touch upon an issue that I think about often. I will pose a question to illustrate the point ( this will anger many liberal american jews): how many american jews at this point are more focused on 1) the hostages or 2) getting netanyahu out of power?
I hear that, but I won't assume that anybody is more concerned with politics than with the hostages. That would be slanderous. By the same token, I think it's slanderous to assume that Netanyahu cares more about his political advantage than about the hostages.
Do I think that a lot of arguments are in bad faith, or simply not well thought out? Certainly. But not caring about the hostages? It'd take solid evidence to make me believe that about someone.
Fair point. But I intentionally used the words "more focused. " obviously most care but my point was that many are now more focused on bibi in my opinion based on the materials I read and comments I hear
I accept that, but what you're seeing may be the result of there being not much to say about freeing the hostages, whereas there seems to always be more to say about this government.
Gotta get rid of Bibi at all costs. It's a version of TDS
There is a reason why I believe that the fate of the state of Israel is of vital importance to world Jewry, including those of us in the U.S.
History has shown that the Jewish People, over the last 2000 years at least, in whatever country of their dispersion in which they found themselves, sooner or later were subject to discrimination, exile, and worse. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the same cannot or will not happen in the U.S.
The difference today, is that there is a place of refuge where Jews can run to, and be welcome. That is why those who wish the Jewish people ill are working so hard to destroy that refuge, by any and all means necessary.
Israeli politics are none of our business. That is the business of the Israeli electorate. Israel's safety and security, however, must be.
I also respect your POV, but don't understand how it translates into practicality.
"I think Americans should be America first and I think Israelis should be Israel first. "
So, for example, looking back in history, if you were around at the time of the refusal of the US government to allow the docking of the Jewish refugee ship St. Louis in an American port, would you have been "an American first", and support your government's action? In a more recent example, regarding the overwhelming rejection of the JCPOA by the Israeli population and government, would you stand by the Obama administration's position, even if you thought it was faulty? How about UNSC Resolution 2334 on which the Obama administration abstained?
" If someday the government violates our constitution and attacks American Jews then I intend to make my stand here and fight and die on my native soil."
Does that make sense for you, or your parents, or your children? Do you think that the Jewish citizens of Germany should have "stayed, and fought, and died" in Buchenwald or Dachau rather than try (even if often futilely) to escape?
I am not sure what your exact point may be but if directed at me personally I will respond more fully. If it is more generic I agree fully- let Israel do what it needs to do and we need to do what we need to do.
We are on the same page
Yep.
It seems to me: Accepting that Hamas maintains power by looting funds intended to aide actual Palestinians, with knowing complicity on the part of government (tax dollar funded) NGO's, is a replay of the countless problems that stem from the machinations of billionaire financiers who directly profit from manufactured crisis at every opportunity. Everything in place across the globe is to prevent implementation of a truth/fact solutions based goal by objective dialogue.
The familiar tactic is the pathological narcissistic/poseur virtuosity of setting fire to the landscape and while everyone else is trying to put it out looting it for everything they can get their hands on. The actual vital human/financial resources that would have solved the problem have been destroyed and everyone involved is poorer from the experience. Except the looters. Who if confronted, will blame the victim. It's pathology not politics. If it isn't stopped the American people will ultimately find themselves in the same situation as the Palestinians. Thrall to the machinations of slavers and thugs who wander the world looting the lives and futures of anyone and everyone with no regard to consequences. Because for them, there are none. Think of Genghis Khan as a central banker.
You should read Gadi Taub’s piece this week in Tablet magazine. He discusses how the “end the war to get the hostages now” effort is linked to the prior anti-judicial reform movement to overthrow Netanyahu. He also explains it in his podcast with Mike Doran which is featured on Tablets home page. You may not agree with all of his politics, but he is an articulate, well-informed journalist with a PhD in American History and he recognizes American Jews’ slavish attachment to the Democratic Party. (Before anyone attacks me, I’m a Jewish Independent who left the Dems 10 years ago).
Thank you, I'll have to look that up. Me, I commented on the connection between the two protests immediately; it's obvious.
Your concern is evident. But you lost me at concessions. Concessions with terrorists! I am not sure that will ever be a winning strategy.
Occasionally one doesn't win. Freeing these people is worth some loss, the question is what and how much.
Thomas Sowell, a great mind, says there are no solutions, only compromises.
It’s a generality with a lot of truth to it.
Its basically science. Nothing happens alone. Everything impacts everything else. Matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed.
The choices we make will have some kind of impact, often in places we didn't foresee.
My son texted me the other day saying "we need to think about the Apple vision Pro." I wrote back its "$3500 so that's a hard no." I got an "OMG" in return. He had no idea of the cost.
The issue with tech like the Vision Pro is not that it takes you out of reality, or that it allows you to play a more immersive kind of game. People complain about new tech all the time. You would return to reality eventually, just like you do with your phone. The problem is that when people return to IRL they would then take one look around and go back as fast as they can to pretend world. People choose tech immersion even now because they really feel they have no control over their day to day lives or their day to day lives are so hard that escapism is the only thing that helps them survive. Too bad that those in charge truly have no idea what the average person deals with on a daily basis. Trump isn't ahead in the pols because people feel good about the world around them. But I digress.
Listien, the part of the article that actually caused me to guffaw is when the writer says the Vision Pro is the cost of a vacation. That is some privileged shit right there.
Have you seen the cost of flights to Europe lately? $3,500 does not get you much of a vacation. (My fledgling Nellie impression).
Considering my overhead, the idea of a vacation of any kind beyond a staycation is a pipedream. So no, haven't priced airline flights. But I do watch the travel vlogs on YouTube. Some of those first class levels are truly fun to contemplate- if I ever win the lottery :)
Travel vlogs on YouTube can burn my time up with the best of them too.
but of course, not just flights! Just add up costs, hotels, food, land travel on site- etc. Just price out a Disney trip for a family of 4. I have no idea, but I'm guessing (w/ airfare) it would easily top $3,500!
I think your choice of vacation is part of the issue. If someone is struggling to pay grocery bills, a trip to Disney shouldn't be anywhere on the radar.
Growing up, we didn't fly anywhere, we camped rather than stayed at hotels and we mostly made our own food, so food costs were the same as at home.
But we live in a country where people begging for government help regularly have new smart phones so....
I was just using Disney as an example. The comparison was "vacation vs. Apple Vision Pro" I chose a vacation that might be comparable.
I think many of us grew up not flying or going on major vacations. Disney was a once in a lifetime for our family (and we didn't stay over!)
There’s nothing wrong with taking the occasional “big” vacation. If you can afford it, it gives the whole family some shared treasured memories.
You've got Nellie down pat!
IKR? We don’t take those kinds of vacations. To me that’s a whole lot of money. I don’t consider myself poor either though. It’s all relative in the end. The cost of living in NYC makes the cost of living in say some podunk Appalachian town seem free. Wages in the one that barely allow for necessities could afford living large in the other.
Sad but so true
Yep. Now boil it to the bone.
"The really worrying thing for Biden is that 20-point gap on the economy even with the GDP expanding, inflation cooling, jobs surging, and consumer sentiment finally improving."
It's bad enough to swallow that swill but do you have to peddle it for those liars, too? Try going to the grocery store or gas station. That inflation is cooked into prices and wages haven't kept pace. Moreover, asset prices are up, along with interest rates, so housing and rent are even less affordable and Americans are more in credit card debt (at over 28% interest rates) than ever. Biden's economy is a mess and you need to stop pretending otherwise. Americans with assets can exult over the recent run up in the market (how long will that last?) but how about a little compassion for those who are struggling. Just another reason why I detest Democrats more by the minute.
It always pisses me off when I read these idiot journos say “inflation is abating”. No dimwits, the RATE is abating but inflation is way up. It compounds, it doesn’t reset every month to zero. You’d think they’d see that when they get their daily (twice, three times?) Starbucks, but no. I guess when you’ve sold your soul to the dnc narrative, reality must not intrude.
BTW, I notice eggs jumped 16 cents this week. Almost up to $2 a dozen again.
Just more proof that no one is actually learning math in our schools.
Definitely not in blue states/cities.
Biden will run on abortion and "saving democracy."
His best bet is to keep his mouth shut and let the media remind people he isn't Trump. All the dems are going to try to do is make sure their base gets out and votes (maybe multiple times if possible). I think at this point everyone has made up their mind, if the contest is between these 2 people. Biden doesn't really have anything to stand on, so he is, like the last few Dem candidates, mostly running as "Not Trump"
My biggest issue is that so many people don't understand inflation. If, say, a year ago inflation was 6% and now it is 2% yes technically inflation went down in a year. But it still means overall it is going up, just slower.
These dumb numbers games bug me so much. But more so when folks like the author buy into it. They should be smarter than that...especially if they are going to write about it.
Thanks. Agree completely. Economic dopes abound. But then, Krugman got a Nobel Prize for economics and he's still a complete idiot.
We all know at this point that a Nobel Prize doesn't mean you actually accomplished anything....
Things could have been worst, Biden could have said he met de Gaulle.
What's funny about that is that the only real problem there is that Mitterand is dead. Biden says he has done things he hasn't done, and met people he hasn't met, nearly EVERY TIME he goes off script, and I think he was doing this LONG before he developed full blown Alzheimers. The press has always covered for him, and his Corn Pop moments, which would be funny if this guy were not the President.
He is apparently senile and a pathological liar. Must be hard to find a candidate so gifted.
One hallmark of dementia is the inability to know what is true. Several family members have/had Alzheimer’s and another had age-related dementia; things they believed were true were mind-blowing. But to them it was gospel truth. No matter your feelings about Biden, it’s a cruel disease (and he has no business being President).
Yes very difficult situation all around.
And Nikki Haley was in charge of Capitol security on January 6.
Or Louis XVI and they discussed those pesky, ungrateful peasants..
The day is early…..
I think he did.
It is easy to get 97 percent of the vote if the Democrats act like the mafia—which they do—and run around making it impossible for anyone else to run or get on the ballot. I wonder how Biden would have done if the party “preserving democracy” actually allowed voters to make a choice. Why was Kennedy exiled? North Korea indeed.
Those apple thingies. Bread and circuses.
And when the illegal alien military aged men invaders from countries that hate us do their October 7 atrocities around the country, will the wearers of those things see them coming? Cannon fodder.
“Biden loses to Trump by five points. (The pair were neck and neck back in September.) And then here’s what voters said”
——————————————————-
Was the poll conducted the way elections are where street hustlers and nightclub promoters are paid to collect votes aggressively and oversample Democrats in a huge way? No? Okay so ignore the poll.
I for one was disappointed there was no survey results on how the dead and illegals see the election. My guess is they are at least 90 percent for Slow Joe. So until all of the dead and illegal voters are polled, I will not believe the survey.
I feel like the easiest way to secure the border would be to propose a law where people coming here illegally could not vote for at least 4 generations ( if you come here illegally then neither you or your children or grandchildren etc could vote - ever - because you don’t get that benefit of citizenship if you don’t come the legal way. I feel like Biden would close the border tomorrow
If we could pass a law like that, we wouldn't need it because it would mean that people were in charge who were willing to try to secure the border.
I was just reading a story about the president of the city council in Atlantic City who is charged with filling out and submitting mail in ballots for people who didn’t vote and didn’t know their ballot was being used by someone else and these ballots were counted in the last election. How often did that happen? Does anyone know what is the guardrail against people doing that? It sounds like it was pretty easy for him to get away with. If the democrats want these mail in ballots then they are going to have to convince people that guardrail are in place to prevent things like this. I can’t think of any way that they can prevent fraud with mail in ballots
Fraud is the whole point of universal mail-in voting (not absentee voting for a reason, which we have had for a long time with no probems).
When you convince people that the opposition candidate is "literally Hitler," it's easy to get folks to cheat.
Has anyone watched the 4 minute speech of Mollie Hemingway speaking before congress today? She brought up a lot of really interesting points which at any time would be worth talking about. Other than the mention of censorship I have never heard any of these talked about at the Free Press. It’s like if you read the Free Press these things aren’t even happening.
What did she say, or where is that video available?
She is to talk about Americans lack of trust in the election process when people like Zuckerberg are funding candidates.
“Do voters trust Biden on. . . anything? Why are Democrats so mean to Dean Phillips? “
———————————————————-
Because it is a cult and you need to look up how Stockholm Syndrome often causes victims to side with their abusers, sometimes quite angrily.
Those scary third parties will ruin our democracy for sure!! 🙄
You know, when you get to be my age, 86, you note that many of your relatives, friends and acquaintances have died, and virtually all of them, rich, middle and poor, spent around $500,000 in Medicare money during their final years, having paid in at most $50,000 during their work years, and you wonder, "How long can this keep going on?" My closest friend spent $600,000 of Medicare money last year, and died 6 months later. During his work years he had paid into Medicare $26,000.
I am fairly certain that that amount is not actually spent. There is a reason that Hospitals and the like don't generally list the prices for their services. Insurance rarely pays the same amount YOU would pay if you had to pay out of pocket. I doubt the government does either.
That said, I am sure it is still a money losing endeavor. But, everything the Government does generally loses money
Verrry interesting, what the gov pays. My only hospitalization, for observation of chest pains, two days, $10,500 discounted to $5,000, because I was paying cash -- I didn't have "part B," at the time.
"the president won with 96 percent of the vote. Those are North Korean numbers."
Exactly. And we should soon start expecting similar numbers in our general elections if we don't re-establish basic election integrity measures.
The polls indicate that 20 to 35% of those polled still support Biden on some issues. This level of insanity is very alarming.
I find it interesting that when Google had those AR glasses people went nuts. "I don't want someone's camera pointing at me all the time!" "Oh, they look so stupid". But Apple does it in an even more obtrusive way and its the best thing ever. I sometimes wish I was an Apple fanboy so I could understand why people spend 500 bucks on a watch they use primarily to know if they need to pull their phone out. Let alone 4000 bucks to be even move over connected than we already are.
In what way is that gadget not just sticking a monitor on your face? No thanks. Apple has got enough money. I've got enough monitors
To be far, its a monitor you can also see through.