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.Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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It's clear to me that both side's posts in the most recent back and forth between "liberals" and "conservatives" here (those labels assigned with the broadest definitions) wrt the FBI's recent seizure of stuff from Trump's Mara Lago residence are being fed by information sources favorable to either sides POV.
I like talents post's where he sticks to the law in determining how the search was authorized, what was allowed to be taken from Trump's residence and ignores speculation which is rampant in this circumstance.
My take is that the seizure of documents specified in the warrant was legal and, as far as I can tell, they (TS/SCI) should not have been removed from the WH (a secure government facility) by a government employee (the president) who had no "need to know" subsequent to the end of his term as president/CINC.
I'll add this: Donald Trump has made a strong case over the last 2 years that much of what he says relating to questions about his conduct involving laws which may have applied to him and which he may have broken (TBD and I'll wait on this) is false or at best inaccurate. I also believe that the justice department, in pursuit of the documents it seized, has acted without political bias and only based on it's congressionally authorized powers to uphold the law - in this case the potential violation by Trump of applicable legal control measures for the use and carriage of classified material*. And TBC, this view applies only to the recent actions of the Justice Department. With respect to political bias and motivations, the January 6th Congressional investigations are another thing altogether.
* Side note: As a Marine Officer, I had various security clearances during my career including TS/SCI information. The rules involving how I handled this kind of classified material were strict. One ignored these at their own peril. In particular you are in violation of the rules if you transport SCI stuff out of the secure facilities they are kept in. They can be moved but only by authorized courier. Moving the physical documents is highly unusual. Hard copies, when these are produced for viewing, are backed up by encrypted data. This is the more likely route - secure data transmission - that the information contained within them is moved between secure facilities. The hard copies which Trump allegedly had in his residence are red flags. That is because, and in my experience, if you were viewing a TS/SCI document, it was done electronically. If such documents were printed, they are routinely destroyed the same day after appropriately cleared individuals have viewed them.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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US Stock Markets are up over 5% in the last 5d, up again today for the 5th straight day of gains. Obviously those sort of gains won't continue but based on traditional measures that tend to push markets one way or the other, this is unexpected.
The caveat is that US markets are facing influences that are unusual and not experienced in past history - at least not to the extent they are now. Full employment in the face of apparently retrenching capital expenditures (curtailed business expansion) coupled with high inflation across multiple economic sectors isn't a set of variables that have been present in the past. Talk of global economic recession seems more real based on tradtional economic factors and that would tend to push markets lower. I don't have an explanation for this. Geezer?Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Home Depot had an extremely good quarter. Unless I read it wrong this morning they had their all-time highest quarter for salesComment
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Former Dem Congressman TJ Cox (CA) indicted on 28 counts related to fraud and money laundering schemes. Mostly pre-dates his one term in Congress.
Former Member of Congress Charged with Multiple Fraud Schemes | OPA | Department of JusticeComment
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You are right in noting the unusual combination of factors that seem to point two different directions. I'm not so sure that we can even assume that these stock market gains will not continue. The market is a forward-looking indicator, while most of the data we are getting is backward-looking. The way bull rallies start is with investors "climbing a wall of worry", and that is what you express.Originally posted by Jeff Buchanan View Post
The unknown is the impact that shutting down the economy has had and will have. This is the black swan. What happens when a well-meaning government says to its citizens that the country needs to shut down in order to avoid catastrophe? Well, paying people to not work makes sense when you (the gov) are the cause of them not working. But it is now clear that many workers discovered that they could get by on welfare just fine and stopped looking for work. This would include other subsidies such as rent vacations, no payments on student loans, and other transfers. Everything considered I can make a case that the unemployment rate is artificially low because of the decline in the participation rate. And, truthfully, low unemployment is the most significant data point that is unlike what we would expect in times like these. But you look around at all the "help wanted" signs, and it sure seems like there is a shortage of workers.
Another thing is inflationary expectations and the dislocations they cause. If I were to tell you that inflation was going to be 10% yearly for the next three years, what would be your investment reaction? I believe a rational investor will convert cash into things. Things like houses or real estate, or stocks of income-producing companies. That conversion creates more inflation and it feeds on itself.
Also, those of us who lived through the 18% interest rates of the late 70s and early 80s know that 30-year mortgage rates in the area of 2.5% are an anomaly, at least historically. My daughter works at a title insurance company closing real estate deals and refinances. There was a massive wave of refinancing done at 2.5% in the last three years or so. From a policy standpoint, I think the Feds open market operations in buying debt had an enormous stimulative effect. The upshot is that the Fed kept a stimulative monetary policy just as the politicians let go with a massively stimulative fiscal policy. Now, the only way to stop the inflation is higher interest rates.
Just my thoughts. But one overarching thought is about GDP and how we figure it. Suppose we had a thousand men digging holes one day and filling them in the next day. They would get paychecks and their income would be included into GDP. But they produced nothing. Suppose a government agent's job is to enforce environmental regulations in order to stop the O+G industry from producing more fossil fuels. That agent's income is added to GDP too. Same in finance. A lot of moving pieces of paper around, "producing" large taxable gains and additions to GDP, but actually creating no thing. What I see when I see that all of our solar panels and most windmills are produced in China, and 85% of chips are made in Taiwan, and 80% of medicines are made in China, and on and on, I wonder if our move to "the information economy" has been that prudent. There was a time when the US produced products for the rest of the world because we had the work ethic and the population to do so. We were the low-cost producer. Not any more. And history teaches that the country that produces real things is the country that becomes economically dominant.
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Liz Cheney down by 35% with 20% of the vote in.
It's the political version of "fuck around and find out".Last edited by Hannibal; August 16, 2022, 09:26 PM.Comment
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Proud of you, bud, for supporting the openly trans candidateOriginally posted by Hannibal View Post
FaU7JmVWQAI3uf7?format=jpg&name=small.jpgComment
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Fuck Liz Cheney. She's getting what she deserves. Hope she rots in fucking hell.Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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Cheney's statement was hilarious. Not gracious...just defiance. She got fucking whupped MAGA style...but continues to claim she will still fight against Trump.
She is a fucking Loon. Defiant Loon.Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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She didn't just lose. She got asshammered like the Bucknutz in Ann Arbor last November. Actually way worse than that. This is the 1992 Dream Team beating Angola by 80 points.
Fuck you Liz Cheney. Fuck you to all the RINO/Never Trumpers/Trump Delusionary Syndrome pieces of vermin out there.
Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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Funny how you and Hannibal insist you're ready for someone other than Trump,. Yet anyone who isn't prepared to suck Trump's nuts and lick his taint has no place in the Republican party as far as either of you is concerned. Dear Leader MUST be obeyed!Originally posted by THE_WIZARD_ View Post
You even support a transgender groomer over a disloyal Republican. Pretty wild.Comment
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