Budget deadlines, deficits and a rare "investment."
The Senate just passed a horrendous Omnibus spending bill after breaking an impasse related to immigration policy and racing through more than a dozen amendments. Senate leader Schumer let Senators vote on Senator Mike Lee's amendment which would have extended Title 42 and a similar one from Senator Kyrsten Sinema & John Tester. Both amendments were rejected by the Senate primarily because of the concern that radical democrats in the House would vote down the bill, which is running out of time. The bill itself which should have been worked out by members of congress throughout this past year, was in reality only worked out by party leaders a few days ago. The bill, which was released in the early morning hours Tuesday, includes $858 billion for defense, $787 billion for non-defense domestic programs and more than 7,200 earmarks costing over $15 billion. Many of the terms were written up by ultra-left wing staffers of the democrat membership.
As to what's hidden in those 4,000 pages:
"The bill includes $200 million for a "Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund," which will be used to promote "gender programs in Pakistan," and $286 million for Title X funding, which funds groups like Planned Parenthood. Although, the bill states that it prohibits spending any of the funds on abortions.
Earmarks also include $105,000 for an LGBTQ+ mentoring program at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh, $856,000 for the facilities and equipment at an LGBT Center in New York, $1.2 million for LGBT support centers at the San Diego Community College District, and $750,000 for the TransLatin@ Coalition for "workforce development programs and supportive services."
"The omnibus bill will funnel MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to LGBT groups peddling radical gender ideology - many of those $$$ will go to orgs that target YOUTH You won’t believe how ridiculous some of these earmarks are," Rep. Chip Roy tweeted."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/congress-1-7-trillion-spending-bill-includes-millions-gender-equity-climate-initiatives
Keep in mind that the US government is broke in every sense of the word. The national debt stands at over $31 Trillion.
Then another strange thing happened. The president of the Ukraine appeared before congress wearing a green sweatshirt and cargo pants. He was here to ask our president and congress to continue to spend more on his border security than we do on our own. Zelensky told the congress that the money they would be sending him is not charity, actually it's an investment. He didn't go into much detail on what the dividends of such an investment would be and basically everything he said invoked wild applause from members of congress who have been busy doing a year's work within the past few days. The best part of the speech for me was when Zelensky pointed out that Ukraine handles U.S. aid “in the most responsible way,” (To obviously lesson the concerns of those who regard the Ukraine as a very corrupt country.)
The Week:
Elon Musk begins search for someone to succeed him as Twitter Inc.’s chief executive officer. Running Twitter is a tough job. Even before Musk bought Twitter, the company was consistently a money-losing business. There is the additional problem now of spineless or leftist dominated corporations which have stopped advertising on Twitter now that Musk has ended the censorship. Musk does have some highly competent advisors that might be able to fill the role.
The FBI vs the 1st Amendment:
"The FBI pressured Twitter to suppress The Post’s blockbuster scoop about Hunter Biden’s laptop by warning it could be part of a Russian “hack and leak” operation — even while knowing the concern was unfounded, according to internal company records made public Monday.
The latest release of the “Twitter Files” authorized by new owner Elon Musk also provided more examples of former top FBI lawyer Jim Baker’s role in cracking down on The Post’s reporting while he worked as Twitter’s deputy general counsel, a job from which Musk fired him earlier this month.
Documents posted on Twitter by independent journalist Michael Shellenberger showed that Twitter’s former head of trust and safety , Yoel Roth, was contacted by FBI Agent Elvis Chan just hours before The Post published the first laptop story on Oct. 14, 2020."
https://nypost.com/2022/12/19/fbi-reached-out-to-twitter-before-post-broke-hunter-biden-laptop-story/
The nightmare before Christmas: "A dangerous winter storm moving across the country has disrupted holiday travel from the skies to the stations as cancelations and delays surge into Christmas weekend. As of Friday morning, many airlines, the Amtrak train service and bus services were reporting changes and cancelations across the country because of severe weather conditions. At least four deaths from vehicle crashes have been connected to Winter Storm Elliot as well, as road conditions have worsened nationwide. "
https://www.foxnews.com/us/winter-storm-significantly-impacting-air-train-bus-travel-nationwide-heading-christmas-weekend
Bankman-Fried already getting special treatment: "Disgraced former cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried was granted release from law enforcement custody on Thursday after agreeing in his first U.S. court appearance to post a $250 million bond and remain confined to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, Calif. The former chief executive of collapsed crypto exchange FTX is due back in Manhattan federal court on Jan. 3, where he will be arraigned and asked to enter a plea to the eight criminal counts he is facing. Bankman-Fried did not stop to speak to reporters as he was ushered out of the courthouse after the proceedings. His lawyers and parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both of whom are prominent professors at Stanford Law School, also declined to comment. U.S. prosecutors said they agreed to Bankman-Fried’s release only because he agreed to be extradited from the Bahamas. His attorney noted that the extradition process might otherwise have taken months or years. His return was an important step in a landmark case that has unfolded with surprising speed since FTX collapsed last month, sending shock waves through an already-battered crypto industry and raising questions about its future."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/bankman-fried-to-be-released-on-250-million-bond-live-with-parents/ar-AA15zJUf
What have we learned:
Once again the Senate minority leader is showing us that he only represents the Conservative wing of the GOP and he puts the continuity of the Senate's norms above all things. If he truly wanted to preserve the Senate as a more respected deliberative body, he should have raised the threshold for changing Senate rules to a two/thirds majority when he had a chance.
Now that Wang and Ellison are pleading guilty in the FTX case, it is almost certain that they will be testifying against Sam Bankman-Fried and most likely this case will not be going to trial. The moral of the story for investors is that you don't trust someone with uncombed hair and a dirty sweatshirt with you investments. The lesson for the rest of us remains that there are two sets of laws in this country: one set for the left and another set for everyone else.
Thirty incoming House Republicans have vowed retaliation for the deal McConnell and other Senate Republicans made with democrats on the Omnibus bill. Time will tell if they follow through. Maybe standing up for principles is what Republican voters want.
Cartoon of the week:
Honorable Mention
Senator Mike Lee
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And now the Omnibus Bill moves over to the House where Speaker Pelosi is expected to crack the whip and get all those dumb donkeys to pass it right away. Then mercifully they all go home.
I hate those huge toss everything into it single spending bills. I remember back when the bills were all individually worked on and passed separately, hell it's been something like 40 years since that happened. There's really no reason for this except the partisan political parties use the "rush" and the huge bill with thousands of pages to stuff in all the crap they want and rush it thru. Too bad our political electees no longer work for We the People.
The Heritage Foundation has worked on a way to fix the problem:
https://justthenews.com/videos/matthew-dickerson-breaks-down-heritage-foundations-blueprint-fixing-budget?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twjs
At least the days are starting to get longer...very gradually to start off with.
I guess it's the simpler things in life that we now look forward to?
How are actual screen shots between the FBI and Twitter a "conspiracy theory?"
The bill was supposed to keep the government running. But apparently idiotic things like gender programs in Pakistan are more important than taking care of US Citizens. But then again, Democrats are known for shitting on them.
Odd that we don't hear the left yelping over and over that the computer is a non-issue any more. Almost like they are trying to hide from it.
Of course he is. Look at who much of his "donations" went to.
Republicans voting yes (18):
Senators:
Blunt
Boozman
Capito
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Graham
Inhofe
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Portman
Romney
Rounds
Shelby
Thune
Wicker
Young
Not voting: Barrasso, Burr & Cramer
Is that your "hit list" Vic?
"Data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday showed New York has lost a greater percentage of its population over the last two years than any other state."
Gee, I think there is a reason..
THEY'RE MOVING TO RED STATES ! ! ! ! !
You bet!
Barring some unforeseeable calamity, the United States cannot be "broke".
When the Treasury buys them it is effectively printing money (and devaluating savings & investment)
That is where we are.
Exactly, not as long as people are willing to lend us money.
We will just have to crank up the interest we are willing to pay on the loans. With the dollar devalued wonder how high that interest will get for people/countries to find lending the US money.
Of course the cascade effect will be higher and more persistent inflation; but I am sure the Fed has a lot higher it can go with the interest rates. They may have to start raising it every month at the rate our government is spending money.
Not worried about this, even Bernie Madoff was out on bail pre-trial living in his $7 million penthouse. I'm more concerned that too much of this will be excused due to political pressure.
I'm sure of it. Notice how the media has covered it..
And after all that, look at what else the left wants to do!
Heard about that yesterday. Holy shit...........SMFH
We aren't going to anyone who will want to serve!
"Another “once in a generation” snowstorm. Drudge very excited. Thanks to Biden and his party for all the people who’ll go without heat."....Mark Levin
A major winter storm and cold blast will impact nearly every state and bring what the National Weather Service is calling a “once in a generation type event” that will cripple travel on some of the busiest travel days of the year.
The strengthening storm will bring more than a foot of snow and possible blizzard conditions to the Midwest, as the weather service warns of “life-threatening” wind chills for millions.
More than 90 million people are under winter weather alerts and more than 87 million are under wind chill alerts. The alerts stretch across 37 states, dipping as far south as the Texas/Mexico border.
The number of people under winter alerts and wind chill alerts has grown to over 100 million people, or roughly a third of the US population, according to the National Weather Service.
The cold will stick around for Christmas weekend, making this the coldest Christmas in roughly 40 years for portions of the Plains and Midwest.
"New Customs and Border Protection figures show agents reported 173,620 encounters at the southern border in November, a staggering increase of 140 percent from the same time last year.
The figures, which the agency released Friday afternoon, show border encounters in November climbed by nearly 10,000 from October, which saw an increase of nearly 130 percent over from October 2020. "
Merry Christmas to my friends in Arizona
Flight cancellations:
Total delays today: 18,821
Total delays within, into, or out of the United States today: 5,750
Total cancellations today: 7,291
Total cancellations within, into, or out of the United States today: 4,438
Merry Christmas from the Arizona border to you as well my friend.
And many more!
"Not even families are immune from a left-wing political intolerance that has become so overpowering that at times it cannot be overcome even by the holiday spirit of reconciliation, says radio host and PragerU cofounder Dennis Prager."
"It's probably a million strong the number of adult leftists who will not let their parents see them or their grandchildren because they they voted for Donald Trump," Prager said on the John Solomon Reports podcast."