Tag Archives: US Congress

December 1, 2025 · 03:03

Where’s the outrage?

That was the question I raised to myself when I got the news (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c741mpdyw9no) where we see ‘Venezuela condemns Trump airspace closure warning’ with the text “Venezuela has condemned US President Donald Trump’s statement that the airspace around the country should be considered closed. The country’s foreign ministry called Trump’s comments “another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people”.” President Trump might think he is a rockstar, but in what universe does he get to tell another country how to use its airspace? Is American in a state of war with Venezuela? And beyond that, between the United States and Venezuela there is Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. So where’s the outrage of the media condemning his word? We also get “Trump wrote on Truth Social: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”” Apart from this rather weird person to let go of his CAPS LOCK key, and when I see the text “Some Democratic and Republican members of the US Congress have expressed anger that Trump has not sought legislative approval.” And the operative word is ‘some’ the fact that President Trump is telling the people of Venezuela that their airspace is closed is weirdly appealing. For that matter, as America has (in light of yesterdays article) “U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Monday it will not publish the delayed initial estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product, originally scheduled for Oct. 30, due to a prior government shutdown” (source: Bitget) as such, as it is already a month late and might that report show (I have no idea what it shows) that the American GDP has now moved from first to third position? Would be a nice gesture that his beautiful bill is now set against a GDP lower then the EU. But that is for later. What I do despite is the absence of media reporting on the Venezuelan setting and reporting on where the American people have the seemingly right to close another nations airspace. Want to do that to China? That be a real joke, it will have 1.43 billion people laughing their pants of. 

And with the setting that comes next a few things are ‘loose’, we see “Trump’s comments come just days after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of “heightened military activity in and around Venezuela”, leading to several major airlines suspending flights there. Caracas then rescinded their take-off and landing rights. Venezuela’s foreign ministry urged “the international community, the sovereign governments of the world, the UN, and the relevant multilateral organisations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression”, in a statement on Saturday.” On second thought, where is the outrage of the United Nations? They are probably to busy scolding Israel for acting against terrorists. It is not the BBC article that has me outraged, it is the lack of media holding President Trump to account, at the very least they should scold him on the use of the CAPS LOCK key, but that might merely be my setting, or as my mother used to say, that is an issue that can merely be found between your two ears. And she might be right on the CAPS LOCK thing, but I digress, I am not alone in this. Venezuela also gave us “Venezuela’s foreign ministry urged “the international community, the sovereign governments of the world, the UN, and the relevant multilateral organisations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression”, in a statement on Saturday.” And as far as I see, Venezuela is right, there is no official war called from either Venezuela or the USA and as far as I know, US Congress is not the one saber rattling. 

And it is the silence of the UN is even more annoying, I am not sure how useful they are, but their usefulness might have become a thing of the past. Any delay by them calling America to order is another day that the usefulness of the UN is now a thing of the past and global budgets can get go of the 130,000 people that work for these organisations, as well as cut the budgets of these people in New York, might be another let down of the economy in the USA. 

Overall I wonder where the media outrage is in all of this. For me there is no real setting for Venezuela, it is a country 15,272 km away from Sydney and its 28.3 million people have no call on me, or does it hold any interest to me, but I believe in any nation to exercise its freedom and the the skies over Venezuela belong to the Venezuelan people, not President Trump. Should he be closing it due to an impending war, then he forgot to tell US Congress about it and should the USS Gerald R Ford and the 15,000 soldiers start a war with Venezuela, they better be prepared to deal with the assistance that Venezuela might get from its neighbors Colombia, Guyana and heaven forbid Brazil. A setting that might be the start of World War III, all that because he wasn’t eligible for the Nobel peace price? So you might think that I am overreacting, but the setting is almost prime to that, with the setting so close to Cuba, the mission of Steve Witkoff, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East might have had a second setting when talking to the Russians in regards to the Ukraine. And the might be a little frightening, because this reminds me of the 1997 movie Wag the Dog, where the President of the United States is caught being inappropriate, and what happens when this is a different spin, one that takes focus away from the abysmal economic state America is at now? Is it too far fetched, or does this scenario sound eerily true?

I have no idea what is going on, but to send the USS Gerald R Ford and 15,000 troops tend to make people nervous, especially when it is this close to Cuba and I wonder why the BBC is not asking a few loud questions on this setting. And as we consider the setting “to combat drug trafficking” is an overreaction to say the least. It might be true that the BBC reported that “other leaders in the region have welcomed Trump’s stance”, so who are they, or is it merely the president of Argentina? The lack of media in all this should get all your outrage, because Latin America is merely one step away from WWIII. If Venezuela gets any support, that setting is merely one step away, if Russia at all gets involved (because of Cuba) that fence is brought down and in that case this world has a new problem and I reckon that to avoid this Steve Witkoff might have had a different agenda then the world was told about in Russia. So whilst the Guardian reported (4 days ago) ‘US representatives call for Trump envoy Witkoff to be fired after leaked Kremlin call’ I wonder if this ‘leak’ incurred so that no one considered closing at the Venezuela setting in all this. It is all speculation, but the 15,000 men and that dinghy called the USS Gerald R Ford to fight drug dealers seems like a massive overreaction, as such I wonder what truly is going on and the media absence to all this is making me wonder more and optionally is making my speculations a little more extreme than even I like it to be. 

In terms of end setting, it might need more ‘examples’ and in this I call for the Running Man, a movie after the 1982 book by Richard Bachman (not the Vancouver hockey goalie), in this Arnold Schwarzenegger takes the lead as a blamed police officer. It is relevant as the movie starts with:

“By 2017, the world economy has collapsed. Food, natural resources and oil are in short supply. A police state, divided in paramilitary zones, rules with an iron hand”

considering that Richard Bachman wrote this 43 years ago, it is interesting that he is off by less than a decade. Quite the achievement if you ask me (I know, no one asks). But that setting is seen all over this field and Venezuela isn’t even the largest setting here, but it all adds up to that story and we are given these ‘truths’ by two movies is a little too awkward to consider. 

You all have a nice day, 360 minutes until breakfast for me.

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November 7, 2025 · 21:02

A new PSP

Yup, we are about to go there, but first a thing that stumps me. They just approved the pay package of Elon Musk, 1 trillion dollars, or a million times a million dollars. That amounts to he is making what I will do in 50,000 years and he does it in one. So he made the lifetime equivalent of 600 people. I merely cannot grasp this amount. I can get against that. Honestly I do not get it. There is no oppressive setting, no envy, no jealousy (well, a little, and that is fair) and we see the setting. But do you? A board had to vote, even with this he is making them all money. And that is what matters in today’s industry. So think about that. Even beyond their settings of making THEM money, he is still doing that after getting a trillion dollars. We are that in the dark on what is coming after us all. But that is not what matters to me now. As I said, there is a new PSP on the horizon. It is not from Sony, it is from me. The Political Speculation Party. You see the world is changing and this morning I got the news from the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xw3dw0zxo) ‘Nancy Pelosi announces retirement after decades in US Congress’ and we are given “Nancy Pelosi has announced her retirement from Congress, ending a decades-long career that saw the California Democrat become one of the most powerful figures in US politics.

In a video message on Thursday, Pelosi said she will not be seeking re-election to Congress at the end of her term in January 2027.” And then it hit me, with President Trump now hitting a low 37%, it means that even most of the Republicans want someone else and they will elect whomever get them out of this mess and it is fair to say that Nancy Pelosi is a real heavy weight and after President Trump messed up America, they will accept anyone that could make things better and as I see it Pelosi is the best the Democrats have. Nothing less will do and as I personally see it, The next president making it the 48th President is likely to become President Nancy Pelosi of California. 

Yes, it is a mere speculation as the there is plenty to go around, but the BBC article easily ‘very’ outspoken about things like “It marks the end of a storied political career: Pelosi, 85, became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House and led her party in the lower chamber of Congress from 2003 until 2023.” This felt ‘off’ and when you think of it, Congresswoman Pelosi would make an excellent candidate. A setting that too many are ignoring and that would also hand the Democrats the first female American president in history and Nancy Pelosi is respected on both sides of the isle, especially from the times she was the 52nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. She made a good deal of friends during that time and as I see it, she would make a great president, especially after the one they have now. Well anyone would make a better president after the present one. But as he is loving his own spin, America is in a tailspin to the bottom of the deepest ocean and that has plenty of Republicans rattled, then there is the lack of funding America is dealing with, as such, as I personally see it, President Pelosi is their way out of a tailspin and there is the question if it will be soon enough. There is a lot more damage the current administration can do to before 2028. But that is what I see and there is little doubt that the next president will be a Democratic one, but will it become President Pelosi? 

Your guess is as good as mine, but that is why I call it the Speculation party, because I am not much of a political wielder, but I can see through the thick of BS and this is what I see. Do you see it differently? Feel free to enlighten the world. Have a great day today. 

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April 16, 2025 · 23:37

Food for thought

I knew I saw it correctly, or at least I think I did. Greed is eternal and it is always on the edge of what others think is ‘creatively sneaky’ or merely ‘adaptable innovatively wealth bringing’ it is what we can see (to an extent) as the new ‘nouveau riche’ or what some call “people who have recently acquired wealth, typically those perceived as ostentatious or lacking in good taste” and I would add to that part ending with “in good taste” with “in good taste and lacking proper ethicality” because as some will deflect “insider trading” it might be harder to prove as insider trading is hard to reflect on settings that are a mere speculation of a situation and that is where we get to the article that USA Today gave us on April 14th 2025 (at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/14/marjorie-taylor-greene-stocks-trump-tariffs/83087826007/) and that is where I get to my article ‘The fifth branch’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/04/08/the-fifth-branch/) which I wrote nearly a week earlier on April 8th where I wrote “The entire tariff setting never made sense, unless it was by design and tariff on a Mc Donald Island (with only one CIEIO) and a lot of penguins, so that the President can claim medicine imbalance. In the meantime unknown ‘friends’ of his when the markets are at their lowest, buy what they can.” With the added “Even at 1% that is 30 billion and I doubt they will make that much, they will make enough to have their dream retirement at 40-50, something they never thought possible ever. But there you have it and the larger setting is that when the dust settles most offices cannot investigate as too many offices has lost their staff. A weird but not impossible setting.” And now almost a week later we get ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene bought stock before market jumped on Trump tariff pause’ with the subtext “Less than four hours before pausing for 90 days the individual nation tariffs on April 9, Trump told his followers on Truth Social, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” The White House said the post reflected the president’s responsibility “to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security.”” I don’t sound so crazy now, do I?

So when we consider “That same day, Greene − one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress − bought between $10,000 and $150,000 worth of stock in companies such as Adobe, Apple, NVIDIA, Palantir and Cummins. The day before, on April 8, Greene had purchased another $11,000 to $165,000 of stock in Amazon, FedEx, JP Morgan Chase, Lululemon, Nike, Qualcomm, Tesla and other companies. She also sold between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of U.S. Treasury bills.” Doesn’t it sound nice? So, how much money did she make? And how many others followed that example? The new ‘Nouveau Riche’ are likely to be all MAGA Americans, what a way to throw the new directions into a less credible direction? And this gives me pause to consider a much darker setting for America. You see, if Russia and China figured this out, then they see that the America administration had become greed driven and that is a very predictable setting. I saw this a week before the papers (USA Today) caught on and when did the others catch on? So what do China and Russia have planned? As this plays out they could set the premise to a larger scale, merely as I foresaw that Greed is predictable. So as we also get “Members of Congress have up to 45 days to disclose any stock purchases, which means other members of Congress may have also bought or sold stock shortly before the president changed his tariff policy but have not yet disclosed it.” And as I see it the statement of “The purchases, made public in a federal disclosure on April 11, come as Democrats call for an investigation into whether Trump participated in insider trading.” It is my believe that the laws might not suffice as the law never considered a President setting the premise we just saw. So was President Trump the fool, the baboon (as some call him) or was he deceitfully clever? I let you decide on this and make sure you realise that these market crashes were seemingly set in motion to change the power of money where it wasn’t before. 

And before you call me crazy, I predicted this danger before it happened and as USA Today now gives us, it apparently did happen.

So have a great day and realise that some will have a great day at the expense of others. In the meantime I gave Canadians three days before I wrote ‘The Fifth Branch’ in the story ‘A political game’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/04/05/a-political-game/) where I give the Canadians a free idea to create a video game and as such one person (or one team) gets a chance to create a video game. A game that might make them some money the old way, through innovative thinking. No markets needed to be manipulated. 

So have a great day and as I end my midweek in 29 minutes. Vancouver still has 18 hours to make the most of their midweek.

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August 10, 2024 · 13:06

A little late aren’t you?

It was the setting I was waiting for. The US has given in to its economic pressures and possibly the fear that China might get to much of a headway. Reuters this morning gives me (and other readers) at https://www.reuters.com/world/us-lift-ban-offensive-weapons-sales-saudi-arabia-sources-say-2024-08-09/ the headline ‘US to lift ban on offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia’, which sounds nice but is possibly a little late. Colonel Turki Al-Maliki a member of the Saudi airforce had given us the goods, going all the way back to February 2021. Reuters reported on these attacks in March 2021. In this Reuters is important as they give us ‘Houthis have fired 430 missiles, 851 drones at Saudi Arabia since 2015 – Saudi-led coalition’, the setting is important because civilian targets were aimed at by Houthis amongst them were Saudi airports and structures. So the blockage by the US was weird, especially as the Houthis are a terrorist organisation. So the about turn under the guise of “The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours”, a little late, isn’t it? But at present the Chinese representatives of parties like the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group is nothing to be sneered at, with the Chengdu J-20 as an optional buy which was (allegedly) discussed at the World Defense Show 2024 in February 2024 (a speculation from me) is giving the Chinese hope to gain much more from the American Defence Industry. Should the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia take that offer, the setting would open the doors (for China) to larger possibilities in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as well. The damage to the American Industry could amount to an estimated loss of $30-$50 billion over these three nations alone. Not to mention the lucrative service and consultancy jobs. It would be the first definite slam to the value of the US dollar. China is rearing to take up that option in a heartbeat. I discussed (and partially speculated) this in ‘The next Furlong’ which I wrote on March 10th 2022 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/10/the-next-furlong/), as such I was and am now in a stage to emphasise the term ‘told you so’. This setting was clear then and it is a speculated more clear now when we see “Under U.S. law, major international weapons deals must be reviewed by members of Congress before they are made final. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have questioned the provision of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in recent years, citing issues including the toll on civilians of its campaign in Yemen and a range of human rights concerns.” We are about to go into election mode and some politicians will fear for their job a lot more than the American Economy. As such China has a decent chance to crush the American Defence industry. I doubt they fear the Russian abilities as the Russians are getting clobbered by the 20th largest army in the world. The Ukrainians are still damaging the Russian, even after the Russians bombed Ukraine into the stone age. That is not a good sales talk, especially  with the current Russian losses stated below

As such we can accept the Reuters statement, because of its projected validity, yet the words we are given “Democratic and Republican lawmakers have questioned the provision of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in recent years”, yet the article doesn’t emphasise the attacks by Houthi’s on Saudi civilian targets, which Colonel Turki Al-Maliki showed many clearly going all the way back to 2021, many articles were drowned out by (speculatively speaking) by anti Muslim and anti Saudi voices. Now that China gets to move into a much stronger position, the American administration is taking the gloves off and do what needed to be done in 2021. I reckon that people like Stephanie Kirchgaessner will possibly raise anonymous sources to throw sand in the cogs of common sense. China will love this as this will enable them to get a squadron on Chengdu J-20 into place and optionally ‘gift’ three service teams in the mix, two for maintenance and one to train  Saudi troops. The losses to America will be vast and it will a long term loss. 

As such I think that they were over 2 years late to the party. The initial transfer settings were optionally carved (I have no clear evidence of this) in the airshows of 2021 by SAMI. That would have been the first introductions of Chinese hardware that was to replace whatever America wasn’t giving them at that time. As I personally see it, it might be too late now. You see the Russian losses as shown above are the second piece of evidence. In that setting Russia is no longer a contender and as they are now ‘acquiring’ missiles from North Korea we see a larger question mark, is it merely the lack of missiles or does Russia have a larger problem. I do not know, but Russia isn’t telling, so we are left to our speculations and the Kursk clambake of 2024 Makes things worse for Russia. And in that setting China gets to be the big winner. OK, I admit, this victory would be largely held by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (and supporting parties).

Have a nice day and feel free to watch American revenues move to the far east.

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May 27, 2024 · 06:54

Where to spend it?

I saw a report on the CNN site a few days ago (at https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/23/politics/senators-trudeau-letter-defense-spending/index.html) Now, I get it, every nation needs to get their defence correctly. However with the message ‘US senators write to Canada’s Trudeau asking him to meet 2% GDP defense spending commitment’ and the 23 senators may have a point, we all have to carry our weight. But I believe that the US is expecting Canada to hand that money to south of the border. I am not on that horse. I think that Canada, if spending anything that is essential will turn to the UK and Australia first for their needs. The question isn’t merely what not had been bought. They question becomes “What needed to be bought?” I don’t have those answers. And Canada does not stand alone. In all this Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands are on the same horse and the pie of revenue is dwindling down, it means that there are more hungry mouths to feed. This means that there are options is both the Commonwealth and the EU. I wonder when these 23 senators start realising that their defense revenue might be in jeopardy. In this age of economic stress, just handing it over to the US might not be the wise choice. If possible Canada should consider the UK for initial choices. The US sets up the 2% clause hoping that it will come to them, but that is not a given. No matter how this works out. These nations need to set a stronger manifest on what is needed and on what is required. Now, this is hard because defense elements aren’t really public information, but the fact that 23 senators give a letter with the underlying “they believe Canada — unlike other nations — does not appear to have a plan in place to hit the target, a congressional aide explained.” I have to ask what evidence is there? And the fact that a US congressional aide comes forth with this is secondary. So how did this get ‘leaked’ to CNN? Do Canadians know how their defense systems fare? Just a few questions that come to mind and I wonder what plans are set to those F-35 Canada ordered earlier. 

It is not enough to consider that 2% needs to be spend, the question becomes where to spend it and on what.

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December 22, 2023 · 23:44

Collected work

This is what we see at times, we see several cogs, we see that there is a connection, but we cannot see, or comprehend the connection. I am no different. I miss things at times. I am not smarter than you all (merely smarter then some). 

As such we see news, but can we see the connections? I started it yesterday with the phrase “it is a place where the bullies and the woke decide on the fate of others, regardless on what the others want” now we get a few settings, all at the same time. The first is ‘Trump caught on tape pressuring Wayne County officials not to certify election’ (at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rudy-giuliani-bankruptcy-new-york-election-b2468135.html) There we are also given “Rudy Giuliani, filing for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148m in damages to two Georgia election workers he defamed” You see, this is weird, especially when we see ““No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount,” spokesperson Ted Goodman said.”. Rudy is a politician, a lawyer and Mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, as such, how many defamation cases did the city of New York face between 1994 and 2001? Did any media look into that? Was there any way out of this? The more you look into the matter, the worse it gets, the less the media seems to check, the less politicians seem to do in equal measure (example Zelensky and false yacht rumours). 

Now we see, through ABC (at https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-surge-threats-colorado-justices-ruled-trump-primary/story?id=105855615) ‘FBI looking into surge in threats against Colorado justices who ruled Trump can’t be on primary ballot’ it is here that the bullies are shown in force and the insurrection on January 8th 2021 shows just how much problems America has. The bullies are seemingly taking over. In all this they have a larger problem. If this isn’t stopped now, it goes out of control fast. When supreme court judges are swamped with threats, the problem is now starting to look largely out of control and it gets to be worse. On one side we see that 16 states are moving papers to remove Trump from the ballots, and even if that happens, when the primary starts and whomever gets that part decides to put Trump on the ballot America faces another danger. When his ‘friends’ are given leeway and convictions overturned or removed the danger of chaos increases by a lot. If the FBI remains incapable of stopping insurrections and prosecuting bullies the chaos starts in another direction. No matter how that goes, American business will take a massive dive in revenue and that gives America another turn of bad luck and it already has several bad turns to deal with. So whomever (especially Americans) think that I am full of wind and this will never happen ready up on what is going on. The fact that the two media cases on disinformation (Giuliani and Jones) still have no end in sight, the victims are deprived of all funds coming to them and now that Jones is on X and has (according to some) 800,000 followers you should see just how bad things could get. But there is an upside (possible) the amount of nations that will take in Americans is vanishing faster than snowflakes in a heated oven.  In all this America has prized themselves out of many markets, and as such the largest danger becomes will America implode and become a haven of dangers. Some state that the US economy is growing less than ‘predicted’, but it is worse than that. France has gained defence contracts that America was hoping for, so that is $8 billion less. China is gaining more projects in construction, defense, telecom and infrastructure. So they are up more billions and America loses additional billions. So what was not clear here? This has been going on since 2020 and the media was taping over these issues with flammable content. In this the EU is not out of the woods either, more issues are rising and when we add the ‘free Palestine’ and ‘Just stop oil’ cults all over the EU, the picture becomes slightly more complete. They are seemingly heading towards an equally bad place. So feel free to disagree, but the writing is on the wall, on the web and on the Walkman. You merely have to look on what is real and fake and that is another matter that needs attention. Media is too much about fake news. The BBC gives us that a former US Marine (now living in Russia) was allegedly behind the story that Volodymyr Zelensky bought two yachts. Not only was the news false, at least one ship is still for sale. I do not care, but fake news has impact. It seems that members of the US Congress making crucial decisions about military spending were repeating the accusation. Apart from the stupidity that members of US congress have on not vetting information. According to the BBC Tom Tillis, a Republican Senator is one of those less-intelligent people. 

All these matters are important as they connect to a dislodged population and a very dislodged administration (Congress). As such the collected works of bullies and false prophets are now in full swing all over America and I am not sure if the FBI and CIA are equipped to deal with it. The CIA because not only is this a former marine, he is setting the stage from Russia no less and it is impacting US politics and policies. The bullies threatening Colorado judges are getting away with it and the FBI seems unable to deal with this at present. So I think I made my case. There is a stage with collected works and the are diverting the light, the cameras and are giving the limelight to fake news, that is how I see it.

Enjoy the day, the Saturday before Christmas is now 20 minutes away.

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October 2, 2023 · 04:43

An altering stage

This is a setting we all see, we all accept. We see any stage and we see it changes as conditions are dealt with. The Shutdown is as I expected averted in the last minute. I expected it would, but I also expect that this might go wrong in the future and the next shutdown is a mere 45 days away and US businesses are setting this new marker as the disaster moment. That is the new quarter setting, a setting that is a mere 45 days away now, but what happens when this becomes a monthly thing? And that is not nearly the end of it. You see CNN and others reported on how Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm a mere minutes before that vote. Children will be children and what do you do with stupid children? Yes, you make them representatives of Congress, that is how it goes. He is seemingly hiding behind ‘it was an accident’ just like every other 12 year old who played ding dong ditch with a fire alarm. This is merely the stage, the larger stage is more serious. 

The first one is the IMF (at https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/09/28/cf-saudi-arabias-economy-grows-as-it-diversifies) who reports ‘Saudi Arabia’s Economy Grows as it Diversifies’. It is a summary and you should read it. It shows several elements that are taking the world by storm. It is not “As shown in the latest IMF annual review of the country’s economy, progress has been most notably reflected in non-oil growth, which has accelerated since 2021, averaging 4.8 percent in 2022. Despite lower overall growth reflecting additional oil production cuts, non-oil growth will remain close to 5 percent in 2023, spurred by strong domestic demand.” We get the goods here, but it is “The economy’s non-oil growth has been spurred by strong domestic demand, particularly private non-oil investment. Sustaining this performance requires pursuing sound macroeconomic policies and maintaining the reform momentum, irrespective of developments in oil markets.” Even if the stage is not revealed, when combined with other views we see that ‘strong domestic demand’ is merely one string from the harp of economy, the harp of Saudi economy. What matters is that larger streams involving defence, technology, construction, tourism and services are ALL moving towards Chinese shores. We see some of it now, but that list is rapidly expanding and the next US vote is 45 days away with them having to brood on a loss of billions and it will be a lot more than 1 billion. 

The second article comes from Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2382701). I am not seeing anything new, but the fact that we see the report on this implies that US and EU governing bodies are now seeing the losses that they are being confronted with. In the first Saudi Arabia has set the lofty goal of increasing the tourism target from 100 million to 150 million of tourists a year by 2030. I think they can get there, but as I wrote last week that implies that these 150 million will not be going to the US or EU. So did you do the math on that loss? Saudi Arabia was until recent not really a blip on anyones radar and now they are becoming a power player. And this is not just China, The EU has 44 million Muslims a fair size of this would be considering Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination soon enough and even as the US only has about 4 million Muslims, these two are now seriously looking at what kind of a vacation Saudi Arabia could offer. I think it could grow even further. As a growing global population wants to really learn about Islam, we see that the Churches are now going more and more deserted. You can fool all of the people som of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time and the western world is in stage three, all whilst stage two is waking up on the notion that the churches have been a scam (as some people see them) yet these people are now seeking faith. Faith they feel the churches can no longer deliver as these people feel conned. Now Saudi Arabia has a stage where they can openly and clearly introduce Islam to a people who feel empty because faith deserted them, it is now seen as a betrayal and the churches cannot address the betrayal that they instigated since November 18, 1095 (Council of Clermont, First Crusade). Over 900 years and that shindig is up. So Saudi Arabia stands to increase its Muslim population, they increase tourism and at the same time they decrease the revenue streams to the EU and US. Both China and Russia will see this as a win, as does the BRICS community. IS my view correct? Correct is not the issue, this is clearly happening, but to what degree is anyones guess. I felt betrayed by my Catholic Church going back since slightly before 2015 when the movie Spotlight showed the world that something was very very wrong. We have been conned by hypocrites and charlatans and many feel too betrayed to give the church even one option to redeem itself. This tom foolery had been going on for over 900 years. 

And when you consider the Arab News giving you “By focusing on shared opportunities for growth and prosperity, the crown prince shuns hardened religious ideology that offers no prospects for the region or the international community at large. This leads him to navigate uncharted territory and negotiate closer ties with Iran and Israel alike. As he has pointed out, a Saudi normalisation agreement with Israel, if it came to pass, would be “the biggest historical deal since the end of the Cold War.”” It is seemingly correct (there are a few nicks to that setting), but the larger stage becomes more than ‘since the end of the cold war’. You see, the US was a power-player since the end of WW1 and that too is about to end. All the friends the USA used to have are now seeking new shores to feed their greed and they will bend over backwards to get their slice of cake and in the process will have to openly desert the US. Even Americans are now seeking ‘pro-Russian’ shores to ‘feel’ safe, but that is not the way it goes and those people will soon have no one to turn to. A similar setting is to be seen in the EU, although there are other issues in play too. Slovakia turning pro-Russian is merely one stage, one of many stages and that will erupt in many places. I expect that the Paris Olympics will show a few sides evolving there and as this evolves Saudi Arabia will be there to be the new power (together with China). You see, what some are missing is that places like Alipay+ is now partnered with the Saudi Tourism Authority. You think it is simple, but it is not. No matter how we see Alipay as part of the Alibaba group. It sets the stage where it is the partnered player with all the tourism in Saudi Arabia. It overtook PayPal in 2013, it now has over 55% as a pay provider for China and it is about to become a serious contender for all slices of the VISA and Mastercard processing pie. Within 10 years they got to there and the BRICS group will allow it to grow a lot further. And in all this we see another field that was until 5 years ago a field that belonged to the USA. Now we see more and more areas where the USA corporations are degrading to a mere third world nation and Saudi Arabia is in the centre of more and more of these stages. China is making a clean sweep of a lot of this and people still believe that I was kidding when I stated in 2019 that this pariah BS will have larger impacts. We are now seeing these plays in place and we see how the world stage is changing and for the USA and the EU not for the better. Oh and before you think this is temporary, consider the Brooklyn floods. It will take months for the humidity to settle down and the heating bills with decreased oil will take its toll there too. They say ‘It never rains when it pours’ and now we see the impact in several income streams whilst service streams are negatively impacted. All at the same time. But no matter the next shutdown is dues around 16 November 2023, a week before thanksgiving in the USA. So what will the Turkey’s do at that point to survive? Play ding dong ditch with a fire alarm?

Enjoy the upcoming week.

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August 13, 2023 · 20:56

Discrimination Legislation of America

This is not new and I have talked about it before (some time ago). This all started with a Tweet, not the most academic source, but it gave me somewhere to start.

Then I went out and looked for something more reliable and Forbes handed me (at https://www.forbes.com/sites/alangassman/2023/04/07/bidens-war-on-billionaires/) a story from April. 

The setting given is ‘Biden’s War On Billionaires’ (at https://www.forbes.com/sites/alangassman/2023/04/07/bidens-war-on-billionaires/) it is there we see “All American earners are subject to federal income taxes, but not everyone is subject to the same tax rate. While middle-class Americans pay, on average, roughly 14% in federal taxes annually, the wealthiest American families frequently use loopholes to avoid paying these tax rates.” This is one point of you and it is not an invalid one. Yet, in black letter law the US has tax laws. The law is what nations rely on and I agree it is not a fair one, but guess what. This is the fault of the US Congress and the US Senate. I have been talking about fair taxation for over 10 years. But the law is the law and there is an additional setting, the reason why people focus on Jeff Bezos, this is merely a first step. You see, that 20% will do nothing, America is in too deep, it is a sinking ship and the only thing these political people want to do is step out, so they can say not was not on their watch. It is too late for that. You see when that first law is passed, they might get a chunk of Bezos, but they will also get a chunk of Marc Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Marc Benioff, Larry Ellison and that list goes on. My issue is that this is discrimination, Ageism (age discrimination), economic discrimination is also discrimination. So they are going after the real innovators, real inventors and what America wants is not their money, it is their IP, or at least part of it and co-controlling it. You really want all these systems to be co-owned by the USA? Whatever freedom you thought you had would be gone. The US has been playing stupid since the Clinton Administration, it was the last time that the US had green numbers, since then the allotted a debt surpassing $31,000,000,000,000 dollars. The US is broke and they are now in it to delay for whatever time they can. The USA has become a sinking ship, they are patching holes by cutting pieces out of the same leaking hull, it never ends well. I have pleaded for tax law overhauls for well over a decade. I noticed the slippery slope close to 25 years ago and it impacts the EU and Japan as well. China is growing, China is becoming the next power player in its lonesome position. BRICS is becoming an inner circle with China in the lead position, the moment it sheds Russia, their geese will be count as well. BRICS went from the elite of 5, to a group with 40 nations interested, the lead of the US is gone. No one follows the broke person who can no longer feed itself and with the the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates added to the BRICS group the US has very little left, so now they are setting the stage to go after the billionaires and whatever more they can get. Yet in all this the numbers of what Apple (Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft too) paid in taxation. That would have ben the fair setting, but no one is really digging into this, are they? Fair taxation starts with the corporations that was the first step and that has been overdue for decades, the loopholes had to be dealt with and that never was, that is the real story. Jeff Bezos et al used the legal options like tax lawyers to avoid paying more taxation than was required. Tax avoidance means “the use of legal methods to minimise the amount of income tax owed by an individual or a business”, which is perfectly legal, tax evasion is not legally stated and a crime. This is the stage that brings in the players like PwC, they are one of the leading experts in tax avoidance, this is why a tax overhaul had been essential for about 25 years and now it is too late. The us has its opponents knocking on their gates (BRICS and their members). So we get another populist call for taxing the rich, but it is the tax system and IRS who needed to clean their houses, they never did. I am no friend of Jeff Bezos, I do not think I ever was but that man took an online bookshop and turned it into something huge, then he went against the biggest tech company of all and created an equal if not a better version with his Amazon Luna (against the Google Stadia) which made Google leave the field (leaving billions on the floor), it almost destroyed Microsoft with its Azure through Amazon AWS. Two clear wins by (an online) bookshop. That is what Jeff Bezos did. You have to respect that and the others made their own innovative futures. Now the US wants to go after these innovator? So what happens to the US when these places resettle in BRICS territory? Good luck with that idea. So consider the Discrimination Legislation of America, the DLA, which by pure coincidence (LOL) also means Disability Living Allowance. The pay setting that most Americans are about to get towards to. Consider that the DLA ranges from around $1,000 – $5,000 depending on the member’s pay grade and dependency status. You can normally only receive DLA once each fiscal year. So a maximum of $5000 a year to make ends meet. Where in America can you live of that? I am not certain there is any place that will make America liveable and when the larger corporations leave that will be close to all that is left, until the money is gone. That is the future and I tried to warn you all, not to bite the hand that was feeding the US (Saudi Arabia) and when the tech players leave billions on the floor, why is that? I will let you decide.

Weekend is entering the last hours of the day, it is at the end of Sunday in the East (New Zealand) and at its start in Western Canada, enjoy.

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August 11, 2023 · 08:43

Dee Jay Eye

Yup that is the saying. It is written DJI and would you believe it, it means Dopey Justice Investigations. Of course in this case we have to go to that place that Europeans regard as the land west of the Atlantic River, the Asians and Australians see it as land east of the Pacific river and we all agree that it is south of Canada. It is known as the USA. The BBC gave me 22 hours ago ‘Boy, 6, boasted about shooting Virginia teacher Abigail Zwerner’ (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66451768), it is there we see “The boy’s mother, however, Deja Taylor, has been charged with felony child neglect and misdemeanour recklessly leaving a loaded firearm as to endanger a child. In June, she was also charged with unlawfully using a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.” This all sounds nice, but when you consider that in January I wrote in ‘Little Shits’ (at https://wp.me/p1RftY-2mn) “So far NO report shows that the parents were arrested, or interrogated over the case. If that is the stage, the US has earned the right to see many more shootings in schools until they fix this mess”, as well as “So what part do the parents play? Well, as I see it the mindset tends to come from parents, not peer pressure, not at that age. But no one is looking at the parents, why not?”, as such I got to this setting MONTHS before the American authorities got there and the evidence is clear, the media had nothing. And you wonder why nothing gets to be resolved during mass shootings? Well here you have the evidence. As such as we are given “His teacher, Abigail “Abby” Zwerner – who survived – filed a $40m (£31.4m) lawsuit earlier this year.” I personally believe that Abigail should have (at least) doubled her claim, with incompetence seen to this degree there is a fair case that her life was trivialised to a much larger extent. I get that the boy was not charged, the rule of Doli Incapax is pretty much all over the common law nations and this means that you cannot be seen as responsible as a 6 year old. I mentioned that in the first article on this event, but how the kid got the firearm as well as the parents (I did not know the household setting there) were not. And now 7 months and three days later we see this play out as being the correct path. Yes, we saw the reference to June, but the media was not all over that, were they? So when we now see “While being restrained after the shooting at a Virginia school, the boy is said to have admitted “I did it”, adding “I got my mom’s gun last night”.” Consider looking back to the media covering in those days, none of them mentions that small part, did they? Why not? Especially the small part of “the boy is said to have admitted”, why was that omitted from the media coverage? The fact that he got his mom’s gun last night is a pretty clear indication to arrest the mother at that moment. The unsafe handling of a firearm leaving it open for a child to get is pretty indicative of the blunders made in this case. To Abigail Zwerner, the 25 year old teacher I say “I hope you get well over 300% of what you ask for”, the media, the authorities and the school all trivialised your life for what? Political points? Business points? There should be a price for that and after that, use that money to retire to a nice happy safe place and enjoy your early retirement, you definitely earned it.

I think that it is time for the dopey justice system of America to wake up and see the mess you are at present making, I have said well over a year ago that upgrading the ATF and giving it actual teeth would be essential in cleaning this mess up and again I am proven correct. 

As I see it, there is no fault at present to its director Steven Michael Dettelbach, but I do believe that he has his work cut out for him and I reckon that keeping scores of whoever block essential needs for the ATF will be required soon enough. You see, 1.5 billion does not go far, not when you have 5,285 people trying to sort the gun mess out. Some might see the mention of “The ATF has received criticism over the Ruby Ridge controversy, the Waco siege controversy and others.” Yet no one is mentioning a story from 2022 “Missing weapons, false records: Franklin Gun Shop owners plead guilty to federal charges”, the Tennessean gave us that one (at https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2022/11/23/franklin-gun-shop-owners-plead-guilty-over-missing-weapons-false-records/69671186007/) there is a larger stage that gun shops are falling short, and it could have been prevented years ago by giving the ATF teeth and a real budget. There is also a larger stage of automated systems to see where the history of guns are at and I am referring to the NBC article (at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/s-just-insanity-atf-now-needs-2-weeks-perform-routine-gun-trace-rcna39606) where we see ‘‘It’s just insanity’: ATF now needs 2 weeks to perform a routine gun trace’ with the by-line “Boxes of paper records fill nearly every corridor of the ATF’s National Tracing Center, where agents are struggling to keep up with surging requests from local police.” Red tape might be stated to be the source, but I see this as the failing of a justice system. We might take notice of “A 2023 report published in JAMA covering 2014 to 2022, found there had been 4011 mass shootings in the US”, with over 4000 mass shootings in almost 10 years we come to the generic 400 mass shootings a year and you don’t think that the ATF needs an upgrade in IT systems and other materials? Don’t make me laugh, this is beyond dopey and you better realise it. For the American parents it is easy. 400 mass shootings a year comes down to almost 8 a week. So how long will you roll the dice until it is YOUR child you get to bury? It is simple (yet somewhat deceptive) statistics, but feel free to blame the people who are almost certain no part in that play and ignore those who could make a difference because that would be the US Senate and US congress. Did you think that ‘Red tape’ or the ATF was to blame. Someone pushed for that ‘Red tape’ and it is time to wake up and see what causes your children to die. I can assure you it is not the maker of the gun, it is the lawmakers that enable to hobble the ATF. And that gives us the Senate and Congress. And when exactly did either call out to enforce the ATF with the equipment and budget to give the Americans a safer place to live? I am willing to wager you cannot really find that part of the equation. Why not?

Weekend is soon upon us, so enjoy the day and go shopping for a bulletproof vest for your child, you might need one soon.

 

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August 6, 2023 · 02:46

The expression sideways

That happens, we see it and at times we ignore it. We all do, there is no blame, there is no one at fault. These things happen. I get it, but what happens when you see stupidity to the greatest degree take its own failings out on afterburner accelerating it all to a much larger degree?

I am not sure if I truly understand that level of stupidity. So, in comes ABC (one of many sources) with ‘Donald Trump’s threatening social media post flagged by US prosecutors to judge’ (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-05/trump-s-threatening-post-flagged-by-us-prosecutors-to-judge/102693572) where we are given “On his Truth Social site, the former president wrote, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” on Friday afternoon, a day after he pleaded not guilty to charges that he orchestrated a criminal conspiracy to try to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.” So, first he is accused of starting an insurrection, then he (as self proclaimed billionaire) makes noise for others to pay him for his legal fees and now AFTER he has been warned he seemingly threatens a judge? How stupid can stupid be? This is not some flaw, this is an insufferable mindless amount of stupid. In addition we are given “At his arraignment on Thursday, Mr Trump swore not to intimidate witnesses or communicate with them without legal counsel present. The prosecutors’ filing asked US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a protective order prohibiting Mr Trump and his lawyers from sharing any discovery materials with unauthorised people.” And still he gives these messages? It is without a doubt a new level of stupid and for the most, most democrats get instant orgasms when they dream of Trump spending the rest of life in prison. As such Donald Trump is making their dreams come true. 

Still, I am left wondering how someone this stupid ever got to be rich, actually was regarded as a captain of industry. And consider that if he had never had gone into politics he might have been on the same highway for decades to come, now it could soon end and his new outfit will be the fashion of choice. 

Yes, the radical right will see him as a martyr, the mediocre right will see him as a threat to the message from the right and the politicians have some unwritten protection rule in place that will successfully keep the right out of elected office for close to 3 elections. As I see it for people like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney it will not be enough, Donald Trump created too much damage and there is no going back from that, he enforced too much stupidity and the bulk who supported him are starting to wake up to the fact that they supported a loser for the longest amount of time. The Republican Party does have an option from the far right (to coin a phrase) but it will require people like Mitch McConnell to step back as well. If someone in the Republican Party can get Arnold Schwarzenegger to return to political office, he could be a force of good for the Republican Party and together with Romney and Cheney there is a chance, not a big one, but one none the less. However someone needs to shut Trump up, he is now causing more and more damage and if it was up to him, he will Russian with his ‘scorched earth’ approach to the entire republican political field. When that happens there is close to no chance that the Republican Party has any chance until 2032, and there is a decent chance that they will be voted out of the house, the senate and the White House for these terms. Waves of stupid (as seen by a lot) as it impacts Disney through Ron DeSantis, the blind support that Trump and the insurrection got is starting to show and the people are taking notice on the impact. I reckon that right sided parties like the proud boys are not helping the Republican message and beyond that there are the messages from Trump. Only a minute ago Skye News gives us ‘Donald Trump defends ‘harmful’ social media post as ‘political speech’’, I personally reckon that when threats become ‘political speech’ the levy has been broken and whatever comes next will hit and harm the entire Republican Party. 

No matter what plays out, should Donald Trump win (which is not entirely impossible) the amount of nations turning away from America will increase and it will also harm the economic outlook of America, to what extent? I have no idea, but I feel certain that it will. Who would have known that Donald Trump is about to become the greatest weapon towards the future of China. 

Enjoy the weekend, perhaps it will get weirder tomorrow, one could only hope. 

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