Tag Archives: liberals

Current Events

On The Road

10 Comments

I must apologize profusely for disappearing for such a long time. I have no excuse other than to blame it on so many birthdays (mine, of course—LOL) and so many items on my Bucket List that have eaten away at my waking hours.

For example, as I type this, my bride – Nancy, and my dog, Edgar – are sitting in the RV at a KOA in Watkins Glen located in the Finger Lakes area of upper state New York. We have been on the road since 27 July visiting kin on our way up the East Coast with an eventual destination of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, which has been on both mine and Nancy’s list for years. Of that, all I can say is been there, done that, no need to do it again. I did come away with a tidbit of information that made a significant impression on me. The amount of water coming over Horseshoe Falls is a phenomenal 34 million gallons PER MINUTE! WOW!

Anyway, we leave here tomorrow and go to Lake George, NY. We stay three nights, then head for the Flight 93 Memorial site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania—a must-see told to us by many fellow RVers and Marine brothers. Several recommended making sure one has a handkerchief.

Then we head home to the heat – which we have not missed at all. We expect to be in SWFL by the end of the month. 

We both have been extremely impressed with upper state NY; what a gorgeous area. If a bunch of die-hard idiot liberals didn’t run the damn state, we could see ourselves living here – during the summer months.

Anyway, my good friend and Marine brother, with whom most of you are familiar, sent me a column he’d written, and that gave me the incentive to make a post. As always, it’s a good read and filled with truisms.

The Buzz on the Bus                                                           By: Greg Maresca

Spending the summer behind the wheel of a bus has brought with it some interesting turns, detours, and plenty of spontaneous conversation. Many of the seniors on board do not get out as they once did. Others have little contact with the outside world except for their journey to various medical appointments, while some do not interact with many other than the small retirement community where they reside.

While driving, I do not like being beholden to the Global Positioning System (GPS), but there are times when it is the only option. Technology, when it works, can make any transition quite smooth but not when you’re sitting in a defunct parking lot or in the middle of a road surrounded by corn fields with no scarecrow in sight with the GPS informing anyone within earshot that “you have arrived at your destination.”

One distinguished gentleman and rider, a Vietnam veteran of two tours, noted how societies fail when tolerance becomes the ultimate virtue and is then defined by one party as gospel. He remarked about the irony of how Democrats preach tolerance of gays, illegal immigrants, and even convicted felons but then turn on fellow Americans who are Christians, conservatives, and republicans. As he stepped off into the smothering humidity, he parted with these words of wisdom: At this juncture, there is no excuse for NeverTrumpers to continue.

Then there was one woman (at least I thought she was female) who boarded wearing her surgical mask giving the ride a retro COVID-19 feel. She was the clear winner of the summer’s best bus rider mask that read simply: “Harris” with each letter emblazoned in a different color. It was the first campaign sign I witnessed in all my journeys extoling Harris for the nation’s highest office.

Perhaps she doesn’t realize how Kamala Harris as vice president owns each one of President Joe Biden’s failures that includes economic decline brought on by rising inflation, tens of millions of illegal immigrants, the Afghanistan debacle, and increased tensions, worldwide. Ironically, Harris opposes voter identification laws, but requires photo ID to get into her campaign stops.

Harris pleads with voters to elect her again, so she can solve all the problems that have been ongoing since she was first elected.

Harris entered the presidential race a month ago and has yet to give any interviews or press conferences with no blowback from journalists. Such behavior underscores how journalistic objectivity is a myth. One recent headline in a national publication read: “Harris Tough on Border.” This was not a satirical piece but an actual “news story.” Politics can be a pleasure when you have a complicit media working nonstop for your campaign and gratis, too. Time magazine admitted Harris refused to grant an interview for their cover story. Her media rebranding is something to behold as it is nothing but a complete fabrication in the first degree.

As such, the Biden basement 2.0 campaign strategy has officially commenced.

If it was successful once, why not again?

Despite a colluding media providing cover like bodyguards with every step her campaign takes, Harris’s extreme positions on abortion, gender ideology, parental rights, crime, and immigration are actually left of Biden, which should speak volumes but reaches only deaf ears.

Harris understands that to get debt-burdened Millennials to support her is by making promises in the extreme – Medicare for all, cancelling student loans and universal basic income. This trifecta of financial doom would have drastic consequences for the economy, stock market, and millions of Americans’ retirement accounts. But given Millennials’ knowledge of economics is just as pathetic as their comprehension of civics, it is the perfect paradigm.

I passed on telling this young woman that Harris and her bus driving hack have one thing in common: We both have never won one presidential primary – ever. And yet it is Donald Trump who is the real threat to democracy. I’m sure she would have been offended because if one disagrees with the left, one is not only ignorant and insipid, but evil.

The time is long past burying our heads in our phones and other narcissistic pursuits while our constitution and the republic founded upon it is being bused over a cliff.

Current Events, Recent Posts

Secretary without honor: Voices

6 Comments

6/16/2023 UPDATE: I posted this in 2016, and based on what is going on today with Trump, I decided to repost it bc I believe it is pertinent.  A lot has happened since the original post regarding folks in various positions disregarding the procedures for handling classified documents, some of whom are in jail while others are not. I am not condemning Trump bc I strictly believe in innocent until proven guilty, albeit the media doesn’t adhere to that dictum.

All I am asking is why isn’t this bitch in jail? Well, that’s an easy one to answer. Because she is a democrat. Over the years we have developed two sets of standards, one for  them and one for republicans. I liked what Pence recently said when he threw his hat in the ring for this next election. He committed himself to cleaning up the entire Dept. of Justice. The entire system is wrought with injustice; lady justice is not blind anymore.

Anyway, I reposted this one just to get into the fray. This thing with Trump will last a long time and will certainly not play out before the primaries. It will be interesting.

It is an interesting story line. BTW, when this was posted several ask what happened to Capt Chapman. He did, in fact, die from a scuba accident while stationed in Okinawa in 1979.

Stay Tuned.

This is a must read for anyone even considering voting for this person in the upcoming election. As one who grew up in the Marine Corps and imbued with the Honor, Courage, and Commitment with which the Corps adheres, I must vehemently agree with every word this author has written. Every politician, or anyone running for a political office needs to read this article. In fact, I will even go a step further and state that every so-called “citizen” of this once great nation should read this and do some soul-searching to see what their decision would have been in this captain’s situation. This officer’s father was one of the finest officers and Commandant of the Marine Corps under which I served. He did not attempt to save his son!

Hillary againWhen I hear people say Clinton emails don’t matter, I remember a young Marine captain who owned up to his career-ruining mistake.

Apologists for Hillary Clinton’s alleged criminal mishandling of classified documents say that it doesn’t matter, that she really did nothing wrong, or nothing significant. But the real question is not so much what she did as how she has responded to being found out.

Once during the mid-1960s when I was on active duty in the Marine Corps, I was the air liaison officer for a battalion of Marines aboard 11 ships in the Mediterranean. As the air officer and a senior captain, I had a rotating responsibility for the nuclear code book, kept in the safe in the operations room of the lead amphibious squadron command ship. I shared that duty with another captain, a squared away young man, liked by all he commanded and the son of a very high-ranking Marine.

On the day our ships were leaving the Mediterranean, we met the new amphibious squadron near Gibraltar and made preparations to transfer security codes and other sensitive material to the incoming Marine battalion. The young captain was on duty and went to the operations office to pick up the code book. He was alone in the office. He removed the code book and placed it on the desk while closing the safe. In a rushed moment, he stepped across the passageway to retrieve something he needed from his quarters. Seconds later, he stepped back into the operations office and found the operations sergeant having just entered, looking down at the code book.

Against all regulations, the code book had been out of the safe and unattended. It mattered not that it was unattended for only seconds, that the ship was 5 miles at sea, or that it was certain no one unauthorized had seen the code. The captain could have explained this to the operations sergeant. He could have told the sergeant that he “would take care of it.” He could have hinted that his high-ranking dad could smooth it over.

But the Marine Corps’ values are honor, courage and commitment. Honor is the bedrock of our character. The young captain could not ask the sergeant to betray his duty to report the infraction, no matter how small. Instead, the captain simply said, “Let’s go see the colonel.”

That captain had wanted to be a Marine officer all of his life. It was the only career he ever wanted. When he reported the incident to the colonel, he knew he was jeopardizing his life’s dream. But he did it.

The results went by the book. The amphibious squadron stood down. Military couriers flew in from NATO. The codes were changed all over Europe. The battalion was a day late in leaving the Mediterranean. The captain, Leonard F. Chapman III, received a letter of reprimand, damaging his career. He stayed in the corps and died in a tragic accident aboard another ship.

I saw some heroic acts in combat in Vietnam, things that made me proud to be an American and a Marine. But that young captain stood for what makes our Corps and our country great.

Clinton is the antithesis of that young captain, someone with no honor, little courage and commitment only to her endless ambition. This has nothing to do with gender, party affiliation, ideology or policy. It is a question of character — not just hers, but ours. Electing Clinton would mean abandoning holding people accountable for grievous errors of integrity and responsibility. What we already know about her security infractions should disqualify her for any government position that deals in information critical to mission success, domestic or foreign. But beyond that, her responses to being found out — dismissing its importance, claiming ignorance,blaming others — indict her beyond anything the investigation can reveal. Those elements reveal her character. And the saddest thing is that so many in America seem not to care.

Phillip Jennings is an investment banker and entrepreneur, former Marine Corps pilot in Vietnam and Air America pilot in Laos. He is the author of two novels and one non-fiction book. 

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns, go to the Opinion front page and follow us on Twitter @USATOpinion. 

Originally posted 2023-06-16 09:00:16.

Current Events

Parenting

8 Comments

I have been wanting to post something about this issue for years, but found others to talk about. However, the time has come that I MUST do it NOW! Thanks to my good friend and Marine brother, a retired Sergeant Major of Marines, who sent this to me this morning.  I enjoyed it and agreed with it so much that I had to read it twice. This guy has nailed it squarely on the head. 

COMMENTARY- The Blade, Toledo, OH

Parents, not guns, are responsible for keeping kids safe

 

BY MATT MARKEY BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR

There were 361,119 hunters in Ohio in the most recent season. Michigan had 665,431 hunters. They carried shotguns, rifles, pistols, and lethal archery equipment, so they were armed to the hilt. But no one shot anyone else.

That’s more than one million individuals with firearms, but they didn’t settle a neighborhood squabble, a fight over a girlfriend, a dispute involving territory, a road rage incident, a case of perceived disrespect, or an instance of just looking at someone the wrong way, with violence.

They did not allow their guns, which most own for hunting and personal protection, to become weapons used to settle some petty discord, the result of which we see on the streets of our major cities on a frighteningly regular basis.

In that scenario, which seems to be playing out on an endless loop, lives end — too often those of innocent bystanders — families are devastated, mothers are left to mourn, the perpetrators end up in the prison system, and we pay to support them for decades.

And many of our politicians, community leaders, and sociologists hit the well-worn but ever-reliable default button of blame — Gun Violence. They are infatuated with that term. Make the lifeless device culpable. Focus your condemnation on a piece of steel. Claim that the inanimate object is the actual source of the evil.

There were more than 3,000 youths at the 2022 high school Target Shooting National Championship competition. Every one of them had a powerful shotgun, but nobody shot anyone. There will be more than 4,000 people taking part in the National Matches at Camp Perry this summer, firing rifles and pistols, but as has been the case for more than 100 years, nobody will shoot anyone, despite the abundance of firepower and ammunition on site.

Then we hear about a six-year-old in Virginia taking a handgun to school and shooting his teacher. The national news calls it Gun Violence, but nobody demands to know where he got the gun, where did he learn to use it, and where are his parents.

Two teens arrested after a recent brawl at a Columbus mall were found to be carrying fully-loaded handguns. In a Cleveland suburb, two boys, ages 12 and 13, were charged with aggravated murder for shooting down a 14-year-old schoolmate. The cases keep rolling in, and we lump them all into that convenient Gun Violence folder.

Much closer to home, the examples are equally abundant.

A 16-year-old is arrested for shooting and killing another teen near the playground area at Ravine Park Village apartment complex in East Toledo. A convenience store on Phillips Avenue is robbed by two gun-toting teens, and one of them dies in a shootout with police.

In January, a 15-year-old girl is found shot to death in a North Toledo alley. Three teens decide to shoot up a funeral in Toledo and two funeral home employees are wounded. A 15-year-old boy is killed and a 10-year-old seriously wounded during a Wednesday night shooting at Avondale and Brown avenues.

Other teens are injured in shootings at two in the morning where the gunslinger is also a juvenile. We have a news conference, bringing out the long faces and the somber tone, but nobody in authority asks mom and dad what their children are doing out at that hour. Nobody asks where they got the guns.

Instead, we make Gun Violence the boogeyman. We describe it as if it is the next coronavirus variant or an invasive species that just arrived from a foreign land. No one dares demand some personal responsibility from the parents of the youths involved in these shootings and other crimes.

We hear about these “violence interrupters” who are going to ride into town, work the streets, and put an end to kids killing other kids. That approach turned out to be a band aid that didn’t stick when applied over a metastasized gargantuan tumor, and a colossal waste of time, and money.

Still searching for a magic potion, we find a program from Kentucky. This is going to fix our Gun Violence problem. More programs, more government money, more meetings. But nobody wants to talk about parenting or your responsibility for the children you bring into this world.

When a juvenile believes that picking up a gun, pointing it at another human being, and pulling the trigger is the way to solve their problems or take what they want, we’ll have to go a lot further than Kentucky or Chicago — maybe to Heaven above — to find the solution. Because nobody wants to dare mention the source of the issue.

Kids learn a lot at home — both good and bad — and if home shirks this responsibility, then there are plenty of nefarious outside sources ready to fill the gap. And when kids see that irresponsible behavior is acceptable, as well as a lack of concern and culpability for their actions, they often take these same traits into a troubled adult life.

Like many kids, I found that my father was a very effective violence interrupter. You treated your neighbors, teachers, women, law enforcement, and your friends with respect because, from the earliest age, that is the way you saw your role model treating other people. And you did not want to transgress and end up in Dad’s court.

While searching for an appropriate and acceptable description for the kind of leadership we need at this critical juncture, when kids killing other kids has become so common, this came up — a comment from a Toledo police officer following yet another slaying involving our children.

“We need parents involved in kids’ lives. We need structure. We need routine. We need discipline. We need rules and boundaries,” this female officer said.

That should have been the mic drop moment that ended this circus of news conferences and proclamations and addressing this issue with wads of money and more bureaucratic folderol.

She nailed it, but I don’t think that perspective has been raised by anyone in authority ever since.

Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.

My question has always been who is responsible when when a 10 or 12-year-old takes a gun from home to school and kills someone? No one wants to place the blame where it should be. instead we feel sorry for the parents, Oh my it’s so sad that my 10 year-old Johnny shot and killed his best friend over an argument. R U shitting me? Furthermore, the parents cannot believe that their son did something so horrific. It’s those damn slack guns laws. Really?

I know I will be criticized by some as being crazy or out of touch with reality, but I believe we should lock both parents up for ten years. Put that kid in a juvenile home and get his ass straightened out once and for all. It is time we start looking at who is actually responsible for a 10 year-old killing another kid.  Nuff said, and bring it on liberals!

 

Originally posted 2023-06-14 15:21:37.

Current Events

MLB at its Greatest

7 Comments

LOL, I am not surprised by this at all. What else would one expect from the a third world shithole. Personally, I have never been a big MLB sports fan. Oh, I used to watch it periodically when I had nothing better to do with my time. Then it got so darn boring that I’d rather sit outside and watch the grass grow. That does not mean that I didn’t recognize it as “America’s Game.  What else could be more American than Father and son going to the stadium for hotdogs, cokes, and beer. Well, have fun now fathers, for you may have to explain some things to that young son. Good luck.

You can’t spell blasphemy without LA                     By: Greg Maresca

 The Los Angeles Dodgers are making plenty of news, none of which is for their play on the baseball diamond. Rather, the Dodgers have sold their souls to the whims of the woke. Headlines resulted after the Dodgers announced they would be honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at their annual Gay Pride Night on June 16th.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are anything but a group of pious Catholic nuns, rather they are a militant collection of drag queens who profanely mock God, nuns, and women. They go by names such as Sisters: Edith Myflesh, Anal Receptive, and Porn Again. Their blasphemy of Christianity doesn’t end there as they proudly host a “Hunky Jesus” event and endow a pro-abortion, “Free Choice Mary” award. “Go forth and sin some more!” is their motto.

 How is parading around in costume insulting Catholics a symbol of pride?

For a billion-dollar professional baseball organization, this is certainly a bizarre way to conduct business. The sports’ world, drowning in virtue signaling, has sold out to the woke minority without firing a shot.

When called out on these drag queens, the Dodgers lived up to their longtime moniker and quickly dodged right and disinvited the dragsters. Unable to resist the leftist LGTBQ+ blowback, they dodged again, this time going hard left by not only reinviting the Catholic mocking drag queens and offering “our sincerest apologies,” but will award the dragsters “the Dodgers’ Community Hero Award for service to the LGBTQIA2S Community.”

Why stop there? The Dodgers should change their name to the Los Angeles Drag Queens that would complement their prominent Bud Light sign in the outfield grandstands at Dodger Stadium.

 Why limit such profane mockery to only Christians?

Why not expand their repertoire to include The Mullahs of Mecca, who can do a drag rendition of the Islamic prophet Muhammad? While talking promotions how about black-face minstrel day … well, you get the idea. The left’s overwrought double standards never ceases to amaze.

Once upon a time in America, MLB teams had events like bat day, picture day, and seat cushion day to entice the fringe fans out to the park. In 2023, it’s perversion. Apparently, producing, promoting, and playing baseball is simply not enough. Is their product on the field that skewed that they must supplement it with such derogatory fashion as honoring drag queens that mock Catholics?

How do you explain this garbage to a 10-year-old who just wants to enjoy a game at the stadium?

 It is no secret that the Dodgers have been hosting Gay Pride Night for the last decade. Throughout that tenure, the only thing emanating from Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez was silence, until now. The Archdiocese called on “all Catholics and people of goodwill to stand against bigotry and hate in any form and to stand for respect for one another and for the religious beliefs of our communities of faith.”

Curiously, no mention of the Dodgers, who underscored how anti-Catholic bigotry remains the oldest and most acceptable of American prejudice.

Los Angeles translated from the Spanish “the city of angels” and not Hell’s version, is home to one million Catholics, many of whom are traditionally minded baseball fans who are Hispanic.

What about the Catholic ballplayers? Perhaps they don’t know that Dodger Hall-of-Fame pitcher Sandy Kofax, a practicing Jew, declined to start the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur.

The Dodgers believe Christians can be bought off with a “Christian night” in July that will somehow make amends that is not only offensive but distasteful. People need to stop ignoring this insanity and step up to the plate – no exceptions.

No person of faith should support any business or organization aligned with such perversion that ridicules our Judeo-Christian heritage. Righteous anger should turn this publicity charade into the Dodgers’ version of Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney’s transgender moment. Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, has suffered a continuous drop in sales ever since. So has Target. Americans need to continue to respond by closing their wallets and continue what economists say is the most successful conservative boycotts ever.

Follow the money is the only game corporate America truly comprehends.

Oh, let’s not forget about the other corporations who seemed to be falling on their swords one after the other like Target, Kohl’s, and of course the greatest of all, Bud Light. BTW, have you seen the latest commercial developed by some entrepreneur for BUD?

WARNING: this commercial is rather explicit, so if you have tender ears, just skip it.

 

 

 

 

Originally posted 2023-06-02 10:43:25.

Current Events

D-Day Approaches

6 Comments

Hi Gang, the D in this case stands for DEBT, our countries debt! I hesitated to post this article, but I really think it needs to be out there so people understand what is going on in our country today economically. As a self-made Economist who loves the topic and follows it more than anything else we are about to reach a turning point in America. June 1st is D-Day folks. This has never happened in the USA and if it does this time, it will have far reaching impact on many things, not to even mention America’s reputation throughout the world. I’ll save my further comments  after you read it.

15 May 2023
Military.com | By  Rebecca Kheel

Billions of dollars of veterans benefits could be imperiled if the U.S. defaults on its debts, though the full extent of the fallout is uncertain because of the unprecedented nature of a default.

About $12 billion in veterans benefits are expected to be paid out June 1 — the same day the Treasury Department has named as the earliest day a default could happen if Congress doesn’t act to avoid it.

A default would likely delay those benefits, but for exactly how long would depend on the Treasury’s next move after a default, experts who spoke to Military.com said.

“There is significant uncertainty as to what would occur because we’ve never been there,” said Rachel Snyderman, senior associate director of business and economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Washington, D.C., think tank that estimated how much money in veterans benefits is due to be paid in June.

At issue is what’s known as the debt ceiling or debt limit, which is the amount of money the Treasury can borrow in order to pay the nation’s bills. The exact timing of the “X date,” or the day the Treasury runs out of cash, is a moving target since it depends on how much tax revenue comes in, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned it could happen as soon as June 1. If you care to, look up this idiots bio and see how many Econ courses she has ever taken. She just learned how to spell Treasury when she got the job.

Pentagon officials have sounded the alarm about how a default could affect paychecks for service members.

House Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling. The White House has maintained Congress should raise the ceiling immediately to avoid even the specter of a default and that any talks about spending cuts should be handled separately, though President Joe Biden has signaled an openness to clawing back unspent COVID-19 funds as Republicans have demanded. LOL, Biden wants to raise the ceiling THEN talk about cuts, that is so funny, it’s crazy. Does anyone really believe he means that. One of those famous, “The check is in the mail ” statements.. And they are still paying COVID payments? 

With the deadline fast approaching, Biden and congressional leaders met at the White House last week, and staff-level talks have continued since then. A second meeting between Biden and congressional leaders had been scheduled for Friday but was canceled. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are next scheduled to meet Tuesday, Biden said Monday.

McCarthy sounded a pessimistic note Monday, telling reporters he thinks the two sides are still “far apart” and that it “seems like [administration officials] want to default more than they want a deal.” Certainly, so they can blame it all on the GOP

While the Biden administration and House Republicans have been trading accusations about whether the GOP proposal to slash overall government spending would mean cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less talked about has been how veterans could be affected by a default.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of payments that could be missed, including veterans benefits, is based on analysis of past Treasury reports on its daily transactions, Snyderman said. The estimate for veterans benefits covers any benefit administered by the VA, she said.

In addition to the June 1 payment, another round of veterans benefits is expected to be paid June 30.

“With each additional day that impasse continues, there could be an exponential impact on what that payment delay could look like,” Snyderman said.

Experts see two possible scenarios for how the Treasury could try to pay U.S. bills after hitting the debt ceiling. In one scenario, the Treasury could choose to prioritize making certain payments before others as cash comes in. In that case, how long veterans benefits and military pay is delayed would depend on where they fall in line for priorities. Yellen has downplayed the possibility of prioritizing payments, doubting that it is technically feasible.

In another scenario, the Treasury could wait until it has enough cash in hand to make a full day’s worth of payments in the order in which they came due. Then, if a default happened June 1, veterans benefits due that day might see only a short delay, but delays for later veterans benefits and other payments would grow the longer the impasse lasts.

“We’ve never defaulted, and we’ve never breached the debt limit, and because it’s so unfathomable, there’s no public playbook for what to do in a situation when this happens,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“Some prioritization is probably possible, but it would be difficult for them to justify continuing to pay full veterans benefits and not paying other things,” he added. “It’s possible they would do that. Veterans are very popular. But I think we should assume that at least payments would be delayed.”

A lengthy default could equate to up to 30% in cuts for non-interest government spending, Goldwein said.

In addition to potentially hitting veterans benefits, about $12 billion in military and civilian retirement pay that is expected June 1 and about $4 billion in military salaries that is scheduled for June 15 could be disrupted by a default, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin alluded to the potential effect on military pay in congressional testimony last week.

“What it would mean realistically for us is that we won’t, in some cases, be able to pay our troops with any degree of predictability,” Austin said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. No kidding Jose, someone woke this fool up, go back to sleep you POS.

Administration officials issued similar warnings the last time the U.S. was close to a default in 2021. That year, Congress approved a debt limit increase with days to spare after Senate Republicans agreed not to block legislation. While Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress at the time, they didn’t have the 60 votes typically needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

The negotiating dynamics are different this time because Republicans now control the House. The last debt ceiling crisis when Republicans held the House and Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate in 2011 ended with an agreement to lift the debt ceiling in exchange for steep spending cuts.

— Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Okay, here is my take.  First of all I find it interesting  the only folks they are talking about being hurt are the military and the VA recipients, what about all the others who will be impacted by this, hopefully including all the illegals, welfare, elected officials, and government workers in general. No, they want to hit home to the compassionate types. Oh dear me, our soldiers and our vets. Hogwash! We’ll handle it.

My take. I want the USA to default, I really do. I know that sounds crazy, but I personally and professionally as an Economist, hope McCarthy stands his ground and doesn’t give Biden one inch. Then we’ll see how all those department heads who got their job, not because of their intelligence or background, but because of their sexual orientation, skin color, or whatever figure out how to handle the issues brought about by a default.

I’m living on a military retirement and am a VA recipient so this will hurt Nancy and I very much. But, we CANNOT keep raising the debt limit and keep spending and spending, Can you imagine what thirty trillion dollars looks like folks. No you can’t, and neither can any of us.

I have written all three of my national elected officials and told them to stand their ground, make everyone hurt so they understand what is at stake here. I encourage you to do the same, then tighten your belt. Nuff said. Semper Fi,

Originally posted 2023-05-16 17:08:53.