It is shocking to view the on-going torrent of catastrophic and often self-inflicted, unfortunate events.
This chronicle continues a review of the latest 4-5 weeks of US News and the major incidents occurring around the World.
Given the waves of troubling events, let me again begin with a happier view of good things happening in my personal world…
Every weekend I go sailing. The last month has seen a slight resurgence in the number of vessels active on the San Francisco Bay. There still are not the large numbers of sailboats as in (pre-Covid) prior years, but the sailing season (March to August winds) has brought out a few small-boat regatta’s that are occasionally dotted about the Bay on weekends.
Often, we take friends aboard who seem to find great relief in the temporary diversion, enjoying the cooler breezes and occasional sunny days. Now when we re-enter the Alameda estuary there are (12’-16’ in length) boat races sometimes in play, vessels scurrying in front of the marinas, capturing thelight breezes, heralded by the boom of starting guns.
The SLOT, the area spreading from under the Golden Gate Bridge and down around Alcatraz, continues to present stronger winds. Few people cross in larger sailboats without reefing their sails heavily and heeling hard when running windward. The air is invariably quite chilled passing East of Alcatraz and up intothe Eastern lee of Angel Island.
A protected Ayala Bay (on Angel Island) lies just Southeast of Tiberon, one mile across the fiercely rushing Raccoon Straits. This Bay has begun to fill its re-opened State Park slips on weekends; first come, first served. Large draft vessels will find no usable dock if arriving after 9.00 am.
The lee of the Island is spectacular, even on windier days. A few boats now again drop anchor there and enjoy protected sunny weather on warmer days.
Sailing has begun to come alive again. Gone are the recent days and even entire weekends when I would often find myself completely alone in the vast openness of the San Francisco Bay.
And this year large container ships are anchoring below the Bay Bridge. Often six or more swing slowly about on their giantanchors as the tides turn. Last year the population here was of entirely empty tankers waiting to head up to the Richmond refineries. Now these different, new behemoths patiently wait their turn for space on the Alameda loading docks where gigantic stork-like cranes pick carefully from their mountains of containers.
The fishing has been good, too. I have recently had a few moretrips drift fishing up on the Lower Sacramento River. Lately I have been using indicator-less, tight-line European nymphing techniques there in the deep swirling water holes formed miles below the Shasta Dam. This new experimental approach to catchlarger Rainbow Trout in these waters is proving extremely productive; likely to be soon adopted by many when word gets out.
After these trips I usually run a further hour North and fish the McCloud River for a couple more days. It is a spectacular and solitary location. The deep canyons are bathed in sunlight with nothing but the sounds of rushing water and active songbirds.
The river there offers challenging shores, wading and precarious rock-climbing experiences; well worth the trip once you figure how to get into the isolated and feisty Rainbow Trout population it harbors.
Just recently, I have had a couple of peculiar run-ins with birds.Let me elaborate:
While ashore in Alameda I watched a Mom-and-Pop Canadagoose pair waddle their line of five goslings across the street and down the open sidewalk, AWAY from the artificial ponds from where they had emerged. There was obviously no water in that direction, just traffic, neighborhood lawns and roadway. An odd choice, but now equally strange as a similar event near my home…
A few days later in the warm, late afternoon I came across a solitary female Mallard steering her clutch of four stumbling baby ducklings along the bumpy, grass-covered and lightly trafficked roadside at the end of my street. Again, they were headed AWAY from the ocean, some hundred feet behind. And again, obviously no water where they were headed. Why such odd choices?
Tomorrow I will head up North to host a sailing outing for a few friends. This will be followed by another drift fishing trip up to Redding and a few more days in those canyons on the McCloud River.
I am constantly being asked by folks about where they might escape the trials and tribulations seen around CA, the US and about the World. People I meet enquire this of me with little and often no solicitation because they do not like what they are seeing. They want to go somewhere, anywhere that offers a safer and preferable outlook; I have not yet identified this Shangri-La. But still I search.
Perhaps those Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks are just searching for this new territory, too? 😉
These are truly turbulent times. For my own part I grab some simple therapeutic relief by writing this BLOG. It is one way to calm my own disbelief and staunch the concerns I have watching what sometimes seems like an impending train wreck. And so, my hand has not yet been forced for me to move home. 😊
So much for my diversionary leisure pursuits. Now back to the business of this Chronicle…
Well, we have passed the 100 days mark and are almost 4 months into the era of the New Biden Administration. So, let usget on and see what has been happening over the last 4-5 weeks…
Looks like leading Dems feel that the controversial Infrastructure Bill will not pass before the Sept 30th deadline and so are pushing content out and into the next Fiscal Budget cycle. This is a major setback for Administration goals. Latest idea is to wrap Infrastructure Ideals with Budget and force its passing through the Senate via Reconciliation that requires only a simple 50 vote majority.
The AMOUNT sought for the bill had also been dropping in recent weeks.
Only time will tell where and how the final versions of these plans will land.
The remaining National Guard troops (2,200) surrounding the Capitol Building following Jan 6th events should be mostly headed home by the end of May.
The original troops (26,000 total) were drawn from almost every State and DC. The often-poor conditions in which they were kept (cold, open-sided garages for sleeping with unappetizingfood provided) drew many questions but few apologies or correction.
It is expected that the unfortunate circumstances in which they served and why, will be mostly written up as at best asunnecessarily extended at a total cost of >$500 million.
The quickly erected encircling barriers remain in place on The Hill and the area will not immediately reopen because of issues regarding Capitol Police manpower shortages.
According to research done by Fortune Magazine, despite contribution promises of some combined $50 billion (during the George Floyd riots) being made by major Corporations to Racial Equity funds, only a few percent of these monies have materialized.
Many approaches and promises were made to BLM and other far left organizations to placate hostilities. So far Apple has paid a 1/4 of the $100 million they pledged and that is mostly it, as folks like Target, Facebook and a myriad of others have ponied up little or essentially nothing yet and no longer look like doing so.
If it has taken this long to offer up a fraction of what was promised it seems unlikely the balance will be quickly forthcoming.
A TIPP Insights Poll late April revealed that 53% of Americans do not trust the surveyed traditional media outlets (Washington Post, NY Times, NPR etc.). 25% acknowledged having “no trust at all” with 28% citing “little trust.”
A senior CBS 60 Minutes reporter says that although Trump tore into their credibility “we had a problem starting LONG before (he came on the scene).”
Paul Sperry (author and NY Post author) cited a litany of historical cover ups and underreporting explaining the distrust, including the current unreported actual Black-on-Asian hate crimes being misrepresented as White-on-Asian, when Asians are in fact hiring (reportedly White Supremacist) Proud Boys for protection from such incidents.
It seems that Yellen and The US Treasury Dept is wanting to collaborate on a minimum 15% Global Corp tax rate with other G7 Nations. Although this group has no official proxy to pull this off, other (G7) members are ecstatic the US shows interest, even though it is below the 21% tax goals they originally sought.
The goal is to stop Corporations shopping for lowest bids and moving HQs to different countries for Tax/ Profit purposes.
This (Yellen) ambition is separate from the 28% the US wants to hang about the corporate neck which is tied to Infrastructure Expansion goals and Bills currently in Congress. It is unclear to me how support for a Global 15% Tax by the US Treasury will demotivate American Corporations running overseas away from Bidens proposed 28% Infrastructure Tax levels.
Also, the decades-old, repeatedly proven fact that as Biz Taxes go up, employment is affected downward seems not to be in play in this thinking, anywhere. It is just how Corporate finances work.
These arrangements and goals are either intentionally stupid or maliciously conflicted… you tell me. ☹
The DHS has been into budget planning problems on-and-off for the last year; first failing (under the threat of 70% pending furloughs), then making budget goals and now with current struggles dictating they redefine their operations to satisfy current Administration desires. This Agency grants Citizenship, Green Cards, and Temporary Visas and wants to improve service with no plan to pay for changes.
The DHS sent its 14-page plan for enhancing procedures to the WH on April 21st. Homeland Security says this can all be done without the approval of Congress where consensus on immigration has been historically elusive.
The USCIS plans to give potential US Citizens the benefit of the doubt if (say) they mistakenly register and vote in elections. Currently this action can lead to deportation or criminal charges, normally ending a person’s chance for Citizenship.
This is quite a signal to send to the 20 million (or is it closer to 40 million?) Undocumented Citizens (previously known as Illegals) and their fraudulent voting potential. Given that Democrats are generally believed to have acted in bad faith during the 2020 election process, this will raise a lot of eyebrows.
After a claim of scheduling conflicts President Biden broke 20 years of tradition and will not make the Notre Dame Commencement speech. However, a petition did circulate on campus garnering 4,300 signatures that complained of his Administration’s anti-religious stances, support of unconventional marriages, abortion etc.
His non-appearance will also leave him w/o the honorary degree planned for presentation to him; given his known prior personal history of exaggerated, fraudulent claims of academic accomplishment and achievements it is unlikely he will miss adding a real one to his personal accounting.
At least the WH will avoid the clean-up from more gaffe-ridden, troubling exposure.
Mid-May polling by the Trafalgar Group shows confidence in Dr. Fauci has almost inevitably collapsed during his over-exposure through the Pandemic… more so among Conservatives, but across the board.
This no surprise with his repeated contradictions and his wearing (and recommendation, along with VP Harris) of Double-Masks in his own well-protected post-vaccination situation.
He has long-since burned the initial goodwill he garnered in 2020.
As I previously warned the Water Rationing Notices have now arrived in Santa Cruz (CA) signaling the onset of the pending drought precipitated by the failed water-capture season. Notifications were here by Mid May. They tell you how much you are allocated and when.
I see the people on the neighborhood bulletin-board are wondering if rationing will happen. Expect they will get their notices shortly, eventually followed by instructions to not wash that car, water this and so on.
It seems that Anti-White sentiment and Racial Education arebeing pushed everywhere.
Little league in Virginia is requiring coaches to undergo Critical Race Theory (CRT) training. There are woke politics even in children’s sports. Parents are upset about this anti-white prejudice…. surprise!
Tennessee has banned the teaching of CRT in schools, with Gov. Bill Lee citing “we need to make sure that our kids recognize this country is moving towards a more perfect union… how people can live together… and to not teach things that inherently divide or pit either Americans against Americans or people groups against people groups.”
Also, in late May the Texas Senate passed a bill ensuring thatTeachers are not required to teach Critical Race Theory (CRT) in their schools. Specifically, “…teachers may not be “compelled to discuss a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.”
There are certainly a LOT of parents around the Country who want to see some type of legislation in place to constrain the teaching of CRT. It has also been appearing, being taught and mandated around the US in Companies, Universities, the Military and numerous State / Federal Government Institutions.
Greg Abbott is getting tougher. After last year’s rioting, looting and implied-peaceful protests, the Texas Gov is stepping up domestic security in the Lone Star State. He is poised to sign a Bill making it a felony to obstruct responding emergency vehicles… it is sad this became necessary.
Arguments continue that some real investigation into the Wuhan lab as the Covid source needs to happen. US Government Intel Committee investigations find substantial circumstantial evidence exists that a Wuhan Lab leak is culprit. This includes concern over Obama-era and continued funding of that (previously reported) poorly run lab and its published work on gainer chimera on the same viruses, etc.
Similarly, there is apparently little circumstantial evidence for the PRC explanation that somehow this virus got loose from an unknown animal and jumped species to humans… at one time this reemerging idea was considered completely debunked.
It seems that as of late May the impish Dr. Fauci is in trouble for being caught lying to Sen Paul’s Intel Committee two months earlier, stating that US Government funding was NOT supplied to the Wuhan lab when indeed it was and still is.
Perhaps the tragic embarrassment and pain of almost 600,000 US deaths (and many millions more ongoing Worldwide) will NOT be buried along with the truth?
And let us hope that the recent MSM amnesia regarding the well-publicized information exhaustively previously reported about the nature of the Coronavirus outbreak by March 2020,comes to an end.
Shame on any Government that permits a travesty of ignorance to occur. Shame on MSM, too.
It is appearing that an Oregon-Like Secession might become a US trend in the 21st Century as five (5) Counties have again confirmed their November vote and desire to leave Oregon State and join a Greater Idaho State. Apparently, Rural Oregonians feel that Idaho better represents and can more optimally addresstheir goals and needs.
Like most Blue (Dem) States, policies and politics are dictated by big-city (here, Portland) desires. These five Counties prefer a future and outlook as Red (Rep) State Idahoans, especially following the year of (peaceful) protests, destruction and rioting that was essentially facilitated by political leaders in their Capitol.
The same feeling of disaffection is prevalent in most all rural Northern CA, too. I personally regularly visit, witness and discuss this blatant, spoken desire for dissociation.
I wonder if the Oregonian secession will succeed. There are seemingly many rural Blue Areas across the country that may want to follow suit and secede in some form… time will tell.
Then there is the issue of personal vaccinations. I took mine, 2 off; unavoidable for International travel.
But I am not talking about myself, rather people’s right to choose, regardless of if it is inconvenient to me, or what are their myriad reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated.
Food for thought…
50% OF CDC EMPLOYEES HAVE REFUSED TO TAKE THE COVID VACCINE… Wow, that is a HIGH percentage of people who are tied to medical doctrines. Why?
However, I DO I think Biden needs to stop threatening citizens and put his OWN house in order before telling the remaining >150 million US citizens they need to be vaccinated, or else.
Pfizer and Moderna et al are already whispering about roughly 9-month (to 12-month) vaccination boosts following a 2nd shot until Covid rates decline. Decline to what? Who knows?
Pharmaceuticals are big biz… for foreseeable future, too.
I suppose there must be more discussion regarding the persistent argument and predilection to on-going MASKING…
By Mid-May, there were big CDC moves on freedoms for the FULLY vaccinated:
No mask.
Can be in ANY Group Size
Indoor and Outdoor
No Distancing required
No Activity-type restrictions
Constraints are to persist for distancing and masking for the Partially or UNvaccinated.
I only hope the currently restrictive regions are paying attention. 😊
However, it is now assumed Dr. Fauci pushed masks for the Vaccinated as show:
Days after the CDC modified their Edict, he admitted in a Televised interview that experts had known for many weeks that vaccinated people had no need for masking indoors (let alone outdoors).
SEN Rand Paul had heatedly (2 months earlier) accused Fauci of shear theater on this point when he had appeared masked before his Senatorial Intel Committee.
The accusation was leveled that this was done to allow the Biden Administration to keep focus on Covid and away from Jobs Report, The Southern border, Gas Prices, The Middle East Conflict and other unattended crises.
It is now apparent Paul’s much maligned accusation was well-informed… Sen Paul is himself a physician.
As I write Pelosi still controversially enforces mask wearing in Congress. Biden has (until very recently) worn a mask continuously, everywhere, including laughably on globally and domestically seen video broadcasts.
Members of Congress are LONG since vaccinated. Indeed, as mentioned earlier both Fauci and Kamala Harris were pushing DOUBLE masking well after they were vaccinated. Willful, known Deflection, Control and Redirection do appear to be the goals, here… Sad.
And with all this, Contrary to the new CDC guidance, effective May 18th Oregon requires anyone entering a business to wear a mask unless they have a Yet-To-Exist PASSPORT that proves they are vaccinated.
Until these exist Business Owners are required to prove / determine mask-less people are vaccinated… is there a penalty for failing to do so? Who knows? Given the likelihood of fraud and forgery (of vaccination credentials) it looks like Oregon is still masked-up Indoors until something emerges or changes to facilitate a different approach.
During May at NY Mets and Yankees Baseball games vaccinated and UNvaccinated fans had to sit separately. Is this the beginning of separate rules for the UNvaccinated?
Along a similar theme…
Apparently, the major Teachers Unions were lobbying at the CDC to keep schools closed (citing lack of mitigation and risk) right up until the new CDC Guidelines voided the mask mandate, which allow the fully vaccinated to go anywhere for any reason in any size group and not require a mask indoors or out.
It seems the Union’s story and delay were not appreciated in Polling by folks wanting to return to work and have their children receive in-person teaching.
The Teachers Unions’ additional argument that classroom interactions are not that essential anyway are likely to come back and haunt them too, given social, health and welfare findings that have exploded during the pandemic.
Big teachers Unions have acted unilaterally for their membership without consultation and voting by members. That itself makes them lobbyist-style political activist enterprises (NOT legal Unions, by definition) and every teacher I have heard from or about has long WANTED a return to the classroom.
The CDC has realistically sat on the knowledge that vaccination provides the freedoms noted above since the turn of the year, logically a little later into the vaccine trials yet still likely before full approvals finally showed up… looks like a major con-job persisted for at least >4 months by any reasonable accounting.
Down on the out-of-control Southern border Texas Gov Greg Abbott revealed that Fentanyl illegally pouring into the USthrough the Border is up 800% April 2021 over April 2020.Fentanyl killed over 37,000 Americans in 2019 and drug cartels are now running amok utilizing the open borders… sigh.
Virtually all Fentanyl manufactured in the world is made in China.
China is buying up land on the Southern Texas border… hmmm.
And then there is VP Kamala Harris:
She is Polling badly in the US with 41% finding her a Favorable Presidential Candidate and 48% Unfavorable… One in 5 Dems do not like her, Independents predominantly Dislike her and of course 84% of Republicans have an unfavorable view.
Her Staffers are oddly ALL new (months in service) and past workers say she is lazy, being only open and interested in issues and opportunities relating to Fashion and Decorating.
Her tie to a probable black eye working the Southern Border (now officially acknowledged as a) Crisis will not help her future. She has blatantly avoided all contact with the Physical Border and her overtures to known-corrupt and incorrigible South American Counties and their Presidents will almost inevitably end in nothingness.
Her well-known (between the sheets) approach to her career will not fade away and yet still her PR handlers are mystified that she Polls poorly… go figure. :-/
It seems Kamala keeps a Blacklist of people who do not support her. The only reporters who do not make the list are ones who give glowing reports…. it is not enough to be neutral… they cannot use phrases or adjectives that portray anything other than strength and competence… tough if you are objectively reporting her accomplishments… a la border crisis, etc.
If your Name is in The Book, you do not “adequately relate to Kamala’s experiences and thinking.” Once on the list your questions are ignored and treated as trivial nuisance… aides and advisors shut you out.
Difficult if you are a reporter.
This operates largely the same way as Hillary was found to be running her progenitor version in 2014.
Aging liberal Supreme court Justice Breyer is still refusing to retire and enable Biden to appoint a younger replacement to SCOTUS… thus avoiding a problem such as recently caused to the Liberal interest by deceased Justice Ginsberg.
He is however planning to release a book which had some interesting previews that quoted him saying Justices do in fact overwhelmingly follow non-political approaches in their rulings. However, the perception needs to be improved by exposing greater insight as right now people tend to only believe rulings to be non-political when they deem outcomes to be favorable (in their view).
He also hints that the threatened Dem Court Packing would only further damage Public Opinion regarding the objectivity of the Supreme Court.
An interesting perspective and insight from this Clinton-era appointee.
A Space Force Commander was removed for decrying Marxism in the Military.
Ex-fighter pilot (Lt. Col Matthew Lohmeier) and Unit Commander of a group identifying ballistic missile launches was “fired.”
He had written a book damning the Marxism intent to undermine the US military and then participated in a podcast that discussed this, decried indoctrination through Critical Race Theory (CRT) woke philosophies and expressed anti-Marxist sentiments.
Seems he awoke the Woke Element of the military and was fired by mid-May.
Twenty (20) US Governors objected to having illegals from the Southern Boarder Crisis dumped on them without consultation or their permission, so they wrote to Biden saying his border plan and actions are bad and unsustainable. They should not have bothered. As witnessed…
Days later it was reported illegals were being flown overnight into Tennessee.
So, it is happening again.
During the Obama era many 10’s of thousands (124k if I recall correctly) underage illegals were distributed w/o possible traceability all about the US into homes and guardian families.
Multiple similar flights of underage illegals have been made after mid-May into Chattanooga, specifically without Tennessean’s awareness, notification, or permission.
The group of Governors had already petitioned the Administration to prevent this BEFORE the flights occurred.Someone is not listening and/or does not care.
States’ rights and desires are subordinated and / or being ignored altogether.
Back on the Pandemic front, Texas reported ZERO monthly deaths 2 months after Gov. Abbott fully opened the State while Biden had called the action NEANDERTHAL.
Despite the eventual May CDC call to drop the mask mandate some Dem states (HI, CA, OR and WA etc.) plan on keeping the mandate in place till June and perhaps beyond.
I can assure you that masks ON or OFF is in total chaos for both outside and inside activities thru’ May in CA. As a result, everyone is opting for their own solution to satisfy either their local politicians, owners, staff, or customers, accordingly.
There are videos circulating that record January 6th Capitol building events. These are posted and then typically quickly removed. You may have seen these or perhaps some photos of oddly dressed people seemingly being politely shown about the place by apparently obliging and unstressed guards.
The videos show an orderly entry and escort of protesters about the Capitol building. There were (documented records of) announcements (via bullhorns) that entrants would be meeting with Capitol Leaders to discuss the 2020 voting process.
It appears that upon entry the protesters were unaware they were doing anything wrong.
Sometime after this an enforcement team shows up and struggles break out.
What does seem certain from reports is that the staffing to manage the march and expected events was deliberately stood down AHEAD of the day and reinforcement was inexplicably delayed on the day. The MANY reports continue of detainees from the event being subject to excessive (23hrs per day) and outlawed solitary confinement and systematic beatings. There have been over 400 related arrests so far.
These are a few of the reports that can be reasonably verified. The real answer to what occurred remains heavily obscured and actively censored.
There are split intentions and desires for a Formal Inquiry, given the inevitable manipulative political process that will follow and the huge number of detailed investigations already well underway.
I suspect it will be 10’s of years before a true accounting of the events can be believed.
The Police have been getting seriously dissed over the last year. The trend continues. Some criticism is constructive and warranted, some not-so-much…
President Biden issued a last-minute reversal notice during the week in which (recently and all) fallen police officers are recognized: On May 15th Police Officers Memorial Day (POMD) flags across the Nation were NOT to be flown at half-mast. A serious slight.
In NY for the Gay Pride Parade police officers are not to be within one block of the activities UNLESS called for 911 alarms. Organizers planned alternative security arrangements.
The gloves may be coming off for Joe Biden’s image:
NYTimes of all people published a mid-May report that Biden is highly abusive around the workplace. Profane language and rude treatment are the norm for all. Employees are on eggshells and having to repeatedly explain and reexplain things upon which he seems to dwell and be unable to decide.
It may all be facets of advancing dementia, but it is clear even his friends are exposing his behavior on the heels of his inaugural promise of professional and courteous treatment or the risk of being summarily fired from his Administration.
Hypocrisy or Dementia? The coverup appears to be OFF on this affair. I wonder what is being set up.
To add to his woes 120 Retired Generals and Admirals questioned his Mental Health and IF he won the election at all. That is a LOT of Horsepower!
And this on the heels of the on-going news seeded by the confirmed discovery of Hunter Biden’s laptop which is providing proof and reports of…
His trip with Hunter to Beijing in 2013 where Hunter raked in millions.
Joe’s (strongly denied, but proven) April 6th, 2015, meeting @ Café Milano in Georgetown with connections from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Then Hunters known and yet unaccounted and very irregular 23 trips out of Andrews AFB where Airforce Presidential and Vice-Presidential aircraft (AF1 & AF2) are housed.
How long will the MSM work the obfuscation of these details?
Which leads us to the curiosity of the unanswered 2020 Voting Fraud Affidavits and the questions that result…
Well, Arizona Maricopa County is in receipt of 75 lawyers, litigation and obstructionism to impede the progress of a forensic audit that was ordered and underway despite the patently illegal and willful destruction of records that has ensued.
And this, while Georgia is now allowing sealed ballots to be opened and reviewed.
Also, the well-known, reported and yet unexplained recording behavior of Dominican Voting Machines in New Hampshire is finally getting attention, too. The on-and-off Trump-hating Governor has recently authorized this overdue investigation.
Wisconsin Assembly speaker Alvin Goss is hiring a small team of ex-police investigators, not to determine how Biden narrowly won the State in 2020 but to determine how $6 million in private investor funds was used to help run the election.
Will the >1000 Affidavits chronicling Voting Violations be addressed? Immediately post-election these were ignored or declared to have no legal standing, one after another across theentire (US) Nation.
Maybe the (only, ever) NO VOTING VIOLATIONS Election will get some review… seems too little, too late. BUT there is the domino effect to consider that might be escalated further by the appearance of new voting laws.
From ONE side the new laws want Government take-over ofElections and on the Other, Voter ID’s and banning of Mail-In ballots (as was done in France since 1975 because of thepropensity for easy fraud) is sought.
Given the Polling saying most voters BELIEVE much fraud occurred in 2020, why wouldn’t there be fair reform WANTED by both sides to secure and settle the matter? 😉
And Bill and Hillary’s Clinton Foundation is still dancing with the legal system.
The Judge ruled in the associated whistleblower case that Feds MUST DISCLOSE if the Foundation was officially investigated… a whistleblower revealed and identified pay-to-play and related fraudulent Foundation operations.
Bad news for Bill and Hillary.
Does ANYBODY believe that the operation WASN’T pay-to-play?
The whole thing was shut down just MONTHS after Hillary’s latest blown 2016 Presidential bid failed to bring the access for which the Foundation was proactively soliciting advancepayments. It seems MANY of those approached were waiting to see the election result BEFORE they ponied up the “fees”…. just in case. It appears they were wise to hold on to their shekels as there was ultimately nothing they could then buy for influence.
Apparently 95% of all Foundation funds taken went in staff /Clinton salaries… a truly spectacularly questionable disbursement of receipts. And then there was that Haitian group still wanting to know where the $4 billion Disaster Fund the Foundation was supposed to distribute into Haiti had gone… they were still demonstrating outside the Clinton HQ asking the SAME question until the very day the Operational HQ wasquickly shuttered up in Harlem.
Next there is Nancy Pelosi who is allegedly deceiving contributors to her campaign:
I wonder if Nancy will be prosecuted or penalized in some form for scamming donors? In Q1CY21 she pulled $4 million in campaign donations after sending out over 50 emails typically promising personal 5x matching on her part.
This means Nancy puts in $50 of personal money for every $10 donated.
Having a personal net worth around $120 million (albeit much made over decades on the back of numerous questionable priorInsider Trading) this could be all above-board. But as her net contribution was confirmed (by her own team) as zilch, she is well into the area of campaign fraud given the litany of supporting email evidence.
And her last such solicitation went out just in the last week of May.
Intriguingly Nancy was ratted out by the hard leftwing AXIOS group… ouch!
Will this this transgression go unpunished and unacknowledged, too?
Then along came Bill Gates, escapades, divorce and all.
Rumors and facts tied to the divorce:
Apparently, Melinda waited years to move forward… till their last child moved off to University.
Certainly, the divorce seems acrimonious with issues so far surrounding…
1. Bill’s Long-term historic ties to Epstein… who was already known back then for what he was up to, apparently. And that contact largely began AFTER Epstein was under 2013 house-arrest; probably not done for financial advice? This looks like someone had dirt on somebody a la Bill Clinton association.
2. A year 2000 affair with an engineering employee at Microsoft which seems to have driven Bill out to focus on his Foundation… the employee insisted on changes to her job status in a penned letter which Melinda was to READ, too.
The Employee received extensive legal support from Microsoft at the time. Interesting.
3. There were multiple other tentative employee approaches to women from Bill both at Microsoft and the Gates Foundation. He is known as a nervous and tentative Lothario.
4. Melinda now appears to want the children to receive MOREthan the long-advertised $10 Million / child inheritance. Not such a shared agreement after all?
5. Bill has long-since had a new girlfriend.
Melinda waited patiently for the opportunity to move on her multi-billion payout. Bill’s supposedly worth $130B (by some reports) as I write.
Years ago (when Bill had $80B) he (and wifey) announced they were giving away $40B thru’ the Foundation. And then eventually ALL the remaining money was to follow, with aninheritance of just $6M (currently now $10M) going to each child. Literally a couple of years later he had $80B, again. That was odd… I wonder WHOSE money was given away, since it did not appear to come from his pocket. And now with $130B in-hand the squabbles and grabs come to the fore.
Plenty of hypocrisy, bad behavior and malice floating around with this pair of wannabe divorcees and World-influencing hard-left-leaners.
With the wealth of serious issues amassed within Biden’s first 100 days, the poor showing of Psaki as Press Secretary and Bidens continuous personal gaffes and physical stumblings, the OPTICS of this new era are not good.
Hard to know what is going on with Psaki… never seems prepared and often must duck questions by “circling back around” or ignoring the obvious specifics asked.
Seems she will have baled-out for personal (young family absences from her children) before 2022. This was announced just 2 months into the new Administration.
Press secretaries in the last few Administrations have been “on their game” and obviously clued into discussions… Psaki does NOT demonstrate adequate insight, inclusion and proactivity. She is either sub-standard by skill set, the design of others or her involvement is in disorder; it is hard to know for certain what are root causes.
As for the first +100 Days of the new Administration, much has been chaotic…
1. Immigration crisis at Southern border
– flagged and aggressively being addressed in Texas and other border States
– 172k (Illegals) inflowed in March and 178k in April with reportedly >>20k children in custody
– Numerous States are declining to take the Illegals.
2. Gas shortages in the Eastern US
– >1,000 gas stations closed with no gas available to sell
– following one pipeline ransom hack at least 3 other major pipelines are recorded as being attacked for closure by Government a la Keystone treatment.
– US has lost “status as world’s largest net exporter.
3. Gas prices exploded many weeks BEFORE pipeline hack and Californians locally see +$4.50 /gallon pricing with <$4.00 becoming uncommon.
4. Inflation… always fudged to appear to be 3.5% is now reported using Clinton era (copied from UK) chicanery to be 4.25%. Probably an optimistic view of where things actually are and are headed.
5. Jobs Report of 266k fell well short of the >1M monthly expectation for April.
– The markets did NOT like that short-fall, neither did investors who reacted predictably driving stocks downwards across the board; there is some recovery here as I write.
6. Middle East has gone from new US agreements to flared warfare in Gaza.
– what should be seen as anti-Semitic sentiment and attitudes are visible at all levels of US Government with personal attacks on Jews occurring in streets across the US (and elsewhere).
– seems to be accepted that the funds the US already has and plans to ship into Iran are a fundamental part of the problem along with the acknowledged and accepted Iranian funding of Hammas (missile) attacks into Israel.
– previously, Obama denied funding Iranian aid- only to be proven dishonest.
7. Coronavirus recommendations vary wildly and daily.
– from Biden Tweeting threats to the uninoculated one day to pandemic flares being declared the next.
– The recent so-called “Neanderthal” Texas opening became a major victory, re: pandemic death-count.
Confusion abounds.
8. Saber–rattling spreads Globally with NATO (inc. US) holding major War Games in Estonia next to Russia and Philippine / NATO naval patrol ramp-ups in South China seasdesigned to threaten China.
Even with convenient under-reporting of embarrassing realities the new Administration seems to be invisibly orchestrating a Horror Show. The Daily News is now to be feared. What can possibly go wrong, next?
Most disturbingly, with all the saber-rattling there is something to remember that has been demonstrated throughout history… People do not dress up to play and threaten war without things frequently deteriorating into actual warfare. Sadly, wars are good for business, too.
The Colonial Pipeline was attacked by Ransomware Group DARKSIDE…
They have since ceased operations after their servers and tools were reportedly “seized by a Government group.”
Apparently shocked that their routine actions of grabbing and encrypting critical data and information from target (victim) Companies and then ransoming them for monies which they then distribute to causes they select (including their own accounts) drew such attention, they announced mid-May that they would close their doors.
Not sure if they will be back. I am surprised that they were shocked at the reaction they got when Colonial was shut-down which in turn precipitated a huge number of Gas Stations to close on the East coast (thru’ resulting gas shortages).
The Company also announced they have made available description tools and products to “set free” other companies they currently had under similar threat. Clearly someone scared the heck out of them.
Nevertheless, Colonial DID pay Darkside the $4.4 Million ransom.
This will NOT do much to help the cause of preventing such future attacks. Au contraire.
Looks like a great entrepreneurial business for hackers.
Got caught and simply closed shop. BUT they kept the money and will likely set up again elsewhere with impunity and simply reengage their business model.
Honestly, their punishment does NOT seem enough. Perhaps they have now in turn been persuaded to “help the enforcers” to get themselves out of trouble? Who knows?
Continuing the Pipeline theme, the Administration is FACILITATING a Pipeline build-out favoring Putin and Germany…
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is being FACILITATED by the Biden Administration.
This line is run by a CEO who is a friend of Putin and it allows shipment of oil by Russia though Germany, skirting the Ukraine.
The blatant consequential control into Germany and Europe is clear, yet oddly the Germans (Merkel) and Germany WANTS the line for good old supposedly commercial reasons. This is really a very odd outcome, given the Biden stance with the US Keystone Pipeline cancelation and a supposed and apparent all-out war on oil (and purportedly, Putin). Surely the Administration must want to obstruct and cancel Nord Stream (?), but they have done the exact opposite.
So, what was the real agenda on Keystone that immediately lost 11,000 US jobs and many, many tens of thousands of infrastructural jobs more though 2022? Was it honestly a Global Warming Issue?
And what is the real agenda facilitating Putin’s increased control that extends within Germany and Europe, too?
If you just observe actions (not words) there are irreconcilable and conflicting actions in play here… this does not appear to be the work of honest men (and women).
I think it was Sen. Ted Cruz who Tweeted about events this way:
American Pipeline, bad
American Jobs, bad
Russian Pipeline, good
Russian Jobs, good
On the domestic JUDICIAL front, a disturbing fact has emerged…
One of the jurors from the Derek Chauvin trial (a Brandon Mitchell) concealed that he is a BLM Activist to give the impression he is impartial. He now encourages others to do the same to “spark some real change.”
Chauvin is a bad actor. But it is sad that Values and Integrityare violated this way. And then there are others who prematurely, ill-advisedly and /or publicly spoke out. Such actions usually do not ultimately turn out well… there are consequences, swings of the pendulum and an Appeals Processto deal with, too.
Along with other Domestic Trauma we are now faced with the question as to whether something as basic as the US census has been rigged.
Early reporting of data to Congress in December 2020 showed bigger gains (regarding changes for representation) for Red States than Blue States. The report went to the current WH and the opposite becomes true.
Republican Lawmakers have called into question the Census results and officially asked if President Joe Biden’s WH rigged the count to steal seats from Republicans in Congress for the upcoming midterm election. Should Biden have done what over a dozen Republican Lawmakers are now investigating it would be the scandal of the Century. Conservative Lawmakers want to know what changed.
As Joe Stalin once said, “I don’t care who votes, I care who COUNTS the votes.”
The US Public already does not trust Voting Integrity and Polls show broad-based support wanting Voter ID controls. But now it seems there are similar issues extending even into the basic process of the Census… has EVERYTHING experiencing the Government touch become questionable? Sigh.
Continuing with a theme of Gross Mismanagement, there is the $31 Billion False Claims issue in California…
Yes, $31 BILLION, not million. But in their defense, they (CA) DO have a large budget to work with. ☹
It seems this amount was lost over the last Fiscal year in false Welfare and Unemployment Claims. Everyone got in on the act, some even posting videos bragging of their exploits on YouTube.
Bad Claimants included:
Gang Members
Drug Dealers
Hackers
Illegal Immigrants (Undocumented Citizens)
Current Prison Inmates
State Employees, and
Non-Californian Residents
Nobody is being punished for this gross mismanagement of funds.
Indeed, the responsible, Stanford-educated Julie Su (CA Labor Secretary) was not fired and was nominated by Biden in February for the Cabinet Role of Deputy Secretary of Labor.
Congratulations, Julie! 😉
And the State-Level embarrassments and illegalities continue, but next in MICHIGAN…
It seems Charlie Macduff’s (No BS Hour TV show) reporting has uncovered that Michigan’s Health Services reporting body has UNDERREPORTED nursing home deaths by as much as 100%.
The imperious Michigan Gov Whitmer has several times been caught (actively lying about) travelling and carousing while inflicting some of the most severe US lock-down restrictions on her citizens.
Apparently, the ACTUAL Nursing Home fatalities numbers did not fit her narrative of the Covid risk-levels being to younger people (and so warranting on-and-off lockdowns), so they were actively misrepresented. This is illegal.
Again, will this self-promotion hound be pursued on this matter? Those losing loved ones have a habit of resenting and pursuing recourse for such machinations, just as the beleaguered (but as-yet still unpenalized) Gov. Cuomo of NY will attest.
Speaking of Andrew Cuomo…
He is still around despite 10 accusers coming forward and 2 of these so far warranting investigations by NY DA Letitia James, an apparently non-supportive, but hard left colleague of Cuomo’s.
His CNN-Host brother Chris has journalistically stepped WELL out of line strongly recommending to old Andy Staffer’s that he (Andrew) aggressively fight the sexual harassment allegations; all this while he (Chris) was inappropriately participating inbrainstorming conference calls.
One of the original accusers (Karen Hinton) penned an NY Daily News OP Ed describing Cuomo’s longstanding pattern of harassment, bullying, manipulation and abuse which she referred to as “Penis Politics” he practiced during his stint as Secretary of HUD when she served as his Press Secretary.
And of course, the Gov. has still not yet been held to account for his illegal and self-serving doctoring of Nursing Home Covid deaths in support of his political career and furtherance of his book deals.
The book deal about his Covid Response Mastery makes him $5 Million… it is tied to advances and subsequent contractual commitment, NOT the actual sales following the scandal (regarding Covid Nursing Home death rates information suppression) breaking.
Looks like the publishers did not know what they were getting into when they signed this one.
NY experienced the greatest number of deaths and death RATE in the US. Not something to be making money from, one would think and hope. ☹
To close this accounting, I should recognize that The OSCARSpopularity has continued to crater…
After a 2020 record low of 23M viewers the April 2021 show dropped to 9.8 M!
They say there were lots of movies missing, but the backlash on activism and virtue signaling has been so profound from inside Hollywood, across multiple sports and socially, I would not rule that out as a major cause.
So, people were indoors, somewhat unoccupied and NOT watching the Oscars…. ouch.
That is a wrap on my record of the last 4-5 weeks news. My therapy is complete. 😊
I hope that you are not struggling with these traumatic times of both Pandemic and Daily News.
Are you?
Do you have an outlet? Is there relief and a means of escape on-hand?
I hope so. If not, try and find your OWN way to decompress in these difficult times and stay healthy!
Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter@ianrmackintosh.