A report card on the Biden administration

[Sandy Shanks]

Question: Why in the world are Republicans expected to win control of Congress in November? Sheer ignorance? Americans vote against their interests? Party first, their own interests second?

A relatively large number of Democrats are working to ensure that Republicans win control of Congress in November.

NPR reports, "With friends like these ...

"President Biden is facing his lowest approval rating since taking office, and it's largely due to Democrats, the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.

"Biden's approval rating in the poll is now at 36%. That's a 4 percentage-point drop from June, and inside the numbers, it's attributable to a 9-point decline within his own party.

"While 75% of Democrats approve of the job Biden is doing, that's considered low for a president's own party."

Sure is. It also means 25% of the party are petulant, immature, naive Democrats who are working to turn control of Congress over to Republicans.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The Republican leaning Supreme Court is interfering with the Biden administration's efforts to govern.

The Post reports, "The Supreme Court on Thursday refused the Biden administration’s request to reinstate a policy limiting immigration arrests, after a Texas district judge said the guidance to immigration officers violated federal laws.

"The court instead said it will hear the merits of the case in December. Four justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson — said they would have granted the administration’s request to put a lower court ruling on hold. It was Jackson’s first vote since joining the court.

"Republican attorneys general across the country filed suits, and those in Texas and Louisiana were successful. Judge Drew Tipton in Texas agreed with the argument that the policy burdened them with the costs of immigrants’ education, health care, and other services, and ignored federal laws that require ICE to detain and deport immigrants who commit serious crimes or have been given a recent deportation order.

"Tipton, appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump, sided with the states and vacated the ICE priorities, leaving the agency without any operational guidelines."

The Republican Supreme Court sided with the Republican judge appointed by Trump.

Is anyone surprised?

Somehow I have it in my head that justices were supposed to be impartial and above politics. That axiom went the way of the Trump Presidency. Trump is gone but his questionable legacy remains.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

That becomes an interesting question when one realizes that our capitol was under attack, the lives of the members of Congress were being threatened, and the Commander-in-Chief did nothing for over three hours.

CNBC reports, "The Jan. 6 select committee’s eighth public hearing Thursday will go inside the White House to detail then-President Donald Trump’s hourslong refusal to call for an end to the Capitol riot.

"The hearing marks the final scheduled presentation of the committee’s initial findings from its investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, when throngs of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and temporarily stopped Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s victory.

"The nine-member committee, which is comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has accused Trump of being at the center of a multi-pronged conspiracy to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 contest.

"The panel is expected to present audio and video evidence, as well as live testimony from two former White House officials, to drill down on Trump’s inaction during a crucial 187-minute gap between the end of his pre-riot rally near the White House and his eventual Twitter call for the mob to go home.

Trump was watching television in a White House dining room while rioters were raging at the Capitol, multiple witnesses told the select committee.

“To the best of my recollection, he was always in the dining room,” former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told investigators.

"Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg said he recalled, “everyone was watching the TV.”

"Trump’s former executive assistant Molly Michael told the committee that when she talked to Trump on Jan. 6, “It’s my understanding he was watching television.”

"Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, a highly sought-after witness who spoke with the investigation under subpoena in recent weeks, confirmed that the violence occurring at the Capitol was visible on the television screen when he was in the dining room with Trump."

The testimony speaks for itself, and no one, including Trump, disputes what he was doing -- better yet, what he was not doing -- while the attack on the capitol was going on.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

ABC reports, "For all the focus on what former President Donald Trump didn't do on Jan. 6, something he did -- a tweet calling then-Vice President Mike Pence a "coward," while Pence and his Secret Service detail had reason to fear for their lives -- might have brought the biggest political consequences inside the Republican Party.

"As Thursday night's prime-time hearing made clear, that move prompted anger and disgust from Trump aides -- "fuel on the fire," in the analogy employed by two who resigned in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6.

"It also cemented a split between Trump and Pence that has implications for 2022 and 2024. It matters not just for who might be the next GOP presidential nominee -- it could easily be neither of them, though both could still run -- but because it resonates among Republicans who can't tolerate how Trump acted on and around Jan. 6.

"The hearing surfaced chilling radio traffic revealed by a national security official, with agents protecting Pence making "calls to say goodbye to family members." It also established that it was Pence ordering military assets to secure the Capitol, while Trump vented anger and expressed approval for "hang Mike Pence" chants."

It amazes me how any sane person could support Trump. We will never know how. They don't talk much other than trying desperately to change the subject. Most are from America's rural counties, and they are educationally disadvantaged. A good guess is, they don't know why they support Trump. We know they are ignorant of the Jan. 6 committee's proceedings as shown by this thread.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

ABC reports, "The House Jan. 6 select committee used its second prime-time hearing Thursday to make the case that President Donald Trump not only did nothing to stop the assault on the U.S. Capitol but did so because he wanted it to succeed.

"The panel detailed the 187 minutes that passed between Trump's speech at the Ellipse and his taped statement telling his supporters still storming the Capitol to leave.

"Former White House officials described Trump, after his Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse, spending three hours in the private dining room off the Oval Office simply watching the attack on the Capitol on television while making calls to supportive senators.

"He finally taped a statement issued at 4:17 p.m., calling on his supporters to end the attack, but also telling them, "We love you. You're very special."

At 2:24 Trump poured fuel on the fire consuming our capitol. He tweeted that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done."

Former White House official Sarah Matthews said she thought the tweet "was the last thing that was needed in that moment" from Trump.

"He should have been telling these people to go home, and to leave, and to condemn the violence that we were seeing," she said. "For him to tweet out the message about Mike Pence, it was him pouring gasoline on the fire, and making it much worse."

Then she resigned from the White House.

Clearly, Trump is a narcissistic extremist jerk who is unable to accept reality. Instead, he lives in a fantasy world where he is the boss.

How did this man ever become our President?

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The [Republican] Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Senate Intel report confirms Russia aimed to help Trump in 2016

The report represents a confidence-booster to the country’s intelligence community.

www.politico.com

Putin could not be more proud of his protégé. A Russian agent provocateur could not have done a better job, and millions of Americans support the former President.

America fights back.

CNN reports, "The prime-time finale of the compelling and highly produced television saga otherwise known as the House January 6 hearings on Thursday presented a horror show of presidential dereliction of duty and a cliffhanger promise to return with even more damaging evidence against Donald Trump in September."

The committee "embroidered a broader narrative of an out-of-control President who put his own fantastical belief he won an election above more than two centuries of democratic tradition and the national interest. And, most chillingly, it is advancing a case – in the words of a key witness, retired conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig – that Trump remains “a clear and present danger” to US democracy."

CNN continued, "At the start of these hearings, it seemed a stretch that the committee could build a case with criminal implications for the ex-President. That could be changing. Some seasoned lawyers believe that the committee has indeed established evidence of intent by Trump to precipitate the horrendous events leading up to and on January 6 – an important component to any court case.

"But then there is the question of whether a potential prosecution of Trump, as a former President, would be in the national interest – since it could potentially rip even deeper partisan divides in an already internally estranged nation. Establishing a precedent that a former President could be liable to criminal action could be dangerous since it could be misused by future commanders-in-chief to go after their predecessors. These issues could become even more explosive since Trump may soon launch a presidential campaign that would make it easier for him to claim the investigation against him is politically motivated."

Putin is loving this.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The [Republican] Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Putin could not be more proud of his protégé. A Russian agent provocateur could not have done a better job, and millions of Americans support the former President.

WOW! DOUBLE WOW!

Murdoch’s New York Post dumps Trump, calling him ‘unworthy to be chief executive again’​

CNN reports, "One of Donald Trump’s favorite newspapers — controlled by his media ally Rupert Murdoch — says Trump is “unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”

"Those words, in this weekend’s New York Post, may be the tabloid’s strongest critique of Trump yet.

"It was published online on Friday evening, around the same time another Murdoch publication, the Wall Street Journal, also published an editorial harshly critiquing the former president.

"The Journal called him “The President Who Stood Still on Jan. 6” and praised Vice President Mike Pence. “Character is revealed in a crisis, and Mr. Pence passed his Jan. 6 trial. Mr. Trump utterly failed his,” the Journal editorial stated.

"Both newspapers have been noticeably more critical of Trump than Murdoch’s biggest megaphone of all, the Fox News Channel, though close viewers have also picked up on some signs that Fox might be souring on Trump."

It's about time. Fox has been backing a loser, and, for a news network, that makes no sense at all.

It is expected that Trump's followers will remain silent on the issue.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

ABC reports, "Conflicting signs about the health of the U.S. economy have thrust the Federal Reserve into a difficult spot.

"With inflation raging at a four-decade high, the job market strong and consumer spending still solid, the Fed is under pressure to raise interest rates aggressively.

"The Fed is focused squarely on its inflation fight, and this week it’s set to announce another hefty hike in its benchmark interest rate. Together with its previous rate increases, the Fed's moves will make borrowing costlier for individuals and companies and likely weaken the economy over time."

“Until there’s very clear evidence of the labor market beginning to meaningfully deteriorate, the No. 1 focus for the Fed must be inflation,” said Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.

Oh, in case anyone is interested, our President is doing fine.

ABC also reports, "President Joe Biden's COVID-19 symptoms are "almost completely resolved," his physician said on Monday.

"Kevin O'Connor wrote in a letter released by the White House that Biden was only noting "some residual nasal congestion and minimal hoarseness."

"His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature remain absolutely normal. His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent in room air. His lungs remain clear," O'Connor added.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

64% of Americans think we are in a recession.

64% of Americans are wrong!

But they cannot be faulted. Most Americans are doing fine despite inflation, but because of the attention the media is giving to recession -- even providing experts who say we are in a recession or soon will be -- they think Americans as a whole are not doing fine.

That, of course, is not true. However, an impending recession makes for a great news story.

Soon, we may learn that the GDP dipped for the second quarter in a row. Some say that means we are in a recession.

Well, they are wrong, too, so says Economic Professor Shanks.

The American economy is based primarily on three factors, employment, job growth, and, most of all, consumer spending.

We have been at or around 3.6% unemployment for most of the Biden administration. That is considered full employment. It is impossible to be heading for a recession with full employment.

ABC reports, "The nation's June jobs report showed that hiring has remained healthy, with employers adding 372,000 jobs last month." It is impossible to be heading for a recession with that kind of job growth, or any job growth, for that matter. Recession causes loss of jobs and growing unemployment.

Most important of all because the American economy is based on consumer spending, consumer spending is solid. See https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCE After a severe dip during Trump's Republican administration, consumer spending has been healthy. It is impossible to be heading for a recession with healthy consumer spending.

Strangely enough, when the networks try to scare you about an impending recession they never mention consumer spending. That is strange because the most important factor in our economy is consumer spending.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Stephen Collinson writes, "It’s not just about the 2020 election anymore. [Someone tell Trump.]

"The unhealed wound in American politics first opened by Donald Trump – a President who mounted a coup attempt after he was rejected by voters – is already tainting the 2022 and 2024 elections.

"A rush of fresh evidence and the House January 6 committee’s expanding ambition to hold the ex-President to account over the Capitol Insurrection mean its probe, and new hearings in September, will crash headlong into midterm election season.

"Trump all but declared a 2024 campaign this weekend, firing up a rally in Arizona with a new torrent of lies about his defeat to President Joe Biden and setting the tone for another democracy-rattling White House bid that he could officially launch at any moment.

"Trump’s determination to run a 2024 campaign of vengeance rooted in his mountain of misinformation means it could be 2026, at least, before Americans experience a campaign that is not shaped by his inability to accept his legitimate loss nearly two years ago.

"It is no coincidence, therefore, that leading members of the January 6 committee are becoming increasingly adamant about the need for Trump to pay a price now for his misdeeds after the 2020 campaign – before it is too late.

"The panel has not yet decided whether to recommend a criminal investigation of the former President, but committee members on Sunday heaped indirect pressure on the Justice Department to mount a formal prosecution of the ex-President, days after exposing his dereliction of duty as his mob ransacked the Capitol in January 2021."

Of course, Trump Republicans will maintain their silence on this issue. They don't care that their man attempted to overthrow the U.S. government. These people chose our President in 2016 with Vladimir Putin's blessing, and they are expected to gain control of Congress in November.

 

[eohrnberger]

Stephen Collinson writes, "It’s not just about the 2020 election anymore. [Someone tell Trump.]

"The unhealed wound in American politics first opened by Donald Trump – a President who mounted a coup attempt

Stopped reading right there. It wasn't a coup attempt, no matter how much politically you want it to be.

Further, Trump didn't 'open the wound' of American politics, more like a coroner arriving at the scene with an already dead body and declaring them deceased. That wound of American politics was already there for some years already.

2 failed premises I'm in the first sentence, the rest dismissed with cause.

after he was rejected by voters – is already tainting the 2022 and 2024 elections.

"A rush of fresh evidence and the House January 6 committee’s expanding ambition to hold the ex-President to account over the Capitol Insurrection mean its probe, and new hearings in September, will crash headlong into midterm election season.

"Trump all but declared a 2024 campaign this weekend, firing up a rally in Arizona with a new torrent of lies about his defeat to President Joe Biden and setting the tone for another democracy-rattling White House bid that he could officially launch at any moment.

"Trump’s determination to run a 2024 campaign of vengeance rooted in his mountain of misinformation means it could be 2026, at least, before Americans experience a campaign that is not shaped by his inability to accept his legitimate loss nearly two years ago.

"It is no coincidence, therefore, that leading members of the January 6 committee are becoming increasingly adamant about the need for Trump to pay a price now for his misdeeds after the 2020 campaign – before it is too late.

"The panel has not yet decided whether to recommend a criminal investigation of the former President, but committee members on Sunday heaped indirect pressure on the Justice Department to mount a formal prosecution of the ex-President, days after exposing his dereliction of duty as his mob ransacked the Capitol in January 2021."

Of course, Trump Republicans will maintain their silence on this issue. They don't care that their man attempted to overthrow the U.S. government. These people chose our President in 2016 with Vladimir Putin's blessing, and they are expected to gain control of Congress in November.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Stopped reading right there.

That says it all right there. Then the poster says there was no coup attempt.

Trump Republicans rely on ignorance and lying.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The Times reports, "Two top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence testified last week to a federal grand jury in Washington investigating the events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the highest-ranking officials of the Trump administration so far known to have cooperated with the Justice Department’s widening inquiry into the events leading up to the assault.

"The appearances before the grand jury of the men — Marc Short, who was Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, and Greg Jacob, who was his counsel — were the latest indication that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the events surrounding and preceding the riot is intensifying after weeks of growing questions about the urgency the department has put on examining former President Donald J. Trump’s potential criminal liability."

So, how about we get an answer from the head of the department? NBC did just that ... or tried to.

NBC reports, "Attorney General Merrick Garland left open the possibility that former President Donald Trump could be prosecuted in connection with inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in an exclusive interview Tuesday with NBC News."

"Look, we pursue justice without fear or favor," the politician told Lester Holt in an interview.

"We intend to hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding Jan. 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable," Garland continued. "That’s what we do."

"So if Donald Trump were to become a candidate for president again, that would not change your schedule or how you move forward or don’t move forward?" Holt asked.

"I’ll say again that we will hold accountable anyone who is criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the transfer — legitimate, lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next," the politician answered.

Garland never said the DOJ was investigating the former President!

Beats me why correspondents interview politicians. You can never get a straight answer from them.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

"This was our biggest fear!"

CNN reports, "The Biden administration is working furiously behind the scenes to keep European allies united against Russia as Moscow further cuts its energy supplies to the European Union, prompting panic on both sides of the Atlantic over potentially severe gas shortages heading into winter, US officials say.

"On Monday, Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom said it would cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany in half, to just 20% of its capacity. A US official said the move was retaliation for western sanctions, and that it put the West in “unchartered territory” when it comes to whether Europe will have enough gas to get through the winter.

“This was our biggest fear,” said the US official. The impact on Europe could boomerang back onto the US, spiking natural gas and electricity prices, the official said. It will also be a major test of European resilience and unity against Russia, as the Kremlin shows no signs of retreating from Ukraine.

"The US and Brussels have been pleading with EU members to save gas and store it for winter, and on Tuesday, energy ministers agreed in principle to cut gas use by 15% from August to March.

"There will also be discussions in the coming days about increasing nuclear power production across Europe to offset gas shortages, officials said."

Russia is working to become a pariah among nations.

CNN also reports, "Russia says it is planning to pull out of the International Space Station and end its decades-long partnership with NASA at the orbiting outpost, according to the newly appointed head of Russia’s space agency.

"Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made.”

For some reason Putin wants Russia to be isolated. Why? One can only guess.

 

[eohrnberger]

That says it all right there. Then the poster says there was no coup attempt.

My suggestion to you is to become familiar with the actual definition of constitutes a coup.
Here, let me help you.

​

coup d'état​

noun​

\ ˌkü-(ˌ)dā-ˈtä , ˈkü-(ˌ)dā-ˌtä, -də- \​

​

variants: or coup d'etat​

plural coups d'état or coups d'etat\ ˌkü-(ˌ)dā-ˈtä , ˈkü-(ˌ)dā-ˌtä , -də- \ also coup d'états or coup d'etats​

Definition of coup d'état​

: a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group, a military coup d'état of the dictator​

Definition of COUP D'ÉTAT

a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Which part or parts of what happened on 1/6 support your claim that it was a coup d'etat? Was there a 'violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group, a military'?

If so, which parts of the US military were participating / supporting this supposed coup d'etat?
What part of what happened on 1/6 supports the claim of 'violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government'? Heck, the Capitol building was vacated mere hours later, so no 'violent overthrow of an existing government'.

That what we all saw on 1/6 wasn't coup, or more properly a coup d'etat, so calling what happened a coup d'etat is little more than pushing fact-less political narrative and gaslighting for political advantage, pushing the typical leftist lying hyperbolic political narrative.

Trump Republicans rely on ignorance and lying.

Given incongruities and inconsistencies between what a political coup d'etat actually is and what actually happened on 1/6, pushing that what happened on 1/6 as a coup d'etat amounts to exactly what you accuse other of.

Demonstrating, yet once again, that 'That which the left accuses other of is exactly what they themselves are guilty of', so often demonstrated to have become a truism.

Or is this, once again, the typical claim from the left of 'Don't believe your lying eyes, it's what we say it is!'?

 

[Sandy Shanks]

My suggestion to you is to become familiar with the actual definition of constitutes a coup.
Here, let me help you.

It was a coup attempt to overthrow the elected government, and it was led by Trump beginning on Nov. 4, 2020. It was violent and people died.

Sorry, I am not going to waste my time arguing with you. If you choose to deny reality, that is your business.

 

[Jay59]

It was a coup attempt to overthrow the elected government, and it was led by Trump beginning on Nov. 4, 2020.

Not according to the District Attorney. The participants have been charged with interfering with an official proceeding, which is dead accurate. There was no coup

It was violent and people died.

There was a lot more violence and many more deaths during the BLM insurrection. Just sayin'.

Sorry, I am not going to waste my time arguing with you. If you choose to deny reality, that is your business.

That says it all. He's not the one denying reality.

 

[eohrnberger]

It was a coup attempt to overthrow the elected government, and it was led by Trump beginning on Nov. 4, 2020. It was violent and people died.

Sorry, I am not going to waste my time arguing with you. If you choose to deny reality, that is your business.

The only reality being denies here is it wasn't a coup, which also why you didn't respond to the point raised, definition and all that factual stuff. Sorry they get in the way of your political narrative pushing.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

This is why Republican lawmakers do not talk about Jan. 6, why they do not participate in the hearings, and why they do not attempt to defend Trump, their party's leader.

CNN reports, "Less than a week after his slow-motion sprint from the US Capitol during the January 6 riot went viral, Josh Hawley isn’t sorry – for any of it."

“I don’t regret anything I did that day,” the Missouri Republican Senator told CNN’s Manu Raju Wednesday. “And, you know, it’s a privilege to be attacked [by] the January 6 committee. And I want to thank – say thank you for all the help with my fundraising. It’s been tremendous.”

Let’s take a quick step back here and revisit what Hawley actually did on January 6.

CNN continued, "In the early afternoon, he was photographed on the east front of the Capitol with a raised fist in solidarity with the protesters, who had not yet swarmed the Capitol. As the January 6 committee has noted, Hawley made his gesture while safely protected by barriers and Capitol Police.

"Later in the day, as rioters stormed the Capitol, the January 6 committee unearthed video of Hawley hightailing it out of the Capitol – literally running from the same mob that he had egged on earlier in the day.

"Hawley dismissed the footage as “100% trolling” and added: “I’ve just come from Missouri and all I can say is that the people in Missouri are pretty grateful for my stand.” (Hawley was one of eight senators who opposed the certification of the election results on January 6.) [Note: A total of 147 Republicans voted to overturn the election results.]

"More broadly consider what the committee was trying to show: Hawley’s hypocrisy.

"This was a man who egged on the crowd that eventually overran the Capitol and then, when faced with what he – and others espousing the same lies about the election had wrought – was forced to flee.

"The twin moments helped illustrate the Frankenstein’s monster nature of the following that Donald Trump and his enablers like Hawley had built. These people riled up the crowd, fed them lies about the elections, and then lost their ability to control what happened next."

In the end, Hawley made a complete fool of himself. Republican lawmakers in Washington prefer not to have that happen to them.

So, they stay away.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Garland never said the DOJ was investigating the former President!

Garland continues to dance around the issue. Is Trump the subject of a DOJ investigation? He hasn't said.

The media is playing footsie with this issue, implying the former President is being investigated, but not really saying so because the DOJ is dodging the issue.

CBS was the most forthcoming. "The Justice Department's criminal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, rioting at the U.S. Capitol, now includes questions for witnesses about the communications of people close to then-President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign, CBS News has confirmed.

"That news, first reported by The Washington Post, was confirmed to CBS News by a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation and a source with knowledge of what's been presented by the Justice Department to a grand jury.

"It is not evident that Trump himself is a target of the investigation, only that that prosecutors are asking questions related to him and his aides."

 

[Sandy Shanks]

It was a coup attempt to overthrow the elected government, and it was led by Trump beginning on Nov. 4, 2020. It was violent and people died.

Sorry, I am not going to waste my time arguing with you. If you choose to deny reality, that is your business.

Not according to the District Attorney. The participants have been charged with interfering with an official proceeding, which is dead accurate. There was no coup

Seriously, are you really that stupid?

The only reality being denies here is it wasn't a coup, which also why you didn't respond to the point raised, definition and all that factual stuff. Sorry they get in the way of your political narrative pushing.

You two want me to waste my time explaining it all. I am not going to do that.

Review the last 20 pages of my reports. They will address the [foolish] issues you both have raised at this juncture.

It is self-evident neither one of you have been following the televised hearings. You both are speaking from ignorance.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

ABC reports, "Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been headed for another face-off since the day Trump lost to Biden in 2020 -- but voters say they are upset with the direction of the country and just as ambivalent about having either Biden or Trump lead their political parties in two years, adding an unusual level of uncertainty to what could be an historic 2024 contest.

"A New York Times/Siena College poll earlier this month showed abysmal numbers for both leaders: Biden's job approval scraped 33%, a new nadir, and 64% of Democrats surveyed said they wanted a different nominee in 2024. Meanwhile, 51% of Republicans said they wanted someone other than Trump to be their standard-bearer in the next presidential election -- and despite Biden's unsteady footing, Trump still narrowly trailed him in a hypothetical head-to-head.

"Such stark numbers only supercharged speculation, among politicos, over whether either of the two will be on the ballot come 2024. How unusual would it for them to run against one another again? If not them, then who? And what can change between now and then?"

A lot. The next Presidential election is over 27 months into the future. Talking about it now is a total waste of time.

Incidentally, our President's bout with covid appears to be over. "After five days working in isolation at the White House, President Joe Biden reemerged on Wednesday -- and told the American public that his mild bout of COVID-19 was a testament to the power of vaccines and therapeutics," ABC.

ABC continued, "His comments mark a continuation of his White House's message that while the coronavirus is here to stay -- something many public health experts have long been warning and fighting against -- life can go largely back to normal for many, if not all, Americans."

"Let's keep emerging from one of the darkest moments of our history with hope and light for what can come," Biden said.

 

[eohrnberger]

Review the last 20 pages of my reports. They will address the [foolish] issues you both have raised at this juncture.

Volume doesn't equate to being neither accurate nor correct.

My suggestion to you is to become familiar with the actual definition of constitutes a coup.
Here, let me help you.

coup d'état​

noun​

\ ˌkü-(ˌ)dā-ˈtä , ˈkü-(ˌ)dā-ˌtä, -də- \​

​

variants: or coup d'etat​

plural coups d'état or coups d'etat\ ˌkü-(ˌ)dā-ˈtä , ˈkü-(ˌ)dā-ˌtä , -də- \ also coup d'états or coup d'etats​

Definition of coup d'état​

: a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group, a military coup d'état of the dictator​

Definition of COUP D'ÉTAT

a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Which part or parts of what happened on 1/6 support your claim that it was a coup d'etat? Was there a 'violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group, a military'?

If so, which parts of the US military were participating / supporting this supposed coup d'etat?
What part of what happened on 1/6 supports the claim of 'violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government'? Heck, the Capitol building was vacated mere hours later, so no 'violent overthrow of an existing government'.

That what we all saw on 1/6 wasn't coup, or more properly a coup d'etat, so calling what happened a coup d'etat is little more than pushing fact-less political narrative and gaslighting for political advantage, pushing the typical leftist lying hyperbolic political narrative.


Given incongruities and inconsistencies between what a political coup d'etat actually is and what actually happened on 1/6, pushing that what happened on 1/6 as a coup d'etat amounts to exactly what you accuse other of.

Demonstrating, yet once again, that 'That which the left accuses other of is exactly what they themselves are guilty of', so often demonstrated to have become a truism.

Or is this, once again, the typical claim from the left of 'Don't believe your lying eyes, it's what we say it is!'?

My questions above specific to the 1/6 riot and the definition of a coup d'etat, my assertion being that it doesn't apply, still stand to you for a salient and specific answer.
(continued)

 

[eohrnberger]

(continued)

It is self-evident neither one of you have been following the televised hearings.

Why would I spend time on a one sided politically motivated political circus and political Kabuki theater?

Let me ask you, has there even been one single thing brought up by the 1/6 political circus , political Kabuki theater which put a single Democrat or their supporter in a bad light?
Have both sides been heard? Has there been cross examination of those testifying?

No?

Politically motivated political circus and political Kabuki theater then, a certainty, and it appears that the majority of the electorate already know it.

The Jan. 6 commission hearings have grabbed fewer viewers since their prime-time television premiere.

A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 62% of registered voters did not watch the second two hearings from the commission.

Over 2,000 voters were polled. Of those who didn't vote in 2020, 75% reported they didn't watch, while 78% of voters for Donald Trump that same year didn't, either. A majority of those who voted for President Joe Biden also did not watch or only reported watching parts of the hearings, with 19% reporting they watched both hearings on June 13 and 16.

The majority of viewers who did not watch the hearings were baby boomers. More men watched the hearings than women, and the highest amount of viewers came from the South.

Less than half of voters watched subsequent Jan. 6 hearings: Poll

The Jan. 6 commission hearings have grabbed fewer viewers since their prime-time television premiere.

www.washingtonexaminer.com

You both are speaking from ignorance.

You are speaking from the manipulation of the politically motivated political circus and political Kabuki theater with, I suspect, a predisposition wanting to be so to confirm you own confirmation bias.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Recessions are inevitable, they’re a part of every business cycle. Recessions will happen, and no amount of predicting and prognosticating can prevent them, CNN Business.

Wall Street investors are conflicted. They actually want the Fed to raise interest rates. That is a first, a remarkable first.

Not only that, investors want a recession.

Has the world turned upside down?

CNN reports. "Investors are uneasy as the Federal Reserve gears up for its latest policy announcement on Wednesday. But their hope is that the central bank and Chair Jerome Powell will keep talking tough, steering the path forward at an uncertain moment.

"What’s happening: The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point as it continues with its ambitious campaign to bring down inflation, which hit a 40-year high in June. There had been some speculation that the Fed could raise rates by a full percentage point for the first time in its modern history, but that now looks less likely.

"Investors concede that the Fed has a difficult task at hand as it tries to control inflation without raising borrowing costs so aggressively that it tips the US economy into a recession.

"But for now, they’d rather the Fed indicate that it plans to keep its resolve rather than adopt a more accommodating stance. In unstable times, the argument goes, consistency is key."

The last two statements amounted to a contradiction. I said investors were conflicted.

“The last thing the Fed wants to do now is to allow the market to think it’s about to embark on a dovish pivot, despite increasing evidence that the economy is slowing,” Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said.

"Some Wall Street analysts are hoping, the National Bureau of Economic Research will officially determine we’re in a recession and allow markets to break the dread cycle," CNN.

“The sooner we get the recession, the better,” said Kevin Gordon, senior investment research manager at Charles Schwab.

From Schwab, now that is man bites dog news.

CNN added, "Although that may seem counter-intuitive, pulling forward the recession’s start date would ultimately be a positive for investors, Gordon said. That’s because a recession would mean the turning point for stocks is closer rather than further away, and that the bottom is closer than we think.

"Then, investors could move onto the next cycle: searching for hope. Economists liken it to finding green shoots after a forest fire."

Many were hoping for a bright side to all this.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates for a fourth time this year to further slow down the economy. The Fed hiked interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point.