Well, let us start out with the fact that it looks like my blog readership has definitely taken a turn backward, which is really quite something, considering the fact that you cannot go too much backward from where i was.  Oh well, just the same--so much news with so little to say.

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Item 1:  The Debt Ceiling.  What a f---- joke.  Most of us expect the combatants to take us up to the edge of the cliff, before finally deciding to turn around and not commit suicide by jumping off.  But for some reason, this time smells a bit different.  The republicans, who know it is suicide, feel that it might just pay out for them in the long run.  Who gives a shit about what it means to the integrity of the United States when all the ensuing problems can be put at the lap of the current President of the United States?  When it comes to being patriotic anymore--that stops at the door of your political party.

Having been a budgeteer in my earlier life and knowing what it takes to go through the extraordinary process of working out and getting a budget approved, just having a debt ceiling seems a bit stupid.  Shouldn't the budget process take care of that issue at the time.  Why pass a budget, then stop it halfway through because of an arbitrary limit restriction.  Makes no sense to me, but then a lot of things don't make much sense when it comes to Congress.

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Item 2:  Ukraine and Sudan.  What is going on those spots of the world?  You hardly hear them mentioned anymore on the news because it seems less newsworthy than such things as items 3 and 4.

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Item 3:  Trump has to pay a woman $5 million that he doesn't even know--and most of the republicans are upset--making light of the "jury of peers" from our judicial system--despite a unanimous decision, despite that it only took 3 hours to come up with an outcome.  Hell, once i served on a jury and it took us more than "three hours" to decide on an open and closed case, spending most of our time arguing on the payout amount which ended up around $200,000.  

The republicans can argue this "jury of his peers" things all they want, but i would advise them to let it go.  I think if you put together a jury of all the living ex-presidents (other than Trumpo himself) as a "jury of his peers", again the verdict would be unanimously the same, but the payout would be even more. 

BTW, does anyone remember when the republican party tried to impeach a President who had received what some people would call a "blowjob" from a willing, but naive, young woman?  I do because it wasn't all that long ago.  Now if that doesn't tell you something about "power" and "party loyalty" then i don't know what will.  

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Item 4:  George Santos.  A perfect fit for the current Republican Party.  Enough said.

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Item 5:  Our southern border.  Everyone is a loser.  Everyone except the republican party that is.  The southern border is like the Debt Ceiling of Item 1--it is better not to deal with real "immigration legislation" because internal national turmoil always works against the party in power.  You can put Kevin McCarthy's picture up with Joe Biden's all you want, but most people will still believe Joe Biden is in charge--and the person to blame for anything that goes wrong.

You cannot pass the buck if you are President of the United States.  Oh, and god save us, because do you know who the republicans are chomping at the bit to replace good man Joe with?  Go back and look at Item 3.

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Item 6:  Guns in America.  Don't they make you feel proud and safe?

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Item 7:  Globanomics.  Believe it or not, it still is out there.  I say it is just simmering waiting for the day for world peace and items like item 2 are solved in a meaningful manner.  

I am looking for a new updated Global 2000 perspective from Forbes soon.  Because of the market downturn last year, i think the new numbers will be quite interesting and quite telling, too.  It would not surprise me to see that U.S. companies still didn't capture even a greater share.  We'll just have to wait and see.

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Item 8:  My readership followers.  Thank you for hanging in there with me if you got this far (to item 8 that is).  I am not giving up even if my readership drops to one view (which is my own) because my words are still out there along with globanomics.