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In her judgement, China now has moved socially and politically closer to 21nation states out of 31. Nations, like Brazil, have begun to allow China to purchase and develop property that is rich in minerals and other capable of being turned into harbors and docks.
I also read, Panama has allowed China to purchase land at both ends of the Canal. In addition, the appointment of an Ambassador to Panama has been stuck in the Senate going on 3 years. This delay sends a message of indifference in contrast with that of China's willingness to engage in commerce etc,
In essence, China is ringing America with facilities that are extensions of China's Silk Road concept where China loans money to various nations for the "avowed" purpose of developing their infrastructure.
In reality, these loans are often basically usurious in nature and most developments use Chinese citizens. Also, the arrogance of the Chinese often creates hard feelings between the two nations as well as many of the projects benefit China and not the various countries where development is taking place because they are too large, costly and the loans end in bankruptcy.
We are asleep at the switch and, in the event China wishes to move against our country, we could wind up being sufficiently blocked by Chinese troops and ships.
Having said that, what Barr writes as well as Bolton is well worth reading and thinking about. In psychiatry, the term "Brink of success failure" is used to describe the person who is good at coming up with a positive strategy but in the final analysis fails to cross the victory line.
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Bill Barr’s Warning on Trump
The former Attorney General says his one-time boss lacks the ability to deliver on his policy priorities.
By The Editorial Board
A common refrain among many Donald Trump supporters is that, while they may dislike his character and what he did on Jan. 6, 2021, they like his policies. Those voters might consider the warning from Mr. Trump’s second Attorney General, William Barr.
“If you believe in his policies, what he’s advertising as his policies, he’s the last person who could actually execute them and achieve them,” Mr. Barr told the City Club of Cleveland on Friday.
Mr. Barr should know, having worked for President Trump for 22 months. “He does not have the discipline. He does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking, or setting priorities or how to get things done in the system,” Mr. Barr continued. “It’s a horror show, you know, when he’s left to his own devices.
“And so you may want his policies, but Trump will not deliver Trump policies. He will deliver chaos, and if anything lead to a backlash that will set his policies much further back than they otherwise would be.”
Most GOP opponents of nominating Mr. Trump for the third straight time for President say he can’t win. The Republican election record since 2018, including his loss to President Biden, suggests that’s right. But events are unpredictable, including the pace of Mr. Biden’s physical and mental decline.
Mr. Barr’s point, and it’s more powerful than the electability argument, is that Mr. Trump won’t be able to govern successfully even if he did somehow win a second term. He wouldn’t be able to deliver the conservative policy victories that most Republicans want.
The rebuttal from the Trump establishment will be to cite his first term, but that record supports Mr. Barr’s point. We also agree with many of Mr. Trump’s policies, and we backed them during his Presidency. But his most important policy victories were conventional GOP priorities delivered by people he now denounces as “RINOs.”
The Federalist Society delivered his list of judges that then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell guided to Senate confirmation. Paul Ryan and House Republicans spent years building policy and political capital for tax reform. Vice President Mike Pence supplied some of Mr. Trump’s best policy advisers. While Mr. Trump deserves credit for embracing these people and policies, his second term would be filled by much lesser lights.
The record on Mr. Trump’s signature ideas isn’t as successful. He failed to build the border wall, and even with a GOP majority in Congress in his first two years he never passed an immigration bill that reformed the “credible fear” standard of persecution for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. All the dysfunctions of U.S. immigration law were there for Mr. Biden to exploit.
Mr. Trump’s trade agenda also achieved little other than higher costs for Americans. China’s behavior hasn’t improved, while the U.S. is out of the successor deal to the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Mr. Trump walked away from. He failed to negotiate a new bilateral deal with the United Kingdom.
Mr. Trump’s enemies were relentless and deceptive, but he also too often gave them a sword. He ignored advice (see our Jan. 13, 2017 editorial) to ask James Comey to resign on taking office because, as Mr. Trump told visitors, he was impressed by the FBI director’s height and thought he could control him. True story, and bad decision. After he finally and lawfully fired Mr. Comey in May 2017, Mr. Trump triggered a special counsel probe with comments that contradicted the previous White House explanation.
The worst example of the chaos Mr. Barr cites is Mr. Trump’s management of Covid. Mr. Trump conceded to destructive lockdowns recommended by Anthony Fauci, and he never adopted a consistent message. He daily took the bait of White House reporters and engaged in distracting feuds over Covid treatments and so much else.
He never took the time, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did, to study the subject and offer reassuring leadership. This was the main reason for Mr. Trump’s defeat in 2020 as Mr. Biden campaigned on ending the chaos.
A fuller account of Mr. Trump’s Presidency can wait for other days, but Mr. Barr’s warning is one that GOP voters deserve to hear. Democrats and most of the media want Mr. Trump to be the GOP nominee because they believe he is the easiest candidate to defeat.
Republican voters are rightly appalled by the behavior of Democratic prosecutors, and they’ve rallied to Mr. Trump’s defense. But they have to decide if they want to let Democrats make their nominating choice for them, while ignoring Mr. Barr’s warning about the policy risks of a second Trump term.
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About a month ago I wrote, watch Biden become a totally different president as he gets closer to the 2024 election. He will start appearing accommodative, softer in his rhetoric and he will begin making meaningless comments as he reverts to being a nicer "uncle" type.
It is all a ruse used to throw his adversary off and fool the electorate he is just a sweet old man who is fighting for their "AMERICA."
"OLD JOE" Is slick. He knows all the tricks of the trade and time has proven him to be effective/convincing. His wide sweet smile and dark shades are turned on to trap his adversary.
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How Uncle Joe" handles the matter of selling his office and the family enriching themselves is a more difficult matter assuming the nation is unwilling to be sucked in and truly takes this matter as a very serious one.
Finally the evidence must be convincing because the mass media have turned him into a paragon of virtue an thus, d it will be more difficult to convince America.
Only Trump is guilty of every charge because the mass media has lowered the bar so the lambs will not trip.
I am not defending Trump. I am simply pointing out how has been marinated by the mass media and thus, he is more vulnerable.
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Time will tell.
THE-Red-VIP
By Katie Pavlich
We found out this morning from the House Oversight Committee that there is definitive evidence that Joe Biden and his family have been taking money from the Chinese through shell companies for a very long time, and attempted to hide it. All of this breaking while the border gets invaded by millions of illegals as Title 42 expires. You could say things are going well today.
In only two years in the White House, Biden has caused enormous damage to the country, threatened U.S. national security and weakened America throughout the world with his disastrous foreign policy. Now, he wants to "finish the job"... which we can only assume to mean end the country for good.
Biden claims he’s standing up for the freedoms of Americans. Reality and Biden’s actions tell a different story.
Biden has repeatedly targeted political opponents with the full force of the federal government and violated the fundamental rights of Americans. He’s destroyed the economy with sky-high inflation, implemented Marxist policies in the mortgage system (which will lead to another housing crisis) and forced hardworking Americans to pay off the student debt of wealthy degree holders. He’s made it a habit of tearing down fundamental American values about hard work and personal responsibility. All of this while partnering with his son Hunter to sell out the country to foreign adversaries.
Biden talks about freedom, yet he’s targeting your Second Amendment rights with calls for gun bans and by signing executive orders. Government bureaucrats, with his endorsement, have violated the First Amendment through Big Tech censorship. Not to mention his efforts to fire thousands of Americans after they said no thank you to an ineffective vaccine.
Since taking office in January 2021, Townhall has been holding President Biden and his administration accountable. While most in the media endorse his policies, we expose them.
We can’t do this without your help and the support of our VIP members. Day in and day out, we’re covering the White House, the Department of Justice, hearings on Capitol Hill and much more. Our reporters work tirelessly to bring you the news without the liberal media spin.
The 2024 election is here, and we’re ready to cover every minute of it. It’s time to hit the campaign trail and get to work. Are you ready to join us? We’d love to have you along for the ride.
And:
HOUSE GOP: Some Bidens Need to Go to Prison,
Here's How They Hid the Money
HOUSE GOP: ‘The DOJ Needs to Get Off Its ASS, the Bidens ‘Need to Spend Some Time in Prison’
Members of the House Oversight Committee demanded action from the Department of Justice Wednesday after outlining key details of the Biden Crime Syndicate, saying people with the last name Biden “need to be charged, prosecuted, and spend some time in prison.”
WATCH NOW
Finally:
Why is Randi in The Ukraine now? Got to massage the evidence?
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Another year, another round of negotiations over the debt ceiling. And, another round of market volatility because of it. (edited.)
While the headlines may make it seem like a catastrophic event is imminent, I believe that the U.S. will find a resolution, as always. It is important to note that the debt ceiling has been raised over 100 times since its creation in 1917, even in instances where political standoffs made its fate unclear.
It is also important to remember that a debt default is unconstitutional, as per the Supreme Court’s 1935 interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Public Debt Clause. The Supreme Court ruled that “The validity of the public debt of the United States…shall not be questioned,” which means that default is simply not an option.
Another source of confusion in the debt ceiling debate is what constitutes a default. The media often skips the technical details of how the debt ceiling and bond principal and interest payments work, making it seem like failing to raise the debt ceiling automatically triggers a default, which is not the case.
Furthermore, the actual risk of not raising the debt ceiling would be delays to entitlement payments and payments to other government programs, which is not the same thing as defaulting on debt. While missing entitlement payments is not ideal, it would not necessarily trigger an actual default or credit event in financial markets.
The last time the debt ceiling issue came to a head, in 2011, the Federal Reserve and Treasury officials privately created a plan to make on-time payments on Treasury debt while delaying payment on other government bills, ensuring that a default never happens.
In terms of making on-time principal and interest payments without a raised debt ceiling, the U.S. Treasury is authorized to issue new debt to refinance maturing bonds, and the Treasury receives over ten times more in monthly tax receipts than it owes in monthly interest payments.
We will hear about debt ceiling infighting in Congress for many days to come, and we know some market volatility will ensue. However, the actual threat of missing obligations is low assuming Congress can work out a deal.
Our observation is that government shenanigans, which once had more impact on the financial markets, have become less and less a factor over time. That said, rest assured that we are monitoring and analyzing the debt ceiling debates, as well as other factors that impact the markets and economy. As always, our goal is to manage a course to wealth for our clients. Therefore, it is important to keep media hype in perspective.
Sincerely,
D K, CMFC®, CRPC®, CWM®, ChFM®, AAMS®
CEO & Chief Investment Strategist
Mainstay Capital Management, LLC
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