dpberr

This seems like a Pelosi thing, not a White House thing. It makes no sense at all, which suggests to me it's a pet project of hers, consequences be damned. With her husband up to his eyeballs in trades around semiconductors and the CHIPS bill, I can see this being a personal trip disguised as official diplomacy. I give President Biden some credit. If he ended up saying no to Pelosi's trip after saying yes, he shows that China can control access to Taiwan with a few stern words, and that's not something the US should start doing. This administration often steps in messes of his own making, but has so far, avoided that misstep.

The timing of this trip is odd.

Hasn't this guy been "confirmed" dead for a decade? He and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (Saddam's right hand) have died like 10 times. I find it odd as how neat and packaged this appears. They found him in a wealthy suburb of Kabul. The Taliban and al-Qaeda aren't exactly friends. This isn't Pakistani ISI turning a blind eye to bin Laden living in their country. (They knew.) Why would al-Zawahiri be in the open in an unfriendly country that is teeming with foreign intelligence surveillance after spending decades in hiding, and doing a great job of ot? I find it even more unusual he so happened to be standing on a balcony, the perfect spot for a drone strike, where no one else would be harmed. It's just very...neat. On the other hand, the US dropped two 500lb bombs on a single house to kill al-Zarqawi in Iraq, and sent special operations into someone else's country to kill bin Laden. As time has gone on, one of the more uncomfortable realizations I've had as an adult is that 9/11 may not be what we've (American public) been told.

IMO, China has finalized plans to invade Taiwan, and even the flimsiest of justifications is all they are looking for to start it. If you're China, if you want to do this, the time is now. This particular US administration will respond slowly, if at all. Japan won't do anything without first consulting the US. They don't have to worry about the Russians getting involved. Before, you had that Russian circuit breaker out there encouraging the Chinese not to inflame tensions but that's all but eliminated.

America should be concerned their leaders have spent more time trying to redefine recession and shouting down all talk of a recession vs. strategizing on what to do about it and get ahead of it a little. Recession was inevitable - we were all talking about it on this board last year. The frightening thing is that this administration is ill-equipped to do timely, practical, smart things.

Many African American and Hispanic Democrats won't vote for a gay candidate, and Buttigieg ran into that when he campaigned in 2020. May be cool in New Hampshire, but in the Midwest and South, forget it. They will sit out the race. That poll tells me Republicans can run anyone but Trump and win.

I don't think there's enough interest or talent for two "minor league" football leagues. These moneyed interests would do a lot better combining resources to create one league that they could sustain through the initial lean years, of which there will be many. It's like they don't pay attention to history. The AFL was the only league that even remotely came close to competing with the NFL, and it was on the verge of collapse every single year of its existence. Or just go buy the CFL and its infrastructure and make it a minor league with NFL rules.

1. At least six teams, perhaps more, will tank the season as a strategy. 2. Frank Reich won't be the first coach fired, but he will be fired before the end of the regular season. Things just don't work out in Indy this year.

I don't think "they" have much of a choice - they need an excuse to give him an extended respite of more than a weekend. He's gassed from the overseas trip, and given that they probably do a lot of medication of his condition in the secrecy of Delaware, where the visitor logs aren't kept, they couldn't do it on AFO or overseas. Don't be surprised he spends most of his "quarantine" in Delaware, where I suspect a small group of ChristianaCare doctors take care of him. My theory is that he's a man who's suffering dementia, possibly Parkinson's, and has been for some time. They have been infusing and medicating him as best they can to keep the decline as slow as possible.

I don't buy for a single second the President has actually tested positive for Covid. TPTB need to get him out of the spotlight and the President needs an extended period of time to rest and recover - so they reverted back to the 2020 campaign strategy with an impossible to verify, convenient Covid diagnosis. The weekends to DE aren't cutting it. There will be zero public appearances for President Biden until after midterms out of an "abundance of caution."

I saw one where they had German Chancellor Scholz in a picture like that, but with an ax, and all the trees in the background cut down. (On a serious note, Germany is in serious trouble.)

January 6th was crawling with federal agents, retired federal agents and informants. Until somebody comes clean on who Ray Epps works for, or who he worked for, and identifying the other people that day cajoling people to enter the Capitol, who are also not oddly are imprisoned, you must assume they are a government agent. The FBI has tracked down every trespasser that day but those folks...still remain nameless. Ray Epps is so free, he can complain to the paper! He's certainly not hiding. That's a man who feels confident he's well protected. The Feds got caught in Michigan with the Whitmer case. You see the approach. They are not getting caught by the January 6th committee because A) the committee already knows the answer, B) they don't want to ask the question and C) there are no lawyers asking the questions on behalf of their imprisoned clients. I don't particularly care about how Trump feels about this committee. What bothers me is that US citizens are being unlawfully detained on charges built around government entrapment.

Newsome and Pritzker are DOA in the 2024 election. California and Illinois are failed states. Newsome is a phony who will melt under pressure. America isn't voting for 57- year old Pritzker's obesity after eight years of elderly Presidents. Dems do need to run a governor, as America sees what two senators can do in the White House, but someone like Beshear, Edwards or Cooper to stand any chance.

I remember a few months ago, the "experts" laughed off 8, 9 percent. This entire inflation event is 100% self-inflicted policy error. The Fed has no choice but to pilot the economy into a very steep, hopefully short, recession at this point. It's the only way you can hope to get inflation back to 2% by the end of the decade. We're all going to bleed in our 401ks or jobs, likely both.

Steelers are inviting that bad karma with that greed. Any Pittsburgh or hell, Pennsylvania-based company, would have been great.

This President isn't going to do anything about this situation. This administration has a difficult time completing constructive tasks every day. Shrewd diplomacy? Forget it. Where have you seen that on display lately? Previous Presidents (pick your favorite) would have had her home already. She's languishing in Russia out of 1) Washington indifference or 2) incompetence. The reason this story doesn't get more press is because the media knows it's reason #1 or #2.

I think a lot of her testimony was heresay. That being said, I think collectively, while I don't think President Trump committed a crime on January 6th, this political theater has shown his behavior on that day doesn't demonstrate he's not fit for another term as President IMO. I feel the Trump era has come to a close.

You have to ask yourself why the US is sending two battalions of the 101st to Poland, one of which is the headquarters batallion. The 101st is offensive capability. They aren't peacekeepers. Destroyers to Spain, F-35s to England. Feels like positioning to me in bits and pieces, under the radar so nobody gets spooked and drives oil prices higher. I don't put it past these fools to engage in real conflict with Russian troops in Ukraine - if Kyiv is in imminent danger of collapse, I could see NATO entering the war. Ukraine isn't just Biden's mess. It's been a Bush, Obama, Trump mess too.

Kap is not serious about playing football. If so, he would have joined the CFL, got into football shape, and show NFL teams he can consistently show up year after year, perform and be a good teammate. He's had plenty of opportunities to play football. I'm surprised he can still generate news and our reactions.

I don't feel sorry for the Browns but I marvel at how they can screw up every single thing they touch. It's talent on display.

I've never seen an arrest where not only do you get to keep your face covering, hat and gloves on, but keep the entire group of suspects together! You certainly get an impression they are going to lengths to protect identities.

Of course the vaccines *are* safe *and* effective. Penn has one billion reasons to tell you why. They were the first employer to mandate the vaccine in Pennsylvania. "Research behind COVID-19 vaccines reaps close to $1 billion in royalties for Penn" https://www.inquirer.com/business/penn-covid-vaccine-technology-mrna-royalties-revenue-20220612.html

Unless they show mugshots of real guys with real names and addresses, those are all federal agents and informants being "arrested." I don't think any LEO would roll up on a UHaul packed with people and arrest a person and leave their hats and face coverings on. The whole thing sounds stupid - bunch of dudes to riot in broad daylight in Idaho of all places. And they are all so coordinated - nobody seems to have gotten the wrong khakis or boots by shopping at the wrong store, and they all seem fit, not an overweight one, or one with long hair.

I agree that that is a big loophole that can be fixed. I'd add the folks that allow burglaries of their homes to settle debts where firearms are stolen also get the same punishment. I suspect that is the major source of illegal firearms in this country.

In PA, they are holding hearings on inflation - to what end, I have no idea. Harrisburg is good at talking. The doing part they aren't good at. PA residents have seen their real earnings decrease -3.8% year over year, and that was with a 2% raise baked in to it. If you assume the percent of PA living paycheck to paycheck like the national average - now 64%, up from 61% in 2021 - that's significant financial stress.