Sunday, 4 February 2018

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

The stock market here in the United States recently took a small dive.  According to some it is fear of rising interest rates.  I don't know if that is really the case, it seems that for some time it has not been tied in any way to reality.   But perhaps that is actually the case for much of our financial system.  I ran across a video from 2017 which discusses in depth the workings of this system.

Bubbles come in different forms.  Sweden has a housing bubble, I feel we have a stock market bubble.  But if the people in this video are correct the whole world is in a bubble that could cause massive pain if, or when, it bursts.




79 comments:

      Lee C.   ―  U.S.A.      said...

 
I've been expecting a hit to the stock market, but I don't think this is it.  The Masters of the Universe haven't had time to unload their holdings yet (after taking their much lower taxed profits).
Common day-trader wisdom is that a Friday hit to the stock market carries over into Monday, so I'll not be surprised to see further softening and some more losses on Monday, but this'll probably pass fairly swiftly.  After the big boys have enough time to bank their profits and unload their stocks onto the retirement investors--then it'll be time to worry about them pulling the air back out of the bubble.  But, this ain't the big one, not unless they've totally misjudged how long they can keep the bubble up.

Marcus said...

How about that Johnny Sexton, huh Pete?

Petes said...

Marcus, it was our Minnesota Vikings vs. Saints moment! We've only beaten France in Paris twice in nearly half a century! ... and so sweet that it was the last kick of the match :)

Petes said...

Could help thinking of our would-be Irish Republican, An Italian, when I saw this. If I remember right he referred to Amanda Knox as an 'American she-devil' and reckoned she was guilty as hell. If he was upset when the Italian courts quashed her conviction, he would have been apoplectic to see her bizarre performance of an infamous Republican song on Irish TV last night. (The "Black and Tans", named for their uniform colours, were British auxiliaries and mercenaries guilty of many atrocities in the Irish War of Independence).

Petes said...

Cultural interlude ... have been interested in the Northumbrian pipes since they featured on Mike Oldfield's 1975 album, Ommadawn. Unlike the blown bagpipes they have a bellows for pumping air, but unlike the more evolved Irish uileann pipes they do not feature the long wrist-operated drone pipes. This can make them sound a bit lightweight but they are very sweet and melodic. They can also be played while standing unlike the uileann pipes where the wrist operation and controlling the opening of the chanter with a knee-stop requires sitting. In these variations on a well-known English tune, the accordion provides the missing drone sound, the and the violin counterpoint is gorgeous. Plus in the intro we are treated to Kathryn Tickell's lovely north-eastern accent, from the home of the Northumbrian pipes.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

I've been expecting a hit to the stock market, but I don't think this is it.

I don't think so either. Too small.

In that video I posted one of the people they talked to was a retiree who was lamenting the low interest rates and trying to decide what he should do with the money from a life insurance policy that had matured (he it in Germany). He finally decided to put it into fixing up his house, a hard asset. Although I am not retired I have kind of been trying to do the same thing. But I suspect that if the financial house of cards they have built on leveraged business acquisitions comes tumbling down his house, and mine, will probably not be worth as much. We will however have a place to live.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

and so sweet that it was the last kick of the match :)

Ahhh, that video isn't available in my country, according to the nasty message I got when I tried to watch. :(

Oh well, if it was as amazing as the Keenum/Diggs pass then I can understand your glee. ;)

I know, I know, I still like to watch it. lol! I have to take my moments when I can.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

(The "Black and Tans", named for their uniform colours, were British auxiliaries and mercenaries guilty of many atrocities in the Irish War of Independence).

Being a ditz doesn't make her guilty or a "she-devil". I have never listened to the evidence in that trial so I can't say about what went on. But it does sound like she doesn't make informed decisions before she acts. (Of course, that isn't only her failing. We have a very good example with another American.)In that sense it's kind of hard to imagine her plotting and carrying out a murder with anyone.

Marcus said...

Pete:

"Marcus, it was our Minnesota Vikings vs. Saints moment! We've only beaten France in Paris twice in nearly half a century! ... and so sweet that it was the last kick of the match :)"

I know all bout it. My best swede Buddy here in Thailand for some reason has a whole pack of Oyrish buddies, located is Samui. Met 'em myself, a great bunch. Now we are not in Samui at the moment but last night My friends phone lite up like a pinball machine. All 'em Oyrish fellers celebratin and tellin all and sundry their great fortunes!

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Cultural interlude

Very nice, Petes, thanks for sharing.

I almost did a post on music last night, since it was Saturday, but then I ran across that video and thought it worth sharing.

Btw, getting back to the question you had about the oil in the Dakotas, the guys who were working out there are now out of the business. One has retired and the other has switched jobs to something closer to home. I think there has been a lot of consolidation in the industry. Some companies are going under, but there are still those who have gotten more efficient who are still operating. It's probably a health pull back for the industry. They couldn't go on forever at that pace.

      Lee C.   ―  U.S.A.      said...

 
      "…the guys who were working out there are now out of
      the business.
"

And yet the Dakota Access Pipeline is up and running, while the much more publicly fought Keystone Pipeline hasn't yet been re-started and may never be.

Petes said...

I think I just found the next Democratic presidential campaign under development. Sure looks like a Trump beater ;-)

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Computer geek claims that Russian bots were hard at work on American social media sites to generate Republican support for the decision to release the Nunes' memoPolitico.Com

Petes said...

Came across an article that must be pretty devastating to the resident troll, and his batshit crazy theory that Trump got elected by racist white voters "outraged by the n*gger in their White House". (Btw, I don't think I've ever used the n-word in speech or in writing before, and it pains me to have to use it even in quotation of the resident racist).

So, it turns out that Obama got elected by dem iggerant white folks. Now, it's not that they turned out for him in vast numbers. He lost the non-educated white vote by 25 points. But the point is, the black vote wasn't enough to get him elected. Dem white folk is what put him in the White House. And if Hillary had gotten the same black turnout as Obama ... she still would have lost. Because de white folk turned against her -- if she had swung Obama's share of the uneducated white folk or even a quarter of it she would have beaten Trump. Same analysis in Alabama -- the reason Doug Jones beat Roy Moore is not because black voters or women came out in force, but because the uneducated white vote swung for him.

Exit polls have been constantly overestimating the voting power of college-educated educated whites, basically because they are more interview-friendly than their lesser educated compatriots. And "the view that white non-college voters who do not already vote for Democrats are hopelessly racist and reactionary is a canard". So the question is can Dems hold their noses long enough to condescend to court the white working class vote.

The analysis comes courtesy of Breitb... oh no, wait, it was the author of The Optimistic Leftist writing in Vox! :)

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "So, it turns out that Obama got elected by dem iggerant
      white folks
"

Obama lost the white vote across the board, pretty much all demographics except perhaps the 18-30 year old (I'd have to look that up) and he lost the white vote overall.

It's fairly hard to make a convincing argument that Obama was elected by a demographic that voted against him.  In spite of a valiant effort at legerdemain, you didn't quite clear that hurdle; you didn't pull it off.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
And, just by the way, your ‛generic’ presidential campaign cited above ↑↑ could probably work better for an establishment Republican than for a Democrat (wasn't worth a mention on its own, but since we're here…).

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Gave Petes a couple of hours to answer and he's declined (not a surprise).

So, I'll just hit the highlights.  Turnout was down for the 2016 election.  Hillary didn't inspire much of anybody.  Low turnout elections favor Republicans whose voters tend to vote anyway, inspired or not, on account of they have a higher tendency to vote out of hate, fear, and anger and are less likely to vote for their hopes.

      “If you are part of a society that votes, then do so.
      There may be no candidates and no measures you
      want to vote for ... but there are certain to be ones
      you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote
      against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.

      R.A. Heinlein -- Time Enough For Love

Hillary didn't get out her vote.  Democrats tend to lose low turnout elections.  There's no mystery here. 

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so.
There may be no candidates and no measures you
want to vote for ... but there are certain to be ones
you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote
against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”
R.A. Heinlein -- Time Enough For Love


Truer words never spoken.

What is amazing, though, is that there are so many people who actually still like Trump. It's just sad, very sad.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

What matters is that someone is trying to manipulate us, tech companies are proving hopelessly unable or unwilling to police the bad actors manipulating their platforms, and politicians are either clueless about what to do about computational propaganda or—in the case of #releasethememo—are using it to achieve their goals. Americans are on their own.

Obviously if we had responsible elected officials who actually put the welfare of their country first they would be very careful about the consequences of their actions. I suspect that even without any kind of concentrated social media campaign by human or robotic entities this memo would have been released.

Unfortunately social media is here to stay and we must find ways of dealing with this kind of danger. One, obviously, is to teach young people the value of critical thinking. Getting all of their information from the internet isn't always the smartest move. Sometimes all that means is they are getting an electronic version of the current tabloid press.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "…even without any kind of concentrated social
      media campaign by human or robotic entities this
      memo would have been released.
"

Indeed.  Nunes (and Gowdy) didn't write it just to show around the House Intelligence Committee.

Marcus said...

Pete, just out of curiosity, whit this whole raycissm an stuff, if we take a step back and look not just at how whites group-vote but at how other groups group-vote, what does that show?

Bc I tend to think the Dems would not need to run Oprah to get the Black vote. They could run Lil Kim or someone similar. End result in that demographic much the same. Amirite?

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Elon Musk got his Tesla Roadster back.  The Falcon Heavy has landed.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Nah, I think it's still circling the Sun. :)

But he did get some useful parts back, apparently.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

They mentioned that there have already been some space tourists who have signed up for a flight on one of his rockets. If only His Orangeness were one of them...

Every time I open up my home page he's done something else I disagree with. Or just become more obnoxious.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
I stand corrected.  I didn't realize he intended to leave it out there.  (Explains the dummy driver thought--I was wondering about that.)

                           ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
I do think that Trump may have shot off his mouth at an inopportune time now and perhaps the Democrats can pin the coming shutdown on him.  They got themselves on the wrong side of the PR war in the last one; he may have returned the favor this time.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Word is going around that Schumer and McConnell are working on a fairly comprehensive budget fix that'll last two years and include a boost to the current debt ceiling limits but does not include money for the Great Wall of Trump or any of Trump's other immigration demands.  McConnell may try to add those back in at the last minute, but I don't think that'll happen.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

It sounds like the Senate has a deal, but the House isn't on board. There is both Republican and Democratic opposition. Pelosi is still wanting some kind of DACA inclusion.

Petes said...

Lynnette, just getting round to your post on the oil business. Sounds about right. I get the impression that the oilies are doing (a lot) more with less. Service costs are down and profitability is up. That means we shouldn't expect quite the same sort of employment boom as before, although some of that's happening too. One of the big oil hubs in Texas has unemployment of 2%, way below even the normal churn levels of the job market.

Petes said...

[Marcus]: "Pete, just out of curiosity, whit this whole raycissm an stuff, if we take a step back and look not just at how whites group-vote but at how other groups group-vote, what does that show?"

I suppose that people sometimes vote on fairly superficial grounds, or the vague perception that a politician's interests coincides with theirs. I would imagine a lot of black people voted for Obama in spite of him having little in common with most people, black or white. Same syndrome as anyone idolising Beyonce, or Justin Bieber or the British royals. Those people live fantastically rarefied lives, different from most of the rest of us.

I'm not singling out black people, except that lots of them came out to vote that wouldn't have otherwise. The iggerant white people that the resident troll likes the accuse of racism weren't gonna be voting for a Democrat candidate anyway -- they voted even less for Hillary. So I like to think that the majority of voters are relatively colour blind.

While we're on the subject, in the news today was that they drilled some intact DNA from the skull of Cheddar Man, a ten thousand year old individual found buried in the Cheddar Gorge, a limestone cave area of soutwest England. Guess what? -- he was BLACK, with blue eyes and curly hair. I have read -- though I don't know how well it is substantiated -- that the European population was mostly black as recently as 6kya. How about that Marcus? You Scandi types are deviant mutant blow-ins :)

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "…they voted even less for Hillary."

Barely….  Hillary received 65,844,954 votes.  Obama received 65,915,795 in the 2012 election.  The difference is not statistically significant.  (Not even a good try.)

Petes said...

I can't even imagine the agony of listening to Nancy Pelosi for eight hours. Should the House make a special budget allocation to pay for trauma counseling?

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

lol!

I can't even imagine the agony of listening to Nancy Pelosi for eight hours.

You and me both.

Should the House make a special budget allocation to pay for trauma counseling?

Well, I thought torture was outlawed...

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Another bad day for the stock markets.  I still think this is only temporary, not the end of the bubble yet.  I think that'll await the Masters of the Universe unloading their holdings onto their clients, and I haven't noticed that happening yet.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

You beat me to it. It looks like we are, at least, in a correction. It might be a healthy thing, if it doesn't continue to dive.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

I think that'll await the Masters of the Universe unloading their holdings onto their clients...

But exactly where do they scurry to?

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "But exactly where do they scurry to?"

Diamonds.  Diamond mines maybe.  Hard assets to weather the downturn, also cash savings, government bonds especially.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Anyway, it ain't yet; this ain't it.

Petes said...

[Lynnette]: "It looks like we are, at least, in a correction. It might be a healthy thing, if it doesn't continue to dive."

Definitely more than a minor correction. Asia markets continued the slide on Friday, I expect Europe and the USA to have a bad end to a bad week too. Not sure if it's the big one right now but definitely more volatility on the cards for the next while. There are no masters of the universe -- that's just conspiracy nuttery. Asset bubbles suck everyone in by their very nature, and the exits are skinny for everyone on the way out. I moved my pension (such as it is) into cash at the start of the week in anticipation. But the pension company has a turning circle like the Titanic -- the gits still haven't actually made the switch yet.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "There are no masters of the universe -- that's just
      conspiracy nuttery.
"

Actually it's just a semi-tongue-in-cheek shorthand reference that most folks have better sense than to take literally (although that much seems to have escaped the ken of the fat Irishman).

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

I moved my pension (such as it is) into cash at the start of the week in anticipation.

If it's money you don't have time to recover then it's probably best. For those who are close to or are in retirement pulling back from stocks is wise. But I don't think I would take everything out. Cash doesn't keep up with inflation.

The market has been very volatile this week, but so far it hasn't been an abnormally large correction, percentage wise. It was actually to be expected. The run up could not continue as it was. I am going to try to ignore it for now.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Well, it seems that Trump has found an excuse not to release the Democrats memo. Why am I not surprised?

I've been watching bits and pieces of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Very nice show. South Korea has done a magnificent job.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Former member of the Watergate prosecutor's team thinks Mueller probably has a solid case against Trump already.  DailyBeast  (This one's fairly long by Daily Beast standards, although it'd be fairly short by ‛The Atlantic’ average--I think it's worth the look.)

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Trump tells us that he's been ‘victimized’ by the Obama administration.  Really; I'm serious; that's what he's claiming.  Trumptweets.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

I think the prosecutor is right. Mueller knows more than we do.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Russia also tried to penetrate the voting systems of 21 states.

This if of concern. There is no saying they won't try that again in the next election. An election that is a critical step to re-balancing the balance of power.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Fairly slow news days this weekend.  The right-wingers are all pissed off about the fact that Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, actually looks better on camera than a dour-faced Mike Pence.
Members of the Trump administration is busy knifing one of their own (Chief of Staff Kelly this weekend).  Some other members are busy defending him.  As usual Trump is enjoying the show, and doing nothing about it
And the more radical wing of the Democratic Party is mad at the establishment Democrats for not going to the mat again over the Dreamers (and lose again).

That means people will be watching the stock market even closer tomorrow on account of not having sufficient diversions over the weekend.

Petes said...

[Lynnette]: "Well, it seems that Trump has found an excuse not to release the Democrats memo. Why am I not surprised?"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Dems have a hissy fit over Trump's issuance of the previous memo on grounds that it was "irresponsible". Now that he cites security concerns they're having another meltdown. Of course he's probably playing cynical politics, but it's nice to see the inconsistencies exposed on the other side too.

Petes said...

[Lynnette]: ""But I don't think I would take everything out. Cash doesn't keep up with inflation."

Neither do stocks when they're falling! :)

"The market has been very volatile this week, but so far it hasn't been an abnormally large correction, percentage wise. It was actually to be expected. The run up could not continue as it was. I am going to try to ignore it for now."

Ah, that's the $64bn question. An analyst that I have some regard for wrote in one of today's Sunday papers: "Panic now and avoid rush later as market tectonic plates are finally on move". I see just now that Asian markets are down on the open -- a couple of percent each in Japan and Australia. I wonder will that set the tone for the week.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "Correct me if I'm wrong…"

Okay.  It was, in fact, the Trump administrations' DOJ and FBI who were pushing the idea that the Nunes' memo was an irresponsible breach of national security.

The Democrats' ‘hissy fit’ was mostly over the fact that the Nunes' memo was deceptive and thoroughly partisan and the Intelligence Committee had heretofore been one of the few committees that had avoided blatant partisanship.
They also tried to make political points over the fact that the Republicans were clearly betraying their long time self-congratulatory claim to having been the party committed to supporting the government security agencies against almost all challengers.  But, that latter was mostly a matter of them trying to make political hay out of Republican hypocrisies on the subject, much as you are trying to make political hay out of pretending to find Democratic hypocrisies.  The major difference being that the Republican hypocrisies are real.

Marcus said...

[Lynnette]: ""But I don't think I would take everything out. Cash doesn't keep up with inflation."

Pete:
Neither do stocks when they're falling! :)


It's always best to be mainly in cash when the market crashes. Sure, you might lose a point or two due to inflation, but compared to losing 30-50% in a bubble crash thats peanuts. Also the ones with cash at hand are the ones who can reenter the market when blood flows on the streets and prices at the bottom.

Identifying when the crash is for real however, thats not that easy, and for most of us only possible with hindsight. Lee claims this is not a crash, and he may be correct, but hes just guessing.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Reuters summarizes a fairly noncommittal review of Trump's newest budget plan.  Little ways down it acknowledges that Trump's second budget again relies on gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions of economic growth (even given the stimulus (i.e. inflationary) effect of massive deficit spending in an already growing economy).

I'm expecting this news to be not particularly good for a stock market that already has the jitters.  Still don't think it's the big one yet.  More likely it'll just rattle them again before they catch their breath and move along towards summer.

Marcus is right though, like everybody else, I'm just guessing.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
It looks like Chairman Nunes is going to try to go after ex-CIA director, John Bremmer, who's been highly critical of Trump in public.  link  Ya gotta kinda wonder of if Nunes is trying to fight above his own weight division here.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

[Lynnette]: But I don't think I would take everything out. Cash doesn't keep up with inflation.

[Pete]: Neither do stocks when they're falling! :)

[Marcus]: It's always best to be mainly in cash when the market crashes. Also the ones with cash at hand are the ones who can reenter the market when blood flows on the streets and prices at the bottom.

Identifying when the crash is for real however, thats not that easy, and for most of us only possible with hindsight. Lee claims this is not a crash, and he may be correct, but hes just guessing.


All good points. Only in hindsight can we really know. But, at the moment anyway, the US economy is fairly strong. And, despite my saying the stock market has lost touch with reality, there is still some basis at work. When you buy a stock you are, hopefully, buying shares in a company that will give you some value in return. However, this is now, all bets may be off if we do enter into a period of trade wars because of some people's shortsighted policies.

Given that Pete is retired I can understand his reasoning. You don't want to lose a large chunk of investment income when it is what you are living on. His choice is probably wise. I am still working so I still have a little cushion from earned income. But even so I have been trying to diversify. Although, little good that would really do if we were to slide into a real depression.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

The right-wingers are all pissed off about the fact that Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, actually looks better on camera than a dour-faced Mike Pence.

She looks better than her brother too. Good political relations coup on the part of North Korea.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Of course he's probably playing cynical politics...

Sure 'nuff. He has from day one. The difference between him and the Democrats is that he is putting his country's well being at risk. That's not what the job of President is all about.

We really need to say...You're fired!.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Little ways down it acknowledges that Trump's second budget again relies on gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions of economic growth...

Not surprising coming from a man who really isn't good at running businesses.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Now this is a little confusing. Why would anyone be sent to the hospital if the substance was non-hazardous?

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "Now this is a little confusing."

The first thing I read on that subject claimed she became nauseous after her ‛exposure’.  If the substance was non-hazardous then one might suspect a panic attack to be at the root of it.  I have no clue what the other two alleged ‛injuries’ might consist of.

On a brighter note, the Dow closed up 400 points today in spite of Trump's budget outline hitting the news.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

And Chloe Kim won gold in her snowboarding event. We also had our first ever medal in the luge and our skaters have been putting in some very graceful, beautiful programs. America is more than Trump. We have some very hard working people out there.

See? I'm trying to look on the bright side...

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Well, I was going to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day, but after the school shooting in Florida I'm just not feeling too cheery. *sigh*

A very sad day for all of the people there.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Are they telling us again that we can't talk about the need for tighter gun controls on account of that would "politicize" the fact that he was carrying an AR-15 and multiple high capacity magazines?

Petes said...

Depressing. As well as Valentine's it's also Ash Wednesday (painfully obvious from some of the Florida images).

These school shooting stats are crazy -- one per week, pretty much as regular as clockwork. Eight have involved death or injury so far this year and it's barely the third week in February! Obviously nobody will suggest anything as insane as disarming the population... because freedom.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Nancy Pelosi has finally issued a statement calling for congressional action aimed at preventing ‘gun violence’ in general.
This should be all that is required for the Trumpkins, and the Republicans who aren't yet Trumpkins, to begin to begin their ritual denunciations of any and all efforts to prevent further school shootings (other than their ritual promise that more guns at school will lead to less shootings at school).  Also we should soon be hearing about how the repeated mass murders of our children cannot be ‛politicized’ because….  Well, the ‛because’ part has never been real clear, but it's part of the ritual to insist that it can't be ‛politicized’.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
According to Michael Bloomberg's Everytown organization, there have been 18 school shootings this year.  That's once every 2.5 days, on average.  I believe Petes was giving the number for mass shootings, defined as four or more people shot in a single incident. 

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Nope, appears Petes was giving an average per… since 2013.  Not sure of the definition he was using for that.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Thought I left a link for the 18 school shootings.  It doesn't show up.   ABCNews  Shows now.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

This is something that should be a no brainer for bi-partisan agreement, yet there are still those who put their own agendas before the safety of our children. And these people are still being elected to office. The fault runs deep within my country.

Petes said...

"This is something that should be a no brainer for bi-partisan agreement..."

That sounds unlikely. The Preznit thinks it's a mental health issue. He's right -- your right-wingers are barking mad on this issue.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Didn't see this one coming.  Thirteen named Russians have be charged by Mueller's grand jury for interference in the 2016 presidential elections.  No Americans have been charged, although the indictments say that Americans were working with the Russians including persons involved in the Trump campaign (who supposedly were not aware that the persons they were working with were Russians).  WashingtonPost

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
And, just ‘cause they've had such fun and such success, especially success, so far….  Russian bots are on twitter today pushing pro-gun, anti-gun control messages towards the American audience.  TheHill

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
I have come to believe that Robert Mueller will eventually request the indictment of Donald Trump by the grand jury.  That doesn't mean that charges will be filed.  I think Mueller's status as ‛special counsel’ rather than as a ‛special prosecutor’, and more tellingly, Mueller's dedication to doing thing ‛by the book’, means that actual charges against the President would have to be filed by a duly constituted United States prosecutor, i.e. one of the 50 U.S. Attorneys scattered about the country, or one of their superiors in the Justice Department in D.C. (realistically, we're probably talking about Rod Rosenstein making the decision, unless Trump is stupid enough to fire Rosenstein now--way past getting away with that now that the Russians have been formally charged with crimes; Trump fires Rosenstein now, one of those 50 U.S. Attorneys would likely sign the charge sheet in his stead).

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

The Preznit thinks it's a mental health issue. He's right -- your right-wingers are barking mad on this issue.

They're just barking mad, period.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Didn't see this one coming. Thirteen named Russians have be charged by Mueller's grand jury for interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

Nor did I! Mueller continues to surprise. If I were Trump I would start to wonder, if I hadn't already, what else Mueller has up his sleeve.

I have come to believe that Robert Mueller will eventually request the indictment of Donald Trump by the grand jury.

Anything is possible. Trump by the very definition of his divisiveness plays like a Russian stooge. Witting or unwitting.

But if he does indict him it could be for something that is not expected, at least by the general public.

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

Russian bots are on twitter today pushing pro-gun, anti-gun control messages towards the American audience.

Apparently that is their MO. It is not good enough to push one side, they must push both to make us seem even more divided. They seem to be doing a good job.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Yeah…  Well…

They're only pushing one side of that debate so far as I know.

Pro-gun ≈ anti-gun control.

Petes said...

Lots of leftwing commentators on the telly today wettin' themselves over the idea that the Feds are closing in on Trump. It's kinda pathetic watching them drool. It's almost as if they've forgotten it was the Dems who were the sleazebags, fixin' the primaries for Hillary to win. They're still livin' in some fantasy land in which Hillary deserved to get the job.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
      "… fixin' the primaries for Hillary to win."

Not knowing what you're talking about appears to be no impediment to you talking anyway.

   Lee C.  ―   U.S.A.     said...

 
Turkey denies using chemical weapons yesterday in its attack against Kurdish positions in Afrin, Syria. Reuters

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

I think you are right, it's time for Turkey to leave NATO.