OlDawg

One thing I was thinking on last night was an EO. Most of this money is actually funded via data from the census directly from a specific government department. It would only be a temporary fix if an EO was used to modify funding, but I don't see why one couldn't be used. Seems a liberal San Fran judge blocked this Administration from stopping some funding earlier this year. But, that was because it had already been allocated. (That, and just being anti-Administration policies of course.) If an EO was used--early enough--that said funding would only be tabulated based on 'permanent, legal residents calculated by such & such numbers', I'm not sure it wouldn't work. It would be challenged. But, I know of no legal reason it may not be upheld if appealed. May need to research more...

IMHO, Trump’s tariffs are hurting some and helping others. Typical. Overall, needs more time for tariffs to work through the system. Setting the final tariffs (basically the high end for most anyway) should be a big help for business. Now, they can plan. They just need lower borrowing rates until they can get their supply chains worked out where everything isn’t passed to the consumer. I’d say—from my perspective as an economic data watcher & investor—the economy is ‘okay’, but could really take off with a benchmark rate of around 3.5. I picked up some select buys for the long term this last business week. NLR is a nuclear ETF that also includes Constellation. Wanted to buy earlier, but didn’t pull the trigger as I got busy doing other things. But, I expect it to be a solid growth/divvie option. It’s gone up over $33 in 3 months with a lot of room to run. I wouldn’t be buying if I didn’t feel decent for long term. I’m a retired investor. Not a trader. Mainly a dividend investor at this stage with some select emphasis on growth. I buy solid companies at a decent price & hold them. To me, if they’re good enough to buy, they’re good enough to hold. I do the same with my REIT’s and ETF’s.

Right now, we need to circulate a little more cash. Benchmark 30 year notes are running at ~4.85%, and have hit 5% in the last 2 weeks. Not good news. The job market is slowing. Inflation is running about 2.8% with the benchmark a full 200 basis points higher. Too big a gap. I’m afraid the Fed is a little behind the 8 ball. Employers need lower rates to be able to offset some tariff costs while refinancing debt, and still be able to keep/hire. IMHO, the Fed should lower rates by 50 basis points in September. The gap between inflation and benchmark needs to come down.

House Rules of Procedure: Rule 5, Chapter A, Section 3 (Starts on Page 89) [Hidden Content] Sorry. Took some investigative digging. I still don’t really see a penalty for non-payment other than forfeiture of funds and payment of other fees before receiving any new funding/pay—which is nowhere near the fine amount that could be accrued.

I think they’re working towards that. Issue is, their key states (Illinois, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, and even Nevada) are already gerrymandered to the Democratic side so much, they can’t get many more—if any—seats out of them. From data I’ve read, Dems seem to gerrymander ‘bigger’, and Reps gerrymander more states but “smaller”—if that makes sense. Ought to be illegal for both. But, I don’t see any way to stop it. Incumbents will want to keep their seats. Just like the reason for no term limits. It does make a joke of representative democracy. But, we really haven’t had that in a very long time anyway. One way might be for a viable minor Party to really make inroads because of public dissatisfaction with the two major Parties. Harder to gerrymander for three. But, that’s a real long shot.

What I know is I get sick of coming on this part of the site and seeing you turn EVERY SINGLE THREAD into an Epstein thread. Nothing wrong with constructive criticism. But, can you keep the Epstein stuff in the Epstein thread? Asking for a friend.

I think it was his point. That’s why I said ‘technically.’ They would probably have to pick off 6. In the infamous words of Don Rickles in Kelly’s Heroes “Make a deal deal.” Some Dem Senator’s states may benefit from a more frequent census that didn’t have a large illegal immigrant population. Doubtful in this environment. But, stranger things have happened.

I think it would take 60. But, don’t quote me on it. There may be other ways since it’s a funding mechanism. The funding isn’t directly tied to the census. It’s used because it’s considered the ‘authoritative’ data. If it’s a budget process, it may only take a simple majority.

I support Trump’s attempt to straighten out & correct our immigration situation. He’s following immigration law more than anyone I the last 40 or so years. Before immigration can be really addressed as a whole, the bleeding has to stop & be reversed. I support Trump’s attempt to make the American worker more competitive globally. I support Trump’s attempt to put more money back in working families pockets. I support Trump’s stance of rebuilding our military, & changing some of our philosophy to be able to be effective in war fighting (if necessary) by developing new tech. Other policies, I watch and wait. I don’t have to love him personally.

Technically, they hold 53 seats. Plus Vance.

Yes. This is an interesting twist. While it’s perfectly legal for the Dems to quorum bust, if it’s found that an outside PAC/group (Beto and/or Soros are being discussed) influenced the walk out by promising to pay costs beforehand if the Dems walked out, it becomes a different legal matter.

Judge Stops Beto from Funding Fleeing Dems [Hidden Content]

Just got them. Thanks BG!

Did they finally get it populated? I checked yesterday and it wasn’t ready yet…

You wanna’ know the scary part? They’re the group that’s mainly populating AI. We need a lot more old farts posting on here to counteract them. Y’all go ahead and get started. 😂

Interesting how that works. Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle. Imperfect messengers…

They need 12 Democrats to reach a quorum. Reps have 88. That shows how little Texas is actually gerrymandered—regardless of the BS press. There are 150 members in the Texas State House.

If they are vacated, no quorum could be reached. But, they would have to stay gone for about 3 months.

IF (Big IF) seats are vacated, they remain vacated until the next General Election in this case because of timing in an even numbered year. So, would still mean no quorum possible. Personally, I don’t see them being vacated. They have the ability to do this in the Texas Constitution—like it or not—and SCOTX doesn’t like to get involved in the politics of this stuff. They need to pass a House Rule designating a specific time of approved, physical non-attendance for future. Otherwise, the Dems can just say they were fulfilling their duties remotely.

My thoughts: 11-5A D1 - Reverse Friendswood & Crosby. Overall Crosby returners including QB & outstanding DL. Plus, I think they’re hungry again. 8-5A D2 - Reverse Huntsville & PN-G. Coaching for PN-G. 10-3A D1 - Reverse EC & Hardin. Hardin O was impressive & looks like they return a bunch. Those and $0.25 will buy you the stir stick for your coffee.

Put this in the census thread. But, I’ll drop it here as well. [Hidden Content]

Interesting way of looking at gerrymandering with actual numbers vs. hyperbole. According to this measurement method, Republicans should currently have 6 more seats. [Hidden Content]

The people that will elect him—if it happens—will be the ones that can’t afford to leave. That’s the audience (and brainwashed young people) he’s catering to… It’ll be the typical socialist/communist downward spiral that’s proven out through history everywhere it’s been tried. Of course, there’s always the idiots that believe it’ll be different for them.

Republicans would be wise—while they have the majority in both House & Senate—to pass a law that ties Federal funding to a census that only counts legal, permanent residents. Separate it from the decennial census. Funding isn’t mandated by the Constitution in Article 1.