31 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on POTUS Interview: Speaker Ryan Lied on Border Wall Funding Promise to Get Omnibus Signed… — The Last Refuge
Paul Ryan LIED?!?! Say it ain’t so!
President Trump gave an exclusive interview to the Daily Caller. Part of that interview entailed President Trump outlining the back-story behind him signing the Omnibus spending bill and a promise from Paul Ryan. [Transcript]THE DAILY CALLER: Well, the people who elected you are very interested in the immigration decision and what’s going on with this […]
12 Wednesday Apr 2017
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
Tags
America, bankruptcy, banksters, evil, money, Paul Ryan, Puerto Rico, theft
A little less than a year ago I reported several times on Paul Ryan’s efforts to save banking profits by temporarily averting financial disaster in Puerto Rico. Then, I wrote:
May 24, 2016 I posted Paul Ryan Rescues Banksters, Globalists about Paul Ryan’s dastardly plans to force you (all of you) to pay Puerto Rico’s debts – all on behalf of the banksters of the world.
I said then:
The bailout will happen; consider it a done deal. Really $2 Billion or the whole $70 Billion is but a barely noticeable drop in the fed’s ocean of economic woe. Things like this add up though. When the whole system comes crashing down don’t count on the banksters to be found let alone lend a hand. They’re gathering the last of the cash (yours and mine) and preparing to flee. However, come hell or high water, the politicians will be easier to find. They’ll still expect to be re-elected. Remember this story and all the others. Hold them accountable or rinse and repeat with similar results.
U.S. Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), who actually has a Ph.D. in economics, has caught on to the theft and deception:
“This makes the bill truly Orwellian — it remove[d] the consent of the Puerto Rican people and creates a fiefdom for unelected officials chosen by President Obama.
“As economist Thomas Sowell said, ‘The fatal attraction of government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves.’ Congress can’t even get its own fiscal house in order, but [passed] a bill to solve Puerto Rico’s problems.
“This bill should [have been] subject to ratification by the Puerto Rican legislature or a vote from the Puerto Rican people. As it stands, I [opposed] PROMESA because it turns free citizens into subjects.”
He’s only talking about the loss of autonomy of the people of Puerto Rico; the rest of the American people will be losing their money. Pay up, subjects.
Temporary is almost over. The law passed and the wayward territory was given a year to get settlements in order. Like so much else Ryan touches, nothing has happened.
Bankruptcy for Puerto Rico is looking ever more likely as the clock ticks down toward a May 1 deadline to restructure $70 billion in debt, ramping up uncertainty for anyone betting on returns from the island’s widely held U.S. municipal bonds.
When U.S. Congress last year passed the Puerto Rico rescue law dubbed PROMESA, it froze creditor lawsuits against the island so its federally appointed oversight board and creditors could negotiate out of court on the biggest debt restructuring in U.S. municipal history.
The freeze expires on May 1, however, and an extension by Congress is “not going to happen,” said a Republican aide to the House Committee on Natural Resources, which is in charge of territory matters.
A round of mediated talks is scheduled to begin on Thursday. But absent an agreement soon, a growing number of analysts say Puerto Rico will seek protection from creditors under PROMESA’s court-sanctioned restructuring process, akin to U.S. bankruptcy.
Forbearance deals could let negotiations continue past May 1, but a source directly involved in the talks said avoiding an eventual bankruptcy is “impossible.”
Bankruptcy wouldn’t be the worst thing for P.R. In fact, it might be the best thing, here and now. It could give the people of the island room to decide if they want to continue their local fiasco. Hopefully, it will stay local and with them.
I have a funny feeling Congress won’t stand idly-by as the banks lose $70 Billion. Time will tell.
This case may serve as a canary in the economic coalmine. Watch and see what happens when governments default – more will surely follow.
This might be a good time to decide if P.R. should be granted sovereignty.
Might be a good look at the relationship between Congress and Wall Street.
It might be fun or funny, but probably not…
26 Sunday Mar 2017
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
Glenn Harlan Reynolds accurately details the incomprehensible Republican failure and stupidity last week in D.C.
The plan to replace Obamacare with a new bill crafted by House Speaker Paul Ryan has failed, and embarrassingly so. And that failure is part and parcel of a larger failure of the Republican-led Congress to push an agenda in the new administration.
Talking to a friend at lunch not long ago, he expressed his amazement that the House and Senate leadership didn’t have bills “lined up like airplanes on a runway” ready to take off in the new year. I was surprised, too.
It’s not like the need to do something about Obamacare was a surprise. Republicans have been promising to repeal it for most of a decade. And it’s not like Obamacare was popular or successful. Premiums are rising, providers are dropping out, and costs are going up. It’s true that the Obamacare bill, pushed through on a procedural technicality that avoided a filibuster but left it impossible to fix at the time, was a mess. It’s also true that the legislation was drafted, and the regulations implementing it were designed, in part to make it hard to undo.
Nonetheless, the Republican inability to deliver a bill that could get a majority in the GOP-led House is a colossal failure, and pretty much undercuts its entire reason for being. For years the congressional GOP leadership failed to deliver on promises to constituents, and offered the excuse that it couldn’t do anything without control of the White House. Well, they’ve got that, so what’s their excuse now? And where are the bills on infrastructure, on tax reform, on free speech?
The congressional GOP’s failure to deliver on its promises is one of the things that led to the election of President Trump. Now they’re still failing. What comes next?
If history has taught us anything about Republicans, then “what comes next” is more failure. The Atlanta Falcons of politics.
Last night I caught a few minutes of Judge Jeanine Pirro of Fox – I could not turn away as she utterly skewered Paul Ryan:
Paul Ryan needs to step down as Speaker of the House.
The reason? He failed to deliver the votes on his health care bill. The one trumpeted to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The one that he had seven years to work on. The one he hid under lock and key in the basement of Congress. The one that had to be pulled to prevent the embarrassment of not having enough votes to pass.
But this bill didn’t just fail — it failed when Republicans had the House, the Senate, the White House.
And the timing? It failed within the first 70 days of President Donald Trump’s administration. A president who made replacement of ObamaCare the hallmark of his campaign. And then used valuable political capital to accomplish it.
Americans elected the one man they believed could do it. A complete outsider. Someone beholden to no one — but them.
And Speaker Ryan, you come in, with all your swagger and experience, and you sell him a bill of goods which ends up a complete and total failure. And you allow our president, in his first one hundred days, to come out of the box like that? Based on what? Your legislative expertise? Your knowledge of the arcane ins and outs of the bill writing process? Your relationships? What? Your drinks at the Hay-Adams with your pals?
Folks, I want to be clear: this is NOT on President Trump. No one expected a businessman to completely understand the nuances, the complicated ins and outs of Washington and its legislative process. How would he know which individuals upon whom he would be able to rely? Many of them, friends and establishment colleagues of Speaker Ryan.
You, on the other hand, Speaker Ryan, know very well who the 15 hard liners, the 10 moderates, and all the other ones.
Amen. No, this one is not on Trump. This one and this one alone. No more passes in the future. He’s a smart enough man to learn how the jellyfish sting. Whether he’s willing to use what he learns and whether that is enough remains to be seen.
The whole 61st (61st!!) failure to repeal ObamaCare boiled down to not getting conservative Republicans on board. Hell, as Pirro says, they were physically locked out of the process. How could anyone have expected their support? The Bill could have been passed with their help and without a single Democrat vote in favor. This is strictly a GOP problem.
Their “solution” is strict GOP stupidity. The conservatives in the “conservative” party were not consulted, then. Now, instead on trying to get them on board, the GOP and Trump are opening to the idea of bringing Democrats into the fold. I wonder what their suggestions might entail?
And the GOP is splintering. Blaming those fellow conservatives who were never invited to participate, Rep. Ted Poe is abandoning the House Freedom Caucus.
Ted Poe / Twitter.
Despite decades of jading, I had high hopes for Trump’s Presidency. I still do though that old shade of green is creeping back into my views. If he cannot marshal this band of derelicts and losers into a solid party, then there isn’t much faith in his (their?) agenda. If that happens, one can expect similar failures on: the debt ceiling (a given no matter what); tax cuts; immigration; etc.
The whole thing starts to look like the Contract with America. Remember that stellar GOP success? Neither do I.
On that note, I will leave you with Carlin:
24 Tuesday May 2016
Posted in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes
Tags
America, banksters, Congress, debt, economy, election, freedom, government, Paul Ryan, politicians, taxes, The People, theft
Do not panic. That foul odor wafting through the air today was not the result of an explosion at a hog rendering plant. You did not smell a rat. Well, actually you did – a rat named Paul Ryan. The little Speaker who couldn’t finally got some traction with his first signature legislation in the House. He, under orders from Jacob Lew and the international monied powers, crafted a “bipartisan deal” to bail out..er..restructure Puerto Rico’s $70 Billion debts.
A bipartisan action is generally applauded as it is seen as cooperation between the Bloods and Crips of Congress. What it really means, most of the time, is that a royal screwing is coming.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. Territory. The people there have been granted near statehood, with a governor, a general assembly and some other criminal offices. The locals have petitioned for full statehood. Oddly, the United Nations considers P.R. a separate and sovereign nation. Whatever one calls the Island, the voters there and their elected clowns are adults. They should act like adults. Make a debt, pay a debt. Or not. Just don’t expect someone else to pick up the tab. Speaker Ryan has other ideas.
I warned about this coming theft several weeks ago:
Puerto Rico is not about to default on its debt payments, but is defaulting (has [past tense] defaulted) on them. All things being equal this would not concern me much. What got my attention in the Wall Street Journal’s article last night was the smug arrogance of the Empire’s chief henchman, Jack Lew. He’s the creep who is kicking Old Hickory off the Twenty. Well, he’s been chosen to make that suggestion to the Fed puppet-masters.
In a letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned on Monday that a U.S. “taxpayer-funded bailout may become the only legislative course available” if the proposed restructuring legislation isn’t approved.
The island’s debt is held by mutual funds, hedge funds, bond insurers and individual investors, who were attracted in part by tax benefits and high yields. The default Monday casts serious doubt on the commonwealth’s ability to make other future payments, which “means that other defaults are very likely on other Puerto Rico credits,” said Paul Mansour…
-WSJ, May 2, 2016.
Well, of course. Let one government and its supporters screw up and the other government and all its supporters (willing or no) will foot the bill. It’s the only course available. Letting nature take its course is not an option – that would be bad for the hedge funds, banks, and insurance companies. They pay a lot of money for their (their, like the own it and it belongs to them) government. They have to get their money’s worth. The bulk of the people remain blissfully unaware.
You may be blissful about this garbage but you’re no longer unaware. The Hill and the WSJ have notified you and I’ve told you twice now.
A people and their crooked “leaders” make mistakes. It happens to the best of us. A default would be bad for P.R. but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Things might actually get better – financial correction they call it. But then the big boys would lose on their investments and they NEVER lose. At least not while they have your taxes to loot.
Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
The local spendthrifts will keep on spending, the Wall Street cabal will remain neck-deep in caviar, and the GOP establishment claims a victory. Yes, those “conservatives” everyone loves (and their “liberal” friends like Nanny Nancy Pelosi) think robbing the people to pay satanic hucksters is a victory. By the way, the only real opposition to this scheme in Congress has come from “socialist” Bernie Sanders:
The Puerto Rico legislation still hasn’t been scheduled on the House floor. Bishop will mark up the bill in his committee on Wednesday, leaving the full chamber just one day to take it up before lawmakers leave town Thursday for the Memorial Day recess.
Some lawmakers want a quick vote on Puerto Rico this week. The longer it hangs out there, the thinking goes, the more time political foes will have to try to stir up opposition. On the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, urged his Senate colleagues Monday to oppose the legislation, ripping the oversight board as “undemocratic” because it’s comprised of “unelected” appointees.
The bailout will happen; consider it a done deal. Really $2 Billion or the whole $70 Billion is but a barely noticeable drop in the fed’s ocean of economic woe. Things like this add up though. When the whole system comes crashing down don’t count on the banksters to be found let alone lend a hand. They’re gathering the last of the cash (yours and mine) and preparing to flee. However, come hell or high water, the politicians will be easier to find. They’ll still expect to be re-elected. Remember this story and all the others. Hold them accountable or rinse and repeat with similar results.
19 Saturday Dec 2015
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on Rache the Vote!
Tags
America, anarchy, election, government, insanity, Obama, Paul Ryan, political parties, The People, voting, Washington
How can a place essentially named “Washing Town” contain so much filth? The only thing awash is the corruption.
The past two weeks have seen inordinate stupidity flow from D.C., even by D.C. standards. In response to terrorism against the people Hussein Obama and his administration announced they will crack down on the people (little more than racist gun nuts, you know). Obama is a Democrat. Democrat, got it. The opposite of a Republican. To demonstrate their oppositeness the Republicans, led by Paul “Blackbeard” Ryan, passed a budget funding everything Obama holds dear.
Funding for Obamacare? In there. Funding for Planned Parenthood? In there. Funding for more terrorists? In there. Bigger government? Got it. More debt? Check. More war? Bombs away.
There will soon be more terrorist “refugees” admitted to the Empire than there are Republican voters in Iowa. Soon there will be more laws than there are people in this nation. Two parties, one result.
The people love it! They don’t just tolerate the insanity, they demand it with religious zeal. In between drunken binges of fantasy football and the Kartrashians they root for their own servitude. David Shellenberger explains the process:
They claim that we consent to be governed, government is our servant, and “we are the government.” This would mean that we consent to domination by criminals, the criminals serve us, and we are part of the criminal enterprise.
They give money to politicians, financing criminal contenders. They enjoy politics, seeing competition among criminals as entertainment. They vote, encouraging the criminal enterprise. They make demands of government, begging the criminals for favors.
Shellenberger, The Absurdity of Tolerating the State, May 18, 2014.
Of course, all this will change for the best immediately after next year’s election. Just like last time.
Arrrrr. Avast thar, me tax slaves!
17 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on What You Get
Tags
Merry Christmas from Speaker Blackbeard and his jolly band o pirates! This is what you get for supporting the GOP – more spending than Bernie Sanders could dream up.
Keep on voting!
04 Wednesday Nov 2015
Posted in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Meet The New Boss …
Tags
anarchy, Congress, economy, GOP, government, healthcare, militia, Paul Ryan, taxes, The People, welfare
These days I watch as little television as possible. With a few (very few) exceptions there just isn’t anything worth seeing. Tonight’s experience is a good example. I passed by the TV after dinner and decided to watch for a minute. A minute was all they got too.
Google Images.
Paul Ryan, the newly ordained 54th Speaker of the House of Representatives, was interviewed by some lady on Fox News. Young Master Paul was glibly gibbering on about the new direction he was going to head us in. Before I left, disinterested and a little angry, I caught four of his plan points, posed as questions. I’ll paraphrase them as best as I recall:
What are we going to replace Obamacare with?
What new tax system will we develop?
How do we get people off welfare?
How do we get people working?
I have an answer for each of these quandaries; I’ll get to them shortly. First, isn’t this amazing? This Speaker reminds me of the one before, and the one before him, and the one before her, and on and on. These are the same pet issues the GOP has talked about for decades. They’ve done nothing more than talk. I suppose this rote, broken record is entertaining enough for the average voter. A person of substance, looking objectively at what has been done (rather than said), would get the idea the people are being played for fools.
It is clear as a bell the GOP and their Donkey friends intend to keep things just as they are – only the form or name may change slightly. The effects will be the same. “Replace” Obamacare. With what? A “new” tax. Why?
I walked by a minute later and heard Paully say “military” – another Republican pet project we can’t afford. That’s all I heard. I assume he wants to keep it. Maybe make it bigger. And, lordy, it needs regular u$e.
My four answers:
Repeal Obamacare (and Medicaid, Medicare, etc) and replace it with … NOTHING!!! Government’s century-long meddling in healthcare has done nothing but drive prices into orbit. Leave patients and doctors alone.
How about NO TAXES!!! Taxes support governments. The money is always better off in the hands that earned it. Leave people’s money alone.
To end welfare (all of it – farm subsides, bank bailouts, etc), ABOLISH IT!!! If you pay folks not to work, many won’t. The same goes for corporations, bankers and ranchers. Leave the economy alone.
Want people to work? Leave that to them and leave them alone.
I have a military answer too: A MILITIA!!! A militia is just citizens protecting their own. A standing army wastes money and lives invading other nations. Leave the world alone.
There. I solved everything. I could have done it in three words: eliminate the government.
17 Wednesday Jun 2015
Posted in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes
Tags
America, banksters, Bush, Congress, crime, Democrats, Donald Trump, election, evil, George Carlin, GOP, government, H1-B, Hillary, law, Mitch McConnell, Obama, ObamaCare, Orin Hatch, Paul Ryan, politics, President, Republicans, Ron Paul, Social Security, the Big Club, The People, Tom Brady, Trade Act, voting, Wall Street, Washington, WWE
Have you ever been to the Yankee Capital on the Potomac? I have. The place stinks of corruption and swamp gas (mostly corruption). The air is heavy with a dread sense of impending doom. It is the opposite of Disney Land. It is the least happiest place on earth.
Washington is overrun with an odd assortment of con artists, criminals, psychopaths and their sycophants. Worst of the worst are the elected trash under the Capital dome and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. These grafting lunatics continually foist scheme after scheme on the unenlightened American People. They want everything: your money, your freedom, your property, your children, your obedience, and your very lives. These otherwise unemployable degenerates are the front men for what George Carlin used to call “The Big Club.” It’s an organization of wealthy pirates, money changers, politicians and other villains.
The Club gets what it wants – everything – all the time. Watch and listen as George lays it all out (around 2:00 min. in he states my title):
George on Youtube. WARNING: Video contains strong TRUTH.
Lately, the Club has been pushing another criminal trade act. I commented on the Act (H.R. 1314) last time I rambled. Normally, I let these things go with one or two posts but this one is special, unusual. The anomaly lies in the relentless bi-partisan way this Bill is being rammed through the legislative process.
The Act itself is the work of President Obama (a Democrat). It has nominal Democratic support in Congress. The fighting power behind this insane drive comes from the Republicans in Congress (Republicans are the opposite of Democrats, remember?).
The purpose of this satanic work of corporate lobbying and largess is to steal the last of your money and employment and deposit them into the greedy, dirty hands of foreigners and Wall Street banksters.
There are a number of uncomfortable truths associated with American politics. One is that Republicans, supposedly the though, all-American, good old boys, are some of the most spineless wimps every embodied. They roll over for anything and everything. Obamacare: they let it ride. Crushing debt: they fight it until they don’t. Babies being murdered by the millions: they are “outraged” if impotent. These losers normally provide a little surface friction for the cameras and then let anything go. It’s their role under our ONE PARTY SYSTEM. Imagine professional wrestling with a all “heels” cast.
This time around the GOP is fighting like wild banshees, fighting like nothing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and company are risking everything on this one. They have taken Obama’s pass and are headed to the end zone come hell or high water. Like Tom Brady they may have to take a short suspension for cheating but they will win this one – for the Club.
Meet the Real terrorists. Politico.com/Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images.
In a separate but related story Sen. Orin Hatch (R, Utah) has introduced a Bill to help more foreigners take jobs from you via the H1-B visa program. He will get his way on this. The Salt Lake Tribune opines he should seek to fix the program instead of expanding it. Why not just end it and let Americans make a living in America? Oh yeah, that doesn’t benefit the Club.
The Club, like the WWE, knows it has a PR problem. After decades of being screwed over, even the dumbest, slowest American sap begins to suspect something is amiss. Enter a “face” character, a hero for the common man – cut from uncommon cloth. Last night on CSPAN I watched Donald Trump lay out his bombastic, non-specific plan to save the Nation. The Donald is running for President.
No donors required! Forbes/Getty.
Trump is the “outsider” in a field of some 6,000 or so Republicans seeking the most dishonest job under the sun. I heard him say things that made him stand out. I liked a lot of it. Most of it sounded like a sales pitch. That’s the beauty and wonder of Donald Trump – he is the best salesman in the world. He said many of the right things. He cursed and called our current crop of idiot “leaders” out as just that – stupid people unqualified for their positions. I liked that part. He also told the cheering crowd (watch for yourself) he would make America great again. I really liked that. He stated some plain and uncomfortable truths; he said what few others dare. I loved it. Can he deliver?
Many slick salesmen don’t deliver the goods they promise. Trump usually does. When he boasts about a new skyscraper with the best of everything under its roof, a magnificent structure will surely follow. Can he deliver in the political field? Real estate development is a noble endeavor. Trump excells at it. He builds real things that benefit real people. That’s what development is all about. Politics is about lies, deception, illusions and anything but useful creation.
I don’t think The Donald will fit in. I don’t think he can be the change needed. I think Ron Paul was the last hope for that – back in 2008. Now, it would seem a little to late to retool and rebuild. The hope now is in mitigating the damages and preparing for a new future. Part of me hopes I’m wrong and that we are not past the point of no return. Part of me hopes to get to the future (hopefully one without the Club) as fast as possible – a little pain for a while then a fresh start. Time will tell.
Beyond Trump’s pomp and sales pitch I heard several nuggets which plainly proclaimed Trump to be a $9 Billion business as usual candidate. Trump is opposed to the afore-mentioned Trade Act. He also says he will “repeal and REPLACE” Obamacare. I’ll bet he has plans to replace the Trade legislation too. That will not cut it. Abstinence is the only deal with the devil which ever pays off. One cannot tune the forces of darkness to one’s whims and expect peace.
Similarly, Trump says he will “save” Social Security. This echoes the age-old Republican mantra of shoring up, replacing, privatizing, or re-working that failed communist program. Abolishing it is never an option. No mind that we did just fine as a country for 159 years without such welfare confiscation. Re-imagined evil is still evil.
Remember all of this should you shuffle into a voting booth next fall. Your vote, be it for the billionaire, the old hag, ANOTHER BUSH, the shirtless cool dude, etc., will be in vain. The spirit of Carlin and I will waiting on you down the street at the cigar club or the gun range.
PERRIN LOVETT 
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