AN OUNCE of PREVENTION?

Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) is saying Re’Trump’licans will vote for a funding bill without a suspension of the debt ceiling.

As midnight approaches, olde Mitch appears to still be able to hear, at least, the chapel bells in the distance.

Congress may snuff out one possible crisis today, but, But, BUT…it has another looming.

Our elected darlings still need to raise or suspend the debt ceiling before October 18th to prevent a default on US debt that would result in job losses, economic damage to an ALREADY fragile Main Street business environment, and a drop in the markets.

A short-term appropriations bill that would keep the government running through December 3rd. 

I’m NOT about to speak for any of you…but I’m really sick of experiencing the same movie, time-after-time.

NO one likes to wear their respective ‘big boy/girl’ undies!!!

“BUILD BACK BETTER”… what exactly?

Democratic shenanigans around the Reconciliation Bill’s cost are now in those vile stages of Purgatory.

Other than bearing witness to the usual weeping and grinding of teeth [if you’ve been paying attention, Miss Nancy has almost worn her upper plate down to sandstone], we, the taxpayers, know very, very little.

What we think we know is: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuckie Schumer are desperate to piledrive through Congress a gigantic expansion of the welfare state, financed by huge tax increases and riddled with accounting ‘smoke and mirrors.’

And, we ALL know who’ll get the tab!!!

Literally, NO one, as I’ve repeatedly said, over the course of this month, has be able to begin to explain what’s behind Door 3.

Can you say, concealing the measure’s true cost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Estimates? As the great John McEnroe would say, “You’ve got to be kidding me?“

There isn’t enough cardboard for the queue cards used by Miss Nancy, Chuckie and Joey.

Countdown to kickoff, folks…

PER USUAL…Slight of Hand

The old Lobsterman loves these moments.

In the next 36 hours, the late Harry Houdini would probably be made to blush.

The number of elected politicians who will be engaging in ‘slight-of-hand’ shenanigans will require ALL of us to have a scorecard, in an attempt to keep up with each and every one of their backroom antics.

It’s now being reported that Democrats in Congress have moved to avert the on-rushing fiscal crisis, supposedly to schedule a House vote to raise the Debt Ceiling and prepare a separate spending bill to head off a government shutdown looming at midnight tomorrow.

The Senate could vote as early as today on the spending bill, which is needed to prevent a lapse in government funding when the fiscal year ends tomorrow, and also includes emergency disaster aid.

Re’Trump’licans were expected to support it, after Dems removed a debt-limit increase that the GOP had refused to back.

But…who really knows??!

ALL we know is there appears to be continuous laughter from inside McConnell’s offices – NOT that that’s unusual…you follow?

What do you think Mitch will dress up as this Halloween??!

And, how about the total inability of Chuckie Schumer with the English language, over the last week and a half????!

1 DOWN…5 TO GO

Only Baltimore 8,098 fans showed up for the game, which is more than could be said for my Red Sox, who lost again, 4-2, to the Orioles.

The old Lobsterman won’t deny it any longer…PANIC – the raw, repulsive kind – has found its ALL too familiar place in my daily existence.

To illustrate how anemic it was last night, the final nine Sox hitters [if one decides to call them that] went in order on only 24 pitches. 

Ouch…

Want a scary factoid: The Sox have scored 11 runs in the last four games and hit .213.

Please, please…let’s NOT give any thoughts about wearing those Yellow and whatever color uniforms making a last ditch appearance.

If it’s meant to be, let’s go down in the colors of tradition…plus memories of that incredible ’04 season dancing in our heads.

THE QUESTION ISN’T DIFFICULT, Joey

To little surprise, our 46th president does NOT get there are certain issues that just don’t fade away.

Specifically, the AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL.

Yesterday’s Senate hearing with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and two top generals put a bright LED light on Biden’s decision-making prowess.

The bottom line being: Biden acted against the advice of the military !!! in hauling residual US force from the country. 

BOTH Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and General Ken McKenzie made clear in their testimony that they recommended !!! that about 2,500 US troops stay in Afghanistan to delay a Taliban takeover.

Remember, when asked in an ABC News interview days after the August fall of Kabul if his military advisers urged him to maintain America’s small footprint in the country, Biden said, “No one said that to me that I can recall.”

What the fudge?!?!?!!!!

Joey, there are 20 families that we like a word with you!!!

When it comes to matters of the military, it has ALWAYS irritated the crap out of me, going back to my days in Vietnam, when our Commander-in-Chief refuses to own his f!#king decisions!!!

“…that I can recall” is the ‘go to response’ of ALL stay-at-home pols when faced with a question they know the answer to, but also realize the truth would be politically unacceptable.

I’ve said it for years, those hair plugs on Joey’s skull have once again come home to roost!

SIX GAMES LEFT…

In addition to talking, and walking, through the countless Munchkin neighborhoods, over the past week, the old Lobsterman has had to endure, once again, the undeniable anguish of being a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan.

The Cliff Notes version is: Despite the ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees, my Red Sox still sit in a solid position to grab a second wild-card spot.

The team enters its final six games – ALL on the road against two last-place teams in Baltimore and Washington – in possession of a postseason berth.

What, without question, will help that cause is the Yankees [one game ahead of the Sox] and Toronto Blue Jays [one game behind] will butt heads over the next three days, guaranteeing at least two losses for one of those teams.

The second half has been a tale of haves and have-nots for the Sox. The team has hammered lesser competition and been flattened by contenders; they’re 16-26 since the All-Star break against teams with winning records.

My personal mixture of Red Sox Forever Kool-Aid is ALREADY on ice!!!

“…goin’ to cost NOTHING.”

Like the cries of the Banshee, the above is the repeated collective wailing from Joey and Miss Nancy, as regards the Dems’ massive $3.5 trillion spending binge.

The fuse to this Debt Bomb may be, literally, right around the corner, as I type.

The social-welfare state currently smothering Europe is now more visible on our horizon than you might think.

Remember, our precious elected lawmakers have ALREADY given out baskets of chocolate chip cookies to the masses by enacting a almost $2 trillion ‘stimulus’ bill filled with unnecessary items like unemployment benefits that exceeded !!! wages for many available jobs, and bailouts to states ALREADY running budget surpluses.

And now, drumroll, please, Dems are trying to pass this $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill/package that many project would raise deficits by as much as $1.75 trillion.

I’ve ALREADY done the math, congressional Democrats are set to commit $8 trillion in new spending over the decade, of which $6 trillion would be borrowed!

As I close this posting out, make sure you’re sitting down because I don’t want you collapse and slam your head against your refrigerator.

Ready??!

If Joey’s governmental buffet is enacted, the national debt held by the public – which was just under $17 trillion before the pandemic – would reach $44 trillion a decade from now.

h/t: Congressional Budget Office and Manhattan Institute.

CHILDREN with TOO MANY TOYS

We ALL remember HELL WEEK??!

In the case for many of us, it came and NEVER went away…in ALL its machinations.

Washington, DC is the epicenter of such calamity, at the moment.

Why??!

Well, you’ve got budget reconciliation under this rock…

And, over by the edges of that smelling landfill, you’ve got an infrastructure bill [of which NO living, breathing person can explain to any of us exactly what it encompasses!]…

And, last, but NOT least, a bunch of reckless debt ceiling brinkmanship.

What ALL this means is GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN this coming Thursday, plus DEFAULTING on our bill(s).

It’s beginning to sound, and look, like the “great American image” which each of us, in our own ways, contribute to – like NOT voting, or better yet when we do, electing babbling children, who really have NO ability to lead/preserve/protect any of us!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus the whole thing may shut down by EOD Thursday. (And by “the whole thing” I mean, like, the federal government.) 

APOLOGIES ARE REQUIRED!

Recognizing that I’ve been absent from class participation for the last five days [which is NOT the first experience the old Lobsterman has had with that type of rodeo], please accept my apologies.

Full Disclosure: Things may be a bit rag-tag over the next week, but just grab the rope with me.

Life within the Land of Oz, where/when ALL you want is constructive consultation, rather than listening to a cabal of ‘barking seals’ that can NOT begin to carry a tune in the right key…let alone give an appropriate answer to “WHY”…can approach the depths of madness.

But, as my dear comrades in the province of Manitoba, and in the over-rated caldrons of wealth out on Long Island have counseled me, “hang in, we ALL need to read your rubbish!”

As if lobstermen don’t have feelings…

Joey, the S-WORD is APPROPRIATE

Remember the words of the late, great Jack Kemp??!

“WORK, SAVE, INVEST.”

The 46th president has NEVER ever tried to digest them.

We’re headed for pending financial disaster from/with the actions of our elected pols in DC, in the coming weeks.

Debt Ceiling – Fiscal Budgets – Joey’s faux promises of being the new FDR.

Throw into the mix, Tribalism, for good measure.

NO one talks to any one!!!!!!!!!

Compromise, F-you ………

Be aware, and on your toes, aunts and uncles, Joey wants to be the economy.

Allow me to isolate a couple of points, Biden says he will “create” new jobs and even new industries; this refers to his proposed billions in subsidies for manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and charging stations, and retrofitting homes and commercial real estate.

By government order, current, carbon-intensive industries will disappear.

Dem progressives don’t like the “s-word.”

Joey claims he’s a capitalist…

I think NOT!

Socialist more than applies, Joey…and just look around the room at most of the individuals in there with you – SCARY, SCARY…very scary.