May Be Staying?

"Prime Minister Theresa May, who is expected to leave office Wednesday, held the latest in a series of emergency Cabinet meetings Monday to address the tanker seizure."

"Iran says it has arrested and sentenced to death US spies" by David D. Kirkpatrick New York Times, July 22, 2019

Iran said Monday that it had arrested 17 Iranian citizens on charges of spying for the United States and had already sentenced some to death, Iranian and Western news media reported.

At a news conference in Tehran, an official who identified himself as a director of counterespionage in the Intelligence Ministry described the arrests of people he said had been trained by the CIA, but he did not name them and gave few details of their alleged spying. The official declined to give his name, The Associated Press reported, and did not say how many of those arrested had been sentenced.

Iran has previously asserted, without elaboration or supporting evidence, to have broken up US spy rings. It made similar announcements in April and again in June this year.

President Trump, in a Twitter post, called the Iranian assertion about the spies “totally false.”

“Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda,” he wrote, calling Iran “a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also dismissed the report. In an interview with Fox News, he said that “the Iranian regime has a long history of lying” and blamed it on the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“It is part of the nature of the ayatollah to lie to the world,” Pompeo said. “I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertions about actions that they have taken.”

Wow, is that ever a bigoted statement if I ever saw one (as defined by the pre$$, anyhow). The problem with stereotypes is sometimes they are true; therefore, you must carefully consider all the evidence and motivations at play as well as the conflicting narratives of events and try to find some semblance of the truth. Other than being able to astral project myself over the Persian Gulf, I'm reliant on pre$$ reports such as they are.

The latest assertion from Tehran comes at a moment of rising tensions between Iran and the West.

Tehran and Washington are in a showdown over Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord that Iran signed with several international powers and over his imposition of sweeping new sanctions in an attempt to force Tehran to negotiate a new agreement. In response, Iran has ramped up its nuclear program in recent months, exceeding limits imposed by the deal.

Doesn't say they are building a bomb, and they are not, but it leaves that impression.

Against that backdrop, Iran on Friday seized a British-flagged oil tanker entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has accused the tanker of various infractions but also described the seizure as retaliation for the British impounding of an Iranian tanker on July 4 off the coast of Gibraltar.

Britain has said that it detained the Iranian tanker on suspicion that it was violating a European Union embargo on the delivery of oil to Syria. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt has called it a tanker “tit-for-tat,” and the British government has threatened “serious consequences” and “robust” action if Iran does not release the British ship.

Pompeo, in his interview with Fox News, said the protection of the ship was not the job of the United States.

“The responsibility in the first instance falls to the United Kingdom to take care of their ships,” he said, adding, “The United States has a responsibility to do our part, but the world’s got to take a big role in this, too, to keep these sea lanes open,” but he attributed the Iranian seizure of the ship to the fundamental character of the Iranian government. Iran’s retaliation against the West “isn’t because of the American sanctions,” he said. “This is because the theocracy, the leadership in Iran, their revolutionary zeal to conduct terror around the world for now four decades continues.”

Oddly enough, he is actually describing Israel and it's wage war by deception mantra that includes all sorts of frame-ups and false flags, with their ma$$ media organs then providing the official narrative. He could even be describing the U.S. and its waging of aggressive wars for the last 18 years along with various covert destabilization and coup campaigns.

Related: Operation Sentinel

That would be the one that stands guard over gates of hell and the need for a new one.

“This is a bad regime,” he added. “They have now conducted national piracy, right? A nation state taking over a ship that is traveling in international waters.”

What did the Israelis get for seizing the Turkish aid vessel going to Gaza years back?

At least the Somali pirates are no more.

As in the past, he appeared to call for such comprehensive changes to the Iranian government that he left little room for negotiations with the current Iranian leadership.

“I am ultimately convinced,” Pompeo said, “that the Iranian people will get the leadership behavior that they so richly deserve.”

After the regime change, because that is what we are looking at.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who is expected to leave office Wednesday, held the latest in a series of emergency Cabinet meetings Monday to address the tanker seizure.

That was where my print ended and where the web version kept going:

In May and June, six tankers from various nations were damaged in the Gulf of Oman, in what US officials described as attacks by Iran. Iran denied responsibility. The gulf connects to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows.

Last month, Iran shot down a US surveillance drone that it said had violated its airspace, but which the United States said was over international waters, prompting Trump to order airstrikes that he then called off at the last minute.

A running battle to root out US spies is a staple of the news media in Iran. The English-language Press TV in the country recently broadcast a documentary about what it called a successful “mole hunt” for CIA agents.

--more--"

How is the vote-counting going?

"Voting for new UK prime minister ends amid Brexit foreboding" by Jill Lawless Associated Press, July 22, 2019

LONDON — Voting closed Monday in the two-man contest to become Britain’s next prime minister, as critics of likely winner Boris Johnson condemned his vow to take the country out of the European Union with or without a divorce deal.

Members of the governing Conservative Party had until 5 p.m. to return postal ballots in the race between Johnson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to lead the party and country.

The winner will be announced Tuesday, and will take over from Prime Minister Theresa May the following day.

Johnson, a populist former mayor of London, is the strong favorite.

Just as the Greeks and others found that European socialism is now European $ociali$m, so do I get the feeling that perhaps populists are become populi$ts.

Several members of May’s government have said they will resign before they can be fired by Johnson over their opposition to his threat to go through with a no-deal Brexit if he can’t secure a renegotiated settlement with the EU.

Most economists say quitting the 28-nation bloc without a deal would cause Britain economic turmoil. The country’s official economic watchdog has forecast that a no-deal Brexit would trigger a recession, with the pound plummeting in value, borrowing soaring by $37 billion, and the economy shrinking 2% in a year.

He's going to need that war.

Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown said Monday that a no-deal Brexit would be ‘‘an act of economic self-harm that runs wholly counter to the national interest.’’

I believe he was Bliar's successor, and he was finance minister before he became prime. He's part of the globalist gang$ter cla$$.

EU leaders insist they won’t reopen the 585-page withdrawal agreement they made with May’s government, which has been repeatedly rejected by Britain’s Parliament.

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan quit Monday, lamenting in his resignation letter that ‘‘we have had to spend every day working beneath the dark cloud of Brexit.’’

Duncan expressed deep reservations about Johnson to the BBC.

‘‘I have very grave concerns that he flies by the seat of his pants, and it’s all a bit haphazard and ramshackle,’’ he said.

If they could keep Yeltsin in line, they can keep this guy on the straight and narrow.

Other government ministers, including Treasury chief Philip Hammond, are set to resign Wednesday.

The new prime minister will preside over a House of Commons in which most members oppose leaving the EU without a deal, and where the Conservative Party lacks an overall majority.

Opposition parties are preparing for an early election that could be triggered if the government loses a no-confidence vote in the coming months.

The centrist Liberal Democrats, who have seen a surge in support thanks to their strongly anti-Brexit stance, also chose a new leader Monday. Jo Swinson, a 39-year-old lawmaker from Scotland, defeated former energy minister Ed Davey in a poll of party members.

Traditionally Britain’s third party, the Liberal Democrats came in ahead of the Conservatives in European Union elections in May as voters backed the Liberal Democrats’ call to remain in the EU. Swinson branded Britain’s departure from the EU a ‘‘catastrophe’’ and said having Johnson in the prime minister’s office heightened the danger.

‘‘Tomorrow, Boris Johnson is likely to take the keys to Number 10 and set us on a path to a damaging no-deal Brexit,’’ she told party members. ‘‘I will do whatever it takes to stop Brexit.”

And the war on Iran?

--more--"

Things are looking bad for Boris!

"United Kingdom defers Huawei 5G decision, seeks clarity on US export ban" by Greg Ritchie Bloomberg News, July 22, 2019

The United Kingdom’s government postponed making a decision about Huawei Technologies Co.’s involvement in the country’s fifth-generation mobile networks, citing a lack of clarity over the impact of a US export ban affecting the Chinese company.

We are going to drag you into that one, too, even as you are on the front lines in Iran. It's WWIII straight ahead!

Jeremy Wright, who oversees the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said the government won’t be in a position to make specific decisions regarding Huawei until the implications of the US move on the availability and reliability of the company’s products are clear.

“Until it is, we have concluded it would be wrong to make specific decisions in relation to Huawei,” Wright said in statement to the House of Commons on Monday. “We will do so as soon as possible.”

Wow, we know own them just as they once owned us. How humbling.

Wright’s comments came alongside the release of a telecom supply-chain review started last November that was expected to include the country’s position on Huawei, which will now fall to the next prime minister. The ruling Conservative Party is due to announce the winner of its leadership contest between Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday.

I just checked the Globe, and he's done it, everyone. He's pulled through!

Pressure has been building on the government from UK and US politicians, and network operators, to make up its mind on Huawei. In the past week, two parliamentary committees have urged Prime Minister Theresa May’s administration to publish its decision.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee said in a report issued Friday that banning Huawei could make UK networks less secure by reducing the number of available suppliers. Huawei is one of three potential 5G suppliers to the United Kingdom, alongside Nokia Oyj, and Ericsson AB.

Meanwhile, all four UK carriers are building their 5G networks using equipment from Huawei. BT Group PLC’s EE and Vodafone Group PLC have already gone live with 5G.

That is what this is all about, and it's all about keeping China off balance and in a secondary role regarding big data and its collection and surveillance.

Huawei vice president Victor Zhang said in a statement Monday evening that the government review “gives us confidence that we can continue to work with network operators to roll out 5G across the UK.”

Based on discussions with three of the UK’s four carriers, analyst firm Assembly estimated in April that restrictions on the use of Huawei could delay the 5G roll-out by between 18 and 24 months, resulting in a $5.6 billion to $8.49 billion hit to the UK economy.

That's the rea$on the potential health risks are being underplayed.

The United Kingdom proposed to strengthen the security of the country’s telecom supply-chain by requiring carriers to design and manage networks to meet new standards and subject operators to “rigorous oversight” as part of procurement and contract management processes telecom supply-chain review, according to a statement.

Operators will have to assess the risks posed by vendors to network security and resilience and ensure those risks are managed appropriately under new framework. The review identified a lack of diversity in the supply chain and recommended regulations enforcing cybersecurity be strengthened.

See: Equifax to pay up to $700m in data breach settlement

The government pledged to develop legislation to provide communications regulator Ofcom with stronger powers.

--more--"


Jeremy Hunt may become the United Kingdom’s next prime minister this week. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)(DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS)

Why did they get his hopes up?

Meanwhile, tech stocks were the standouts in an otherwise sluggish day of trading on Monday, as the talk of the $treet was:

"Microsoft is paying more than $25 million to settle federal corruption charges involving a bribery scheme in Hungary and other foreign offices. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said Microsoft will pay about $16.6 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. While the case centered on Hungary, the SEC said it also found improprieties at Microsoft offices in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Turkey. The Justice Department said Microsoft will also pay an $8.75 million criminal fine stemming from the Hungarian bid-rigging and bribery scheme. Federal prosecutors said that from 2013 through 2015, a senior executive and other employees at the Hungary office took part in a scheme to ‘‘inflate margins in the Microsoft sales channel’’ in connection with Microsoft software licenses sold to Hungarian government agencies. Savings were falsely recorded as discounts and used for corrupt purposes, the prosecutors said. Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a letter to employees Monday that the misconduct was ‘‘completely unacceptable’’ and involved a small number of employees. Smith outlined changes to prevent public sector discounts from being used improperly and said the company is expanding its use of artificial intelligence to flag suspicious transactions."

They never said the word FRAUD!

"Prosecutors want to prevent the fake German heiress and convicted swindler Anna Sorokin from profiting from her highly publicized case. The New York Attorney General’s Office recently invoked a state law that forbids criminals from profiting off their crimes in a court challenge to a Netflix deal Sorokin signed last year. Prosecutors say proceeds from the production should go to the Manhattan banks and hotels Sorokin defrauded out of nearly $200,000. Sorokin’s attorney didn’t immediately comment Monday. Sorokin lived a lavish lifestyle in New York’s high society and duped banks and celebrities into believing she was a wealthy heiress. She was sentenced in May to four to 12 years in prison after being convicted of grand larceny and theft."



That was her in court in March, and she faced deportation to Germany regardless of the outcome of the trial because authorities say she overstayed her visa. Her story, however, may stick around. Shonda Rhimes, the force behind ‘‘Grey’s Anatomy’’ and ‘‘Scandal,’’ is developing a show about Sorokin for Netflix, and Lena Dunham, of ‘‘Girls’’ fame, is working on one for HBO.

{@@##$$%%^^&&}

That gets us back to the front page and the media-led hate campaign that is the best of both worlds.

I would say it is time to secede, yet we may not have a choice:

‘‘Expedited removal’’ gives enforcement agencies broad authority to deport people without allowing them to appear before an immigration judge with limited exceptions....."

The fast-track deportations are only supposed to apply to anyone in the country illegally for less than two years.

Related:

Maine man pleads guilty in death of stepdaughter

Roxbury man accused in fatal hit-and-run in Somerville pleads not guilty

Zewdu Abate Gedamu, 64, of Roxbury, could remain free on $1,000 cash bail that he previously posted but he will have to surrender his passport and he will also not be allowed to drive without a valid license or consume any alcohol or drugs, while there is no sending back Birukti Tsige because she’s already going places.

"International agencies rebuke Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes" by Ruth Eglash Washington Post, July 22, 2019

JERUSALEM — Israel drew sharp international criticism Monday after its forces began demolishing a series of residential buildings in a neighborhood of East Jerusalem that, according to a 1993 agreement, is under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Hundreds of Israeli police officers and soldiers arrived in the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood in the predawn hours, forcibly evicting three Palestinian families and local and international activists before razing several multistory buildings containing 70 to 100 apartments, most of them still under construction.

I hate to say it, and it raises certain hackles, but that right there is the greatest 21st-century equivalent to what we have been told was Nazi Germany. They is just now way of getting around it. It's ethnic cleansing.

Israel has deemed the buildings a security risk because of their proximity to its security barrier that runs through the area, separating Israel and the West Bank. Seven years ago, the Israeli army banned construction of all buildings within 250 meters of the barrier, which Israel erected as a security mechanism during the second Intifada, the bloody Palestinian uprising against Israel, in the early 2000s.

Most of the blood split was Palestinian, but beyond that notice how the WaComPo frames Israel's apartheid wall. It's a security barrier, not a yucky wall like what Trump wants to build. It's not just hypocrisy, it's myopic disingenuousness.

Israel routinely demolishes illegally built Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem and parts of the occupied West Bank under its direct control. Palestinian residents say securing a building permit in those areas is near impossible, and they are forced to build illegally.

Israel declares them illegal, then knocks 'em down and steals the land. Routinely.

Where is the world outrage, other than this hissy fit that somehow made the paper in what I'm sure will be a one-day gesture?

Wadi al-Hummus, however, sits on land that under the terms of the Oslo accords is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. All of the apartment buildings received building permits from the Palestinian Authority’s Planning ministry.

A statement from the European Union called Israel’s actions illegal under international law and said such policies ‘‘undermined the viability of a two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace.’’

That's the whole point. Eventually, it will all be Israel and exclusively Jewish. It's the Yinon Plan, and it is odd seeing the EU belch about this when they are in lockstep on Iran.

Prepare for some terror attacks in your capitals and secondary metropolises over the next two months.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that the families would receive support, but that ‘‘no amount of humanitarian assistance can replace a home or cover the massive financial losses sustained today by the owners.’’

Nor can a check cut by a settlement after a fraudulent foreclosure meant to seize physical assets as the stock market tanked, and that's the whole point. You dispossess a person of their home and they become unable to fight back.

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan responded on Twitter that ‘‘the spokespeople of the EU, as usual, bought into the lies of the Palestinians without any in-depth examination while spreading their bias.’’

Wow, is that ever chutzpah when we have eyes we can see with.

Mohammed Abu Teir, who owned 40 of the destroyed units, said the Israelis were ‘‘hiding behind security reasons,’’ while ‘‘they continue to build settlements all around us.’’

‘‘Where are the Palestinian people supposed to live?’’ he said. ‘‘The Israelis want to empty this area of all the Palestinian residents so they can expand their own neighborhoods.’’

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called the demolition a ‘‘war crime and a crime against humanity’’ and said the Palestinians would lodge a complaint in the International Criminal Court.

Good luck with that.

--more--"

What's wrong with these pictures?

Israel destroyed a number of Palestinian homes it considers illegally constructed near its separation barrier south of Jerusalem on Monday, in a move that drew international condemnation.(Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images)

They sure have a thing for controlled demolitions, huh?

Members of the Syrian civil defense used an excavator to search for victims under the rubble following a reported Russian air strike on Maaret al-Numan in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Monday.(Omar Hajkadour/AFP/Getty Images)

That's usually what you are left with.

The odd thing is this next article was directly below the previous one:

"Syrian activists say airstrikes killed 27 in rebel-held town" by Zeina Karam Associated Press, July 22, 2019

BEIRUT — Multiple airstrikes hit a busy market in a rebel-controlled town in northwestern Syria on Monday, killing at least 27 people and turning several buildings into piles of rubble, according to opposition activists and a war monitor. Shortly afterward, state media said rebels shelled a government-held village, killing seven.

The high death toll marked a sharp increase in the escalation between the two sides amid intense fighting. Government troops, backed by Russian air cover, have been trying since April to push their way into the enclave in the northwestern corner of Syria, near the Turkish border.

Yeah, all of a sudden Syria pops up in my pre$$ after weeks of absence or sporadic coverage.

Dominated by Al Qaeda-linked militants and other jihadi groups, Idlib province and northern parts of the nearby Hama region is the last major rebel stronghold in the country outside the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Despite the heavy bombardment, Assad’s forces have been unable to make any significant advances. Militant groups have hit back hard, killing an average of more than a dozen soldiers and allied militiamen per day in recent weeks.

That means the U.S. and its allies have been pouring in money, men, and material to at least keep the foothold and country from being totally unified by the Syrian government.

The fighting has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Now they are worried about displacement.

The struggling campaign also underscores the limits of Syria’s and Russia’s airpower and inability to achieve a definitive victory in the country’s long-running civil war, now in its ninth year.

We have been in Afghanistan twice as long!

Monday’s airstrikes took place in the town of Maaret al-Numan, which has witnessed intensive airstrikes and bombardment almost every day for the past three months. The strikes came in several rounds and caused widespread destruction, burying several people under the rubble.

Forget the stench of the bodies buried under rubble in Raqqa and Mosul, for that was caused by the U.S., and if true, why has my pre$$ been so silent about it until now?

Yeah, I am sick of the sh*ty war propaganda passing itself of as news!

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, called it the largest single death toll since a Russian-Turkish truce collapsed in late April.

Syrian opposition activists said Russian warplanes carried out Monday’s airstrikes, but Russia’s Defense Ministry dismissed the reports as a ‘‘hoax.’’ There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

Is it possible that the war-promoting pre$$ is once again flat-out lying to us?

I mean, it couldn't be! It couldn't be!

The Observatory, which monitors the fighting on the ground in Syria through a network of activists said that the number of casualties from Monday’s airstrike was likely to rise due to the large number of wounded.

Oh, okay, now I believe.

--more--"

Pretty soon the place will look like Puerto Rico:

"Thousands take to the streets in Puerto Rico to demand governor’s resignation" by Arelis R. Hernández and Kayla Epstein Washington Post, July 22, 2019

SAN JUAN — Puerto Ricans filled the streets in a massive planned protest, paralyzing a major San Juan highway in an islandwide demonstration to demand that their governor must go.

The embattled Puerto Rican leader has refused to resign after more than a week of growing protests in the US territory’s capital city. Ricardo Rosselló, 40, a Democrat and member of the island’s statehood party, said Sunday he would not seek reelection in 2020 and would step down from his role as head of the party, but the announcement did nothing to assuage Puerto Ricans incensed by leaked group-chat messages in which Rosselló and his closest collaborators denigrated their opponents, insulted women and gay people, made light of Hurricane Maria’s dead, and revealed potentially criminal behavior by his administration.

Monday’s demonstration could represent the largest mobilization in the history of Puerto Rico, a colony the United States acquired during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The island has been a self-governing territory since 1952, following the adoption of its constitution a few years after residents elected their first native-born governor.

We said we were going to liberate them 120 years ago (the playbook and buzzwords never change), and maybe they should secede.

The masses assembled in San Juan early Monday, with tens of thousands flooding the streets ahead of a planned 9 a.m. start time, while photos and videos of the march inundated social media.

Veronica Caro sat inside the grounds of Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which has hosted Major League Baseball games, waiting for the march to begin. She sat clutching a large Puerto Rico flag and was incredulous that the island’s leader had disrespected the people so deeply. ‘‘We voted for him because he promised to bring a new face to Puerto Rican politics and change things,’’ Caro, 31, told The Washington Post. ‘‘But he turned out to be more of the same.’’

Sounds familiar.

Protesters hoped their show of force would succeed in driving him from power. Leaders of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives are exploring the possibility of impeachment, but it is not clear when or whether proceedings will take place. Residents of the archipelago are growing impatient.

It's like Mueller and Democrats!

The past week has been marked by creative and expressive demonstrations. From scuba divers holding protest signs under the crystal-blue waters of the Caribbean to residents of neighborhoods across the island banging pots outside their windows in unison every night at 8 p.m., there has never been a display on the island quite like it.

Now that these protests are not only leading my National coverage but are receiving glowing approval and support from the agenda-pushing press, I suspect it is controlled opposition.

The protests have morphed from a targeted repudiation of their leader to an expression of all the grievances Puerto Ricans have harbored for years: The debt. The economy. The unelected federal oversight board managing the territory’s finances. The lack of opportunity for its young people.

Lucia Crespo, 15, came to the march Monday with her mother, carrying a sign in English lamenting the fact that she had to leave Puerto Rico in 2015 because there were few prospects for her family after her father lost his job in the slow economy. She now lives in Denton, Texas, but she would rather be home. ‘‘We moved there for a better life, but we want to come back,’’ she said. ‘‘But it’s just impossible and it’s really sad.’’

In an interview with CNN, Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan declared that ‘‘it is impeachment time’’ for Rosselló.

The mayor had been a target in the controversial chat group, and she did not hold back in her criticism of the governor.

‘‘The crimes committed by the governor are so horrendous that it cannot wait,’’ she said. ‘‘He’s obstinate. His mental health isn’t there. He doesn’t want to resign. It’s impeachment time.’’

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton tweeted her support for Puerto Rico’s protesters Saturday, writing that ‘‘like all Americans, they have the fundamental right — and duty — to hold their leaders to account.’’

If that were true she and her husband would be in a federal prison right now, along with Obama, Bush and Cheney, and is Trump paying attention to this?

For that matter, are Democrats? A brokered convention, a draft Hillary movement, and she parachutes down from the ceiling to claim the nomination on the last night as the crowd roars?

Meanwhile, Rosselló has displayed signs of defiance as tens of thousands march to oust him. He met with Puerto Rico’s mayors and New Progressive Party leadership late Sunday in a meeting closed to the public.....

Probably asking if they will help him flee into exile as the place is on fire.

--more--"

Red ink will put out the fire:

"Federal budget would raise spending by $320 billion" by Emily Cochrane and Alan Rappeport New York Times, July 22, 2019

WASHINGTON — White House and congressional negotiators reached accord on a two-year budget on Monday that would raise spending caps and lift the government’s debt ceiling, likely averting a fiscal crisis but splashing still more red ink on an already surging deficit.

They should just stop borrowing it from the Federal Reserve and start coining it themselves through Treasury, as the Constitution says, then sit back and collect the fee and tax overflow.

Of course, that gets you in trouble with all sorts of people and might get your head taken off.

If passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, the deal would stop a potential debt default this fall and avoid automatic spending cuts next year. The agreement would also bring clarity about government spending over the rest of Trump’s term, but it is another sign that a Capitol once consumed by fiscal worries simply no longer cares — even as the government’s red ink approaches $1 trillion a year.

That's assuming he doesn't win a second term, but at least we can now afford Medicare for All.

“It’s pretty clear that both houses of Congress and both parties have become big spenders, and Congress is no longer concerned about the extent of the budget deficits or the debt they add,” said David M. McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that advocates for free enterprise.

The agreement, struck by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, would raise spending by $320 billion. Spending on domestic and military programs would increase equally, a key demand of Pelosi, offset by about $75 billion in spending cuts, far lower than the $150 billion in cuts that some White House officials initially demanded.

The deal would lift the debt ceiling high enough to allow the government to keep borrowing for two more years, punting the next showdown past the 2020 elections. The negotiators hope to enact the accord before Congress leaves for its August recess.

The president said he was pleased with the added military spending and made no mention of the mounting deficits that he and Republicans once railed against.

The deal is a coup de grâce for the Budget Control Act of 2011, which President Obama signed into law after House Republicans, led by the current acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, pushed the government to the brink of defaulting on its debt. The law, once seen as the Republicans’ crowning achievement in the Obama era, set strict spending caps, enforced with automatic spending cuts, but since 2014, a succession of budget deals has waived the Budget Control Act caps, and the new deal not only lifts them again but allows the whole law to expire in 2021.

Meantime, the federal debt has ballooned to $22 trillion. Despite healthy economic growth, the federal deficit for this fiscal year has reached $747 billion with two months to go — a 23 percent increase from the year before.

A downturn now may very well wreck the $y$tem.

“It appears that Congress and the president have just given up on their jobs,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which blasted out a statement arguing the tentative deal “may end up being the worst budget agreement in our nation’s history.”

“The economy is great and able to accommodate changes,” she said in an interview. “But we’re about to make things worse due to nothing other than the lack of political will.”

The rising costs of an aging population, with the baby boom generation drawing Social Security and Medicare benefits, and Washington’s spending habits have led to increases in both federal spending and interest costs on the growing national debt. During the first two years of the Trump administration, the debt increased by more than $2 trillion, in part because of the 10-year, $1.5 trillion tax cut and large spending increases Trump signed into law.

The disintegration chamber awaits you.

The president has repeatedly called for deep spending cuts in the budgets he has submitted to Congress — then signed several laws that have boosted the deficit even further.

As president, Trump has overseen both a binge in discretionary spending and a plunge in expected tax revenues as a result of the tax cut legislation that stands as his signature legislative achievement. The federal budget deficit has increased by an average of 15 percent for each fiscal year he has been in office. (Obama ran large deficits in his first term in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, but his second term saw deficits fall by an average of 11 percent per fiscal year.)

The web version kept the pre$$es running:

In that first Obama term, which included a large government stimulus package to jump-start job creation in the depths of the recession, discretionary spending on military and domestic items rose by about 3 percent per year, on average. In his second term, such spending declined by an annual average of nearly 2 percent.

That turned into stimuloot.

Trump is currently on pace to increase discretionary spending by an average of nearly 4 percent per year. Trump’s tax cuts, which reduced rates for businesses and individuals, have not paid for themselves, as some administration officials said they would. Instead, they have reduced individual and corporate tax revenues by about 8 percent per year, compared with what budget forecasters expected before the cuts were passed into law.

And you can keep your doctor and health plan if you like it.

Combined with increased costs from paying interest on a larger national debt, the tax cuts are on pace to add nearly $400 billion to the national debt in the course of the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office, but Democrats are not inclined toward austerity either. In the first round of Democratic presidential debates, the national debt was barely mentioned, with candidates choosing to focus on countering economic inequality and beefing up government programs.

They saw what happens to the center-left in Europe!

Still, passage of the budget agreement is not certain. Pelosi and Mnuchin, who have led the negotiations in private phone calls over the last week, will have to sell the deal to their parties before an anticipated House vote this week, before that chamber leaves on Friday. The Senate is scheduled to leave for its recess next week.

--more--"

Related:

Holyoke mayor Alex Morse to challenge Richard Neal in 2020 Democratic primary

He's putting the old guard on guard.

A second Democrat will challenge Markey for Senate seat

Markey’s recent poll numbers are shaky. Just 39 percent held a favorable view of him and 25 percent had an unfavorable view of him, in a Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll of Massachusetts voters released last month. Possibly more telling is that more than a third of respondents to the poll either didn’t know who he was or had no opinion about him.

Uh-oh, Ed. I know who you are and that doesn't help you.

So the choices are going to be between a former foster child from New Bedford turned businessman and author, African-American Steve Pemberton, 52, who joins Markey and Brookline labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan in the September 2020 Democratic primary.

So I'm going to have to choose between a black man or white woman. Let's see, am I more sexist or racist? Where do they stand on the wars? Where does Ed?

Also see:

Stevens remembered as ‘brilliant man’ at Supreme Court ceremony

Is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg or her doppelgänger?

Oddly enough, Mueller did not make print today.

{@@##$$%%^^&&}

"RMV oversight hearing halted when two officials don’t show up to testify" by Michael Levenson Globe Staff, July 23, 2019

Lawmakers called the hearing to investigate why the Registry of Motor Vehicles had failed to suspend hundreds of errant drivers, including the truck driver from Western Massachusetts charged in a fiery crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire in June, but as soon as Monday’s hearing began, it became apparent that it would not go as planned.

Two Registry officials who had been called to testify were nowhere to be found. The private contractors who installed the Registry’s software system failed to show, and reams of documents that lawmakers had requested from Governor Charlie Baker’s administration were not turned over.

It's called thumbing the nose at them.

So the committee members abruptly gaveled the hearing to a close and sent Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and Acting Registrar Jamey Tesler on their way without taking any testimony from them about the Registry’s problems.

It was a dramatic show of frustration and a reflection of the escalating tensions between the Republican administration and the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

The Transportation Committee does not have subpoena power, and the committee chairs said after the hearing that they were considering what options they might have to compel administration witnesses to testify.....

They are both “pretty frustrated,” DeLeo is “extremely disappointed,” and the Massachusetts Democratic Party piled on with its own response Monday via Gus Bickford, the party chairman, as the scapegoats Bowes and Deveney are once again trotted out.

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Related:

Budget sets stage for ed reform, drug cost controls

The Globe is happy with the budget, but the Massachusetts Teachers Association says they will “continue to fight.”

Lawmakers largely followed Baker’s lead to reach compromise to curb drug costs

Yeah, great, except the front-page lead is this:

"Roxbury Community College’s nursing laboratory opened in 2017 with plenty of fanfare and a keynote speech from Governor Charlie Baker, but two years later, the sophisticated simulation lab, part of a $13 million state investment in the community college’s health sciences building, still has no coordinator and only part-time technicians to help students gain the clinical training they need to become nurses. The lack of qualified and dedicated personnel to run the simulation lab and the staff turnover were among several problems the state’s nursing regulatory board cited last month when it pulled the Roxbury program’s accreditation. The move effectively halts the program, which educates mostly minority and predominantly low-income Boston-area nursing students, at the end of this year......"

Lawsuit to follow, and try to stay out of the sun, too. Could be fatal.

State calls off bidding on East Boston railroad right-of-way

They dropped the plans after politicians and community members raised concerns.

Lawmakers revive Blue Line extension idea

Who cares about the Blue Line as protesters call for a low-income fare (try taking a hot air ballon instead)?

Also see:

Several businesses destroyed in 8-alarm Natick blaze

Boston Beer’s spiked seltzer drives latest sales boom

The article by Bailey Lipschultz of Bloomberg contains what analyst Caroline Levy wrote, and it was the heat that increased sales.

It's all in the Pourtion control:

"Macy’s pulls plates that say a meal is ‘skinny jeans’ or ‘mom jeans’ size" by Hannah Denham Washington Post, July 22, 2019

WASHINGTON — A single tweet complaining about novelty plates that measured food portions by ‘‘skinny jeans,’’ ‘‘favorite jeans,’’ and ‘‘mom jeans’’ prompted Macy’s to drop the product only hours later.

Alie Ward, a science reporter and podcast host based in Los Angeles, was walking by the flagship Macy’s store on 34th Street in New York City when she saw the plates in a display window.

Ward was taken aback by what she saw as body-shaming messaging, especially for people who struggle with their weight or have eating disorders.

‘‘It’s such a gross sentiment and also very out of touch with what’s fashionable right now,’’ she said.

Four hours later, Macy’s apologized and said it would remove the plates.

‘‘We apologize to our customers for missing the mark on this product. After reviewing the complaint, we quickly removed the plates, which were only in our Macy’s location in Herald Square.’’

Ward said she was surprised by Macy’s response.

‘‘Companies, people, everyone screws up,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s not about being perfect or tiptoeing, but it’s just about listening when someone says, ‘yeah, no.’’’

Is it yes or no?

The plates are part of a collection offered through Macy’s brick-and-mortar STORY exhibit, a narrative-driven retail experience that carries products from mostly small businesses at 36 stores in 15 states, according to a news release.

The response to the plates and their removal has been mixed. Some on Twitter criticized the retailer for giving in so quickly and being overly sensitive. ‘‘Wow . . . nothing like allowing the public to weigh in with their dollars and vote for themselves, Macy’s. You guys are complete cowards,’’ a Twitter user using the handle Jellenne posted.

Others, like actress and body positivity activist Jameela Jamil, supported Ward’s sentiment. ‘‘The Good Place’’ star retweeted Ward and added her own commentary.

‘‘As the creators of Pourtions, we feel badly if what was meant to be a lighthearted take on the important issue of portion control was hurtful to anyone,’’ said Pourtions president Mary Cassidy in an e-mail statement. ‘‘Everyone who has appreciated Pourtions knows that it can be tough sometimes to be as mindful and moderate in our eating and drinking as we’d like, but that a gentle reminder can make a difference. That was all we ever meant to encourage.’’

The brand provides the following mission statement on its website:

‘‘Walk down any street today and one thing becomes immediately clear: we have really let ourselves go. Waistlines are exploding like the national debt. Arteries are jammed like Grand Central Station at rush hour. And there are plenty of helpings of blame to go around — fast food, slow metabolism, excessive elbow-bending. POURTIONS was created to help you take back the power and counter this unhealthy trend.’’

Just raise the ceiling and eat up!

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Hope that works for you.

If not, the mayor will send over a couple of men.

Might help if you have a cane or a gun around.


Lynnel Cox at the Suffolk district attorney’s office Monday. She believes her son overdosed while in a Boston police holding cell. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

You never want to see something like that.

"A man battling addiction dies in a police holding cell, and his mother remembers and remembers" by Gal Tziperman Lotan Globe Staff, July 22, 2019

Shayne Stilphen was 28. He spent much of his adult life fighting heroin addiction.

Lynnel Cox said she believed he overdosed while in the holding cell. She wanted to know how it happened — not just for him, but for others in police custody who are addicted to drugs.

“How do you keep them safe? You make sure you’re watching the cameras. You make sure you’re going by, so in case they’re sleeping and their body looks lifeless. . . ,” she said before trailing off. “That’s what you do to make sure you keep people alive. Because that’s what our tax dollars pay you to do, to protect and serve.”

Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a Boston Police Department spokesman, said the department’s internal affairs and homicide units are investigating the July 14 death. He declined to say how long the man had been in the holding cell when he was found unconscious, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Suffolk district attorney’s office said the man was taken to Tufts Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. In late May, another man, 39, died while in custody in the same police station, officials said. He was arrested in Boston on a warrant from New Hampshire. When he died he was alone in his cell, and there were no signs of trauma found on his body, police said. The man told police he was homeless when he was taken into custody.

You know what they say, once is a mistake, twice is a problem, three times a pattern, and whatever you do, don't Section 35 them.

That investigation is ongoing. Boston police and Suffolk district attorney’s office declined to provide updates Monday.....

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The investigation apparently fizzled out and was doused after having the air taken out of it.