Bill’s Commentary:

“The word to describe this can only be “fitting”! Sotomayor got to see exactly what results from “woke” government policy. She might not even make the connection as she was saved from disaster via government spending to protect her …but what about us normal schmucks?”

Sonia Sotomayor saved from danger: Supreme Court Justice’s bodyguard shoots gun-wielding suspect who tried to steal his car outside her DC home

A teenage suspect was shot by US Marshals on Friday after allegedly attempting to carjack Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s federal bodyguards outside her home, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Metropolitan Police Department confirmed it was investigating a shooting that took place in the Northwest Washington, DC. where two marshals were on-duty working ‘a protective detail’ in the early hours of July 5. 

A Deputy US Marshal was sitting in his car outside the top judge’s condominium at 1:15am when 18-year-old Kentrell Flowers approached, pointed a handgun at him, and tried to steal his vehicle, according to a police report obtained by DailyMail.com.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Grizzly checks in with some wisdom for us all!”

I was driving up the creek today and was daydreaming about the stage hold ups that this part of WY is well known for. The gold miners of Deadwood had to deliver their earnings to the bank in Cheyenne down this valley road.

> I was thinking of the lone robbers, small gangs or larger collaborations that would qualify for RICO prosecution nowadays (selectively enforced albeit) that would force the stage to stop, kill the teamsters and make off with the gold.

> These days we could very easily be looking at the same threats the old stage drivers faced. As this Ponzi financial scheme continues to unravel before our eyes, there will come a day, sooner or later, where men intent on taking the gains earned from other’s hard work will be looking at us and our earnings. I try to keep these scribblings confined to preparedness subjects, but I think this qualifies.

> As stated, sooner or later collapse is coming and we who are prepared will undoubtedly be forced to protect our preparations and those in our care.

> So – in terms of preparedness, take time as soon as possible to review your security. Look at the avenues of approach. Look at this through the eyes of defending your castle or your fort. Where can you see well (OP – Observation Post in military jargon). Can you see the threat coming from a distance to bide more time? Can you communicate to your castle that a threat is coming? How will you do this? Can you then slow down the the threat without direct action? Avoid DA as much as possible at this stage until the threat is in a well prepared and pre-planned kill zone. Heavy fences, ditches, rubble?

> The goal here is to see the threat from as far a away as possible; communicate this threat, slow down and encumber the threat before the threat even knows they are had and funnel them to a vulnerable place without them realizing it.

> If these efforts don’t thwart their intentions, then be prepared to unleash hell on your threat. Violence of action, shock and awe – you pick the term but whatever term, have the firepower to repel the threat. Neutralize the threat and discourage the surviving marauders to look elsewhere for someone else’s hardworking gains.

> Don’t waste time with this. God only knows how much time there is before things like this are upon us.

> Don’t be scared. Be prepared. Grizzly

Bill’s Commentary:

“The Saudis took the position they did …for the exact same reasons the “BRICS” were formed…!”

Saudis Threatened To Sell European Bonds If Russian Assets Were Confiscated

In a fascinating geopolitical development, Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia privately hinted earlier this year it would sell some (or all) of its European debt holdings if the G-7 confiscated Russia’s frozen assets.

As a reminder, we noted in May the European Union had approved a US-backed plan to use profits and interest generated from Russian assets to help arm Ukraine; however that was a sharp reversal from the previously proposed plan – one which was heavily promoted by Zelensky and Ukraine – to confiscate some $300 billion in Russian assets. Many were wondering what prompted the reversal.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“You do understand that NATO is toast?”

NATO Has to Change. Here’s How.

What would Ike say now?

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, NATO’s first supreme allied commander Europe, felt strongly that his mission was to get Europeans “back on their military feet” — not for American troops to become the permanent bodyguard for Brussels and Berlin.

“If in 10 years, all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States,” he wrote of NATO in 1951, “then this whole project will have failed.”

Read more here…

Our pal Grizzly checks in –

“Bill, Check this out?

I’m claiming an uneducated pig farmer in Iowa is much more intelligent than the supposed big wigs of investment. Wonder if they ride a short bus to the closings of deals like this?”

Who Made or Lost What between Brookfield, Starwood, MetLife? An Office CRE Deal of the Low-Interest-Rate Era Gets Shredded in Foreclosure

We have been discussing here for a while how the massive losses in commercial real estate, particularly in the office sector, have been spread far and wide, spread over equity and debt, landlords and lenders. And those lenders are spread across several big investor classes globally, and they hold the majority of the debt, not banks, thankfully (in multifamily CRE, US government entities hold the majority of the debt). And those losses originated from the crazy deal-making, reckless lending, and ridiculous valuations during the era of ultra-low interest rates. So this here is a deal that went kaputt where the debt was held by a life insurer.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Do you really own your house or condo if an HOA can do this …not to mention skyrocketing taxes?”

Bill’s Commentary:

“From the “elite” royal highness or excellency, or whatever he’d like to be called The Pope! Maybe he should read the US Constitution and Bill of Rights to understand God given rights versus elite assholes trying to play god…?”

Pope decries populists, warns democracy is in bad health

Pope Francis denounced populist politics and what he called “the dross of ideology” on Sunday, warning that democracy was not in good shape in many parts of the world.

The 87-year-old pope was in the northeastern city of Trieste for a flying visit, his fourth trip within Italy in just over two months as he prepares for a 12-day journey across Asia in September, the longest of his papacy.

Speaking at an annual Roman Catholic convention on social affairs, Francis said many people felt excluded from democracy, with the poor and the weak left to fend for themselves.

Read more…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Don’t tell me, they had water leaks all over the country and then had to “secretly” count ballots?”

SHOCK French Exit Poll Shows Far Left Bloc Winning; Right-Wing National Rally Takes Third.

The far-left New Popular Front (NPF), a leftist coalition, appears to have emerged victorious in the second round of France’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, with the right wing National Rally (RN) securing third place, initial exit polls have claimed.

Preliminary results indicate that the NPF has gained between 170 to 190 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble bloc is anticipated to take 150 to 170 seats, placing it in the second position. The RN is expected to win between 135 to 155 seats.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Why does anyone act surprised? The guy never campaigned in 2020 yet got more votes than any president in US history. He was a bumbler back then and apparently has slid further as he got older …but people are shocked?”

Western Elites Have a Reality Problem

Joe Biden’s debate performance is not, and should not be seen as, a personal failure, but as another example of the systemic institutional breakdown that drives the populist revolt across the globe.  

By vigorously denying the president’s obvious decline, liberals in the legacy media tried to make us believe something that obviously was untrue. The people who claim to want to protect Americans from disinformation and American institutions from being destroyed actively worked in direct opposition to the truth and, in doing so, undermined faith in one of the nation’s most iconic institutions — the office of the president of the United States. 

Most people engage with reality pragmatically, not politically. We focus on solving the challenges of day-to-day life functionally, not as an ideological construct. We don’t make believe, we make do. We exist in a real world filled with actual challenges to be overcome, and we use our talents and willpower to make our lives better and achieve our personal dreams.

Read more here…

The latest from USA Watchdog –

Pandemics, Financial Collapse, War & Terrorism Designed to Overwhelm – Steve Quayle

Bill’s Commentary:

“Your tax dollars at work again!”

House Judiciary: Taxpayers funding border crisis, services to illegal foreign nationals

(The Center Square) – Taxpayers are not only funding the border crisis, but they are also paying for numerous free services illegal foreign nationals receive, according to a new report published by the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. 

The committee blames the Biden administration in its new report, “Chauffeur at the Border, Concierge in the Interior: How the Biden Administration Rewards Illegal Aliens on the Taxpayers’ Dime” for costs to U.S. taxpayers.  

It also notes that Congress, including Republicans, voted to fund the programs it identified as wasting taxpayer money and facilitating the border crisis when Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill in March that President Joe Biden signed into law.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Erik outlines a situation with where nearly all endings are bad endings…”

The latest from Erik –

Bill’s Commentary:

“A shocker? I thought this was a given in today’s world?”

‘Key to Revolving Door’: FDA Tells Staff Who Leave for Pharma Jobs They Can Work ‘Behind the Scenes’ to Influence Agency

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informs departing workers that they can still influence the agency’s decision-making after leaving their position to work for the pharmaceutical industry, a new investigation by The BMJ revealed.

According to an internal email obtained by The BMJ, the FDA told departing staffer Doran Fink, M.D., Ph.D. — who had reviewed COVID-19 vaccines while working at the FDA and who had accepted a job at Moderna — that although U.S. law prohibits some forms of lobbying contact between former FDA workers who leave to join the private sector, they “do not prohibit the former employee from other activities, including working ‘behind the scenes.’”

Peter Doshi, Ph.D., who wrote The BMJ’s July 1 report, told The Defender he was surprised to see “just how proactive FDA is at informing departing employees of their ability to work behind the scenes post-FDA.”

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Thought provoking on the 4th of July”

Twilight’s Last Gleaming

When a presidential debate devolves into an argument over golf scores and afterward the public argues about the candidates’ mental acuity or personal honesty, when the question for voters is who is the sharper debater rather than who would be more faithful to the Constitution, when both major party candidates support mass surveillance, undeclared foreign wars and borrowing trillions of dollars a year to fund a bloated government, nearly all of which is nowhere countenanced by the Constitution, we can safely conclude that personal liberty in our once free society has been radically diminished and is in the twilight of its existence.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“This will be a housing crash for the ages!”

What’s the Cost of Mortgage-Rate Buydowns and Other Incentives to Homebuilders? Lennar Discloses the Numbers

When mortgage rates rose to 6% and then 7%, sales of existing homes plunged by close to 40% from 2021 and by over 30% from 2019 because sellers refused to cut their prices enough to make 7% mortgages work, and buyers lost interest. Commercial real estate has been repricing properties, and the haircuts are massive. But home sellers are not in the mood. They’re going to wait this out or whatever. So sales have plunged even as active listings and supply have risen to the highest in years.

Homebuilders, however, have to build and sell houses regardless of how high mortgage rates are, that’s their business, they cannot wait out anything. So they have gone on an aggressive program of buying down mortgage rates, even for the entire term of the mortgage (“permanent”), and of throwing in other incentives, such as free upgrades and closing-cost pickups. And sales have held up.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Any questions?”

Bill’s Commentary:

“I for one am shocked! Didn’t Dick Cheney tell us that deficits don’t matter?”

Bill’s Commentary:

“It’s OK, they are saving Democracy!”

Biden Regime Operatives Stalk Journalist, Block Interviews With Voters at Campaign Stop

The Most Transparent Administration in History™, as the marketing slogan goes, is now, right out in the open, in broad daylight, hounding journalists — even state-sanctioned journalists from the beloved New York Times — so as to prevent them from discovering and reporting that voters have eyes and ears, who were none too impressed with the Brandon entity’s on-stage total apocalyptic meltdown last Thursday night.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“And then one day, it just appeared in your backyard!”

Satellite Images Show Expansion of Suspected Chinese Spy Bases in Cuba

WASHINGTON—Images captured from space show the growth of Cuba’s electronic eavesdropping stations that are believed to be linked to China, including new construction at a previously unreported site about 70 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, according to a new report.

The study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, follows reporting last year by The Wall Street Journal that China and Cuba were negotiating closer defense and intelligence ties, including establishing a new joint military training facility on the island and an eavesdropping facility.

At the time, the Journal reported that Cuba and China were already jointly operating eavesdropping stations on the island, according to U.S. officials, who didn’t disclose their locations. It couldn’t be determined which, if any, of those are included in the sites covered by the CSIS report.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Ooops!”

How thousands of Americans got caught in fintech’s false promise and lost access to bank accounts

When Natasha Craft first got a Yotta banking account in 2021, she loved using it so much she told her friends to sign up.

The app made saving money fun and easy, and Craft, a now 25-year-old FedEx driver from Mishawaka, Indiana, was busy getting her financial life in order and planning a wedding. Craft had her wages deposited directly into a Yotta account and used the startup’s debit card to pay for all her expenses.

The app — which gamifies personal finance with weekly sweepstakes and other flashy features — even occasionally covered some of her transactions.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“I would say the flood gates just opened?”

Jury fines BlueCross for firing worker over COVID-19 vaccine mandate

A Tennessee jury has awarded a former research scientist at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee $687,000 in back pay and damages after she was fired in 2021 for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Following a three-day jury trial in Chattanooga last week, a federal jury decided BlueCross failed to provide reasonable accommodation for Tanja Benton, who did most of her work from home and claimed a religious exemption to the company’s vaccine mandate.

Chattanooga Attorney Doug S. Hamill, who represents Benton, said the biostatistical research scientist was fired in November 2021 in violation of her religious beliefs after working for the Chattanooga-based health insurer for nearly six and a half years. Benton said she believed the COVID-19 vaccines are derived from aborted fetus cell lines.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Another country repatriates their gold from the West …hmmm?”

Even Nigeria Plans to Bring Gold Reserves Home to Minimize Risk

Even Nigeria is now bringing its gold reserves home to keep it safe from the West.

According to a report by The Star, Nigerian officials decided to repatriate the country’s gold in April “to mitigate risks associated with the weakening U.S. economy.”

“Economic indicators such as rising inflation, escalating debt levels, and geopolitical tensions have raised apprehensions among Nigerian policymakers about the stability of the U.S. financial system.”

Nigeria holds about 21 tons of gold in its reserves.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“I did not know this had happened, but I have thought for years that current history could be digitally erased similar to a “book burning”. It looks like that thought process was not far off the mark?”

LIBBY EMMONS: The encroaching digital dark age begins with the erasure of MTV News

When I was a kid I really wanted to know things. I would ride my ten-speed to the library in our little suburban Massachusetts town, say “hi” to Mrs. Johnson the librarian, and scour the card catalog to find things I didn’t know. I liked maps and old history. I liked fiction and stories about girls my age. I liked tales of adventure told by great American men. As I grew up, my obsession with libraries was unceasing and I discovered that if you looked deep enough, there were records of everything. In college, I poured over microfilm of old issues of The New York Times or defunct old news outlets like the Philadelphia Tribune that were kept in storage but hadn’t been publishing for years, sometimes decades. Kids who are hungry for knowledge of the past will find gaping holes in those records: all beginning with the erasure of MTV News.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Pretty much spot on!”

Surprise, Surprise!

“Joe Biden is the walking embodiment of the exhausted American Establishment. More and more people have simply lost their faith in our Ruling Class. You could scarcely have a more potent symbol of its impotence.” — Rod Dreher

 Just before the weekend, a political prairie fire raced across a nation buffaloed, blind-sided, and buried deeply in bullshit, and the little critters who inhabit the landscape are still running around with their fur smoldering. What a surprise that “Joe Biden,” the mentally-disabled pretend-president, fell apart in the debate spotlight for all to see, like Captain Queeg in his fateful witness chair, or William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial (1925), or the Wizard of Oz when little Toto drew the curtain back — a brutal revelation of stark truth about how things actually are.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“As we approach July 4th, I don’t think this is exactly what our founding fathers had in mind?  But, if AOC is “butthurt”, it might make the BBQ taste a little better?”

AOC threatens to IMPEACH all six conservative Supreme Court Justices after Trump immunity ruling

Squad leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that she plans on impeaching the six conservative Justices on the Supreme Court for their ruling in Donald Trump‘s presidential immunity case. 

The conservative 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court ruled Monday a president does have immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts in a monumental decision.

The ruling kicks the decision on whether Trump intentionally tried to subvert the 2020 election results back to a Washington, D.C., judge – and will likely delay the trial until after the November election in a ‘big win’ for the former president.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Mark my words, this will be used to tell you after the crash “but we warned you”!”

The Fed and FDIC Wake Up Suddenly to the Threat of Derivatives, Flunking the Four Largest Derivative Banks on their Wind-Down Plans

Since the financial crash of 2008 and the Fed’s multi-trillion dollar bank bailouts that followed, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been waving a giant red flag every quarter in its “Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities” reports. For sixteen years the OCC has been reporting that just four megabanks are responsible for more than 80 percent of the trillions of dollars in bank derivatives.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Weekend comedy!”

CDC Recommends New COVID-19 Vaccines for Nearly All Americans

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 27 recommended forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines for virtually all Americans.

“CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 this fall and winter whether or not they have ever previously been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine,” the agency said in a statement.

The COVID-19 vaccines now available, which are also broadly recommended, target the XBB.1.5 strain. But observational data indicate they provide short-lived protection against COVID-19 infection and hospitalization.

Read more here…

Bill’s Commentary:

“Update;  I posted the below commentary and chart last weekend regarding silver, it is still valid. We are a week out from this writing and things still look similar if not better as we have another week of building the base. I believe within a week to 10 days, the MACD at the bottom of the chart will form another hook, and then crossover to the upside. With all of the surrounding financial, political, and geopolitical catastrophes building, my target of $34-37 in the medium term may end up being modest?”

”Is silver bouncing exactly where it is supposed to? $29 is support from the previous highs back in April and also support from the 50 day moving average. Given a week or so, this looks like we may see another “hook” in the MACD turning upwards and crossing over. I think we could see at $34-37 on this next leg but we need to see more work done here digging off support. In any case, a very big move either up, or down is in the cards as we have spent nearly 3 weeks chopping in the $29-31 zone, not overbought nor oversold on the daily’s and coiled for a move one way or the other. Add the fundamentals where silver is in a structural deficit and a snorting bull market/major short squeeze looks likely. Stay tuned!”

Bill’s Commentary:

“Erik on Socialism vs Capitalism”

The latest from Erik –