Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 24, 2022 | sundance
**Bumped, 8/23/22 8:30pm ET**
My jaw came near the floor when I opened July’s electricity bill to find a notification of a 28% increase in electricity rates, effective immediately. An increase of 28%…. just like that. This month, August, even higher with less use.
After the initial shock wore off, I started thinking about what this means to the working-class people in my community.
Already struggling with a doubling of gas prices, massive food price increases at the grocery store and the pain of all costs for goods far outpacing any rate of wage increase, this type of uncontrollable increase in price of electricity is going to hit hard.
In the past we have used CTH threads to spotlight the smart thinking and resourcefulness of Treepers from all walks of life. A discussion thread where people can share tips, things that can actually be done, to help offset the financial pressures during severe economic times. I think we may all benefit from starting a series of post like that again.
Let us share our wisdom and experience again. There are many thousand who will benefit, as I have always done, from reading your smart tips and suggestions.
What ideas, tips and suggestions do you have to help people save money on ordinary life and living expenses?
These are painful economic times and the stress that is caused by financial worry is some of the most horrific family stress that people can face. Let us come together with tips as a community to help each other. No suggestion is too small. What advice do you have that can help people save money on monthly expenses?
During one of our previous discussions someone gave a tip about putting a clean dry towel in the clothes dryer as a way of cutting down drying time and energy used. I tried it and jumping ju-ju-bones it worked fantastically. Simply putting a dry towel into the dryer when you add the wet clothes from the washer reduces laundry drying time by around 25%. Not only does that save time, but it also saves money – and it was so simple.
So, what suggestions do you have? Tips about anything and everything that might lower the monthly cost of ordinary life. No tip is too small. No suggestion is too odd. Your advice can/will make a difference.
Please use the comments section to drop your advice.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 24, 2022 | Sundance
Earlier this afternoon Joe Biden was questioned about how much notice he had regarding the FBI raid on President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Question: “Mr. President, how much advanced notice did you have of the FBI’s plan to search Mar-a-Lago?“
BIDEN: “I didn’t have any advanced notice. None, zero, not one single bit.”
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 24, 2022 | Sundance
As the political elite decide they have some form of unknown authority to force working class U.S. taxpayers to fund the choices of others, a furor starts to build.
In this video excerpt a father confronts Senator Elizabeth Warren over her advocacy to cancel college loan debt for those who made a choice to take out those loans. Across the American landscape this moment rings as representative of two fundamental outlooks colliding. I think most readers here would relate to the cold anger of the father who confronts the Senator. WATCH:
Cold anger does not choose the path of division, it simply responds to it.
There is a great chasm within our nation between to diametrically opposing worldviews. When one side is forced to pay for the indulgent choices of the other, cold anger turns hot. It is difficult to contain rage in the face of such sanctimony, yet the abusers are prepared to claim victimhood as soon as we respond to the abuse.
This is the powder-keg that sits underneath the quiet surface of cold anger.
Cold Anger tries not to go to violence. For those who carry it, no conversation is needed when we meet. You cannot poll or measure it; specifically, because most who carry it avoid discussion… And that decision has nothing whatsoever to do with any form of correctness.
Foolishness and betrayal of our nation have served to reveal dangers within our present condition.
Misplaced corrective action, regardless of intent, is neither safe nor wise….
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 24, 2022 | Sundance
Buy votes, create disparity and divide people, that’s what democrat policies are designed to do. Joe Biden follows the playbook by cancelling $10k to $20k in student loan debt for those who have federal government loans. Students with private loans backed by the federal government are not eligible.
Additionally, Biden has extended the “COVID emergency payment moratorium” through the end of the year. No one with a federal student loan needs to restart paying until after the midterm election, in 2023. [White House Fact Sheet Here]
If the economy is doing so great, then why the need for bailouts?
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his long-awaited plan to deliver on a campaign promise to provide $10,000 in student debt cancellation for millions of Americans — and up to $10,000 more for those with the greatest financial need — along with new measures to lower the burden of repayment for their remaining federal student debt.
Borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year, or families earning less than $250,000, would be eligible for the $10,000 loan forgiveness, Biden announced in a tweet. For recipients of Pell Grants, which are reserved for undergraduates with the most significant financial need, the federal government would cancel up to an additional $10,000 in federal loan debt.
Biden is also extending a pause on federal student loan payments for what he called the “final time” through the end of 2022. He was set to deliver remarks Wednesday afternoon at the White House to unveil his proposal to the public.
If his plan survives legal challenges that are almost certain to come, it could offer a windfall to a swath of the nation in the run-up to this fall’s midterm elections. More than 43 million people have federal student debt, with an average balance of $37,667, according to federal data. Nearly a third of borrowers owe less than $10,000, and about half owe less than $20,000. The White House estimates that Biden’s announcement would erase the federal student debt of about 20 million people. (read more)
Comment: I use Coinbase to hold some crypto. They sent me an email saying that my account that I had for years would be limited to withdrawals only if I do not give them updated government ID and download the latest version of the application. I use this on my PC and do not have the application. I worry they’ll take what is left of my failing cryptos. Luckily I only put “play money” into these holdings but I imagine others will experience losses and frozen accounts in the near future. The deadline they gave me was October – not sure if that is for all. I messaged out to Coinbase for help updating my account but cannot fully verify it after many tries.
Reply: Government hates cryptocurrency. They have always been concerned about their ability to squeeze out every last penny in taxes from crypto. I am not surprised that Coinbase is emailing users for additional documentation days after the Inflation Reduction Act was passed. With nearly 88,000 new IRS agents, there will certainly be teams of hundreds or thousands of accountants who will analyze all crypto holdings.
The initial idea behind the creation of crypto has been lost. I warned in March on our private blog on Socrates that cryptocurrencies may be suspended altogether one day. Biden could sign an Executive Order to regulate cryptos because countries like Russia can use it to circumvent sanctions. Not only is Biden authorizing the regulation of digital currencies, but he is also instructing to move forward with a central bank cryptocurrency. Once that is done, all other cryptocurrencies will be seized and folded into the government’s crypto. There will be no competition.
The average death rate in June across the European Union was 6.2%. Portugal experienced a 23.9% uptick in deaths this June compared to the same period throughout 2016 and 2019. Between 2016 and 2019, Portugal was averaging 276 deaths per day. By June of last year, this figure spiked to 341 people per day with 10,217 perishing in that four-week period.
Portugal is the second most vaccinated country in Europe, behind Malta. The aging population over 85 has the highest rate of mortality, naturally, but there have been fewer deaths among people aged 65 to 84. There have been 5,781 COVID-related deaths in the nation this year, but excluding COVID deaths, total mortality still rose by 5%. Infant deaths have sadly increased over the past year as well from 107 to 142.
The Ministry of Health is conducting a study to determine the cause. The agency said they were paying special attention to deaths “that coincide with the greatest intensity of COVID-19 and heat.” Yet, the mortality rate was on the rise between February and April before the heatwaves swept across Europe. Additionally, deaths not attributed directly to COVID are on the rise, so neither heat nor COVID could explain the uptick. Could the high vaccination rate be to blame? The government will likely never reveal the truth, but one variable that certainly has changed is the high vaccination rate.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 23, 2022 | sundance
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously took control over all broadcast media discontinuing any media that was not under government control. Taking the anti-democracy movement another step further, Zelenskyy then banned any political opposition party and confiscated the funds of his political opposition.
These totalitarian actions were taken while the U.S. State Department was simultaneously claiming defense of Ukraine as vital to democracy. Meanwhile, U.S. taxpayers are being forced by congress to send $60 billion in aid into the corrupt country in order to cover the wages, salaries and benefits of Ukraine government officials. Apparently, a strange and twisted definition of democracy exists in the dictionary of Washington DC.
The latest anti-democracy revelation is even more stark. The U.S. State Dept funded a govt/NGO Ukraine conference on ‘disinformation’.
(UKRAINE) – Representatives of public authorities, NGOs, the media and international experts took part in a round table on countering disinformation. The participants discussed the methods used in Ukraine and abroad, as well as the legal framework and features of interaction between civil society and government agencies to counter fakes and disinformation in the context of cybersecurity.
During the discussion, Acting Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation Andriy Shapovalov insisted that persons who deliberately spread disinformation are information terrorists. He noted that in order to protect the information space, it is necessary to amend the legislation.
“Information terrorists need to know that they will have to answer to the law as war criminals,” he said.
Also during his speech, the acting Head of the Center noted that Ukraine is confidently winning the information struggle.
The round table was organized by the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, the US Civil Research and Development Fund (CRDF Global Ukraine), the NGO “International Academy of Information”, the coordination platform “National Cybersecurity Cluster”. The event was supported by the U.S. Department of State. (LINK)
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 23, 2022 | sundance
I have been requested to advise on South Dakota John Thune against the backdrop of the upper chamber priorities nearing the election. It’s a good topic for review.
One of the more challenging facets to awakening the general public on the scale of corruption within Washington DC is the need for people to drop party designations.
This is never truer than within the U.S. Senate where the mistaken “us -vs- them” perspective remains a pesky hurdle.
The blue team and red team are mirror images of themselves. They are not opposites, they are mirrored – a big difference.
The policy objective is the same, the business model within DC (K Street) benefits the upper chamber the most.
Within this dynamic Mitch McConnell is the mirror image of Harry Reid. Mitch has been grooming his replacement for a long time; that replacement is John Thune. Senator Thune is in a position that demands stealth. Ideologically, think of John Thune as the mirror image of Gavin Newsom. They are not opposites, they are mirrored – a big difference.
The system of affluence and influence has been created to self-sustain regardless of party affiliation. The Senate is one club with one ideological perspective. Within that club rule #1 dominates: none of the members will ever expose another member. So, when there is corrupt activity within the Senate no-one from within the institution will expose another. This is the code of Omerta within the upper chamber. This is the way of the “my good friend” Senate and how it operates.
Current Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has a leadership group who carry out the institutional objectives of the upper chamber as a body, they include: Senator John Thune (whip); Senator John Barrasso (conference chair); Roy Blunt (committee chair); Todd Young (NRSC chair); Jodi Ernst (conference vice-chair); and Chuck Grassley (president pro tempore). None of these senators make a move publicly without approval from Leader McConnell.
In August of 2020, before the presidential election, Senate Whip John Thune rebuked the mail-in ballot concerns expressed by President Trump. Thune did this because ultimately the objectives of the upper chamber were more favorably aligned if President Trump was removed.
WASHINGTON DC – […] Asked if he agreed with the president’s repeated charges that mailed-in balloting will lead to a “rigged election” and “massive voter fraud,” the Senate majority whip told reporters, “I don’t.”
“Mailed-in voting has been used in a lot of places for a long time and, honestly, we’ve got a lot of folks that, as you know, they’re investing heavily in trying … to win that war. It’s always a war too for mail-in ballots. Both sides compete, and it’s always an area where I think our side, at least in my experience, has done pretty well,” Thune answered, adding: “I think we want to assure people it’s going to work, it’s secure and if they vote that way it’s going to count.” (read more)
(L-R) Barrasso, Blunt, McConnell, Thune and Ernst.
Senator Thune is one of the primary beneficiaries of Big Ag spending and Wall Street money. Thune is the ‘whip’ of McConnell. Thune is second in Big Ag contributions, with Senator Chuck Grassley being first.
Late December, 2021, the New York Times reported {LINK} that South Dakota Senator John Thune, the heir apparent to Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, was considering retiring because the Trump influence, the MAGA base, was not in alignment with his corporate and Wall Street donor class worldview.
Those who have watched closely know Senator Mitch McConnell has positioned Senator Thune to take over in the Senate (zipper problems not withstanding). The Machiavellian purpose of the positioning is to put Thune in place as a line of defense to protect the interest of the political establishment and the aligned Fourth Branch of Government.
Now, follow this sequence closely….
January 8, 2022, the New York Times announced that Thune was indeed going to run for reelection {LINK}. “Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate Republican, announced on Saturday that he would seek re-election, after an aggressive lobbying campaign by colleagues prompted him to put aside concerns about the future of his party and pursue a fourth term.”
January 9, 2022, the usually invisible other Senator from South Dakota, Senator Mike Rounds, appears on ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos, to undermine Donald Trump and say the former president “could be prosecuted” for his involvement in the J6 terrorist attack “if the DOJ has evidence.” [PROMPTED]
You never usually see this guy Mike Rounds…. who happens to sit on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee… yet suddenly, the day after Thune makes his reelection bid public, Senator Rounds sticks his head out of his hole to undermine Donald Trump?
Thune, South Dakota. Rounds, South Dakota. Who else,…. Kristi Noem, South Dakota.
Governor Kristi Noem is the Koch Brothers version of Nikki Haley. A Wall Street donor favorite and open border immigration advocate who has been positioned to be a potential Republican candidate for 2024. An approved republican candidate.
You often hear people wonder why the GOP doesn’t push-back against the Democrats. The reason is simple, the GOP are the right wing of the UniParty bird, the Democrats are the left wing. They are mirror images of each other.
Both clubs are attached to the body of big corrupt corporatist government.
Watch the trade front. Watch international trade, economics, banking and multinational corporation influence. That’s the ‘trillions are at stake,’ and that’s where the opposition to everything MAGA comes from.
#TrishRegan #Fauci #Fed Markets are waiting on Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole this Friday…and any way you slice it, it won’t be good for the economy or for Wall Street. Powell messed up bigtime and the American economy is stuck paying the price. On the bright side, Anthony Fauci is (finally) retiring! Join me for a look at today’s headlines.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America