It appears that after its 5th election, Israel will have a right leaning government headed by Mr. Netanyahu. He reappears on the scene after having held office for about 30 years.?
Recent reports that attorneys working for Mr. Trump were counting on Justice Clarence Thomas to aid them, raises significant question about Ginny Thomas’ involvement in this process. She has testified before the January 6th Committee, and there were e-mails that have been disclosed in which she was urging Mr. Trump to take action to stay in office, based upon claims that there was election fraud. It’s virtually impossible to believe that those sentiments did not drift over to Justice Thomas in dinner conversation, and it is highly likely he shares those views given his positions over the years, and most recently, in cases involving various rights that have been established by the court. This is very troubling, if not scary, and I hope we get to the truth.
B-52 bombers, the dinosaurs of our strategic fleet are going to Australia in order to be a deterrent to aggression from China and North Korea. The striking durability of these planes is impressive, and I had the privilege of serving at Wurtsmith Air Force Base when B-52s were the major bomber in the Air Force’s arsenal. To watch these giant planes slowly move through the sky frequently loaded with nuclear weapons was truly awe-inspiring and one could only feel confident that we were doing our best to protect the nation.
China’s factory slow-down is worse than expected under their zero tolerance Covid policies. This segment of their economy has contracted, again in October, after a short-lived improvement which clearly indicates that the Covid policies that are in-force are having an impact, along with falling global demand for Chinese goods. There has been much talk about the reshoring in the United States of products currently produced in China, and that seems to be having significant impact, certainly when running parallel to China’s own policies. China’s Manager’s Index for manufacturing fell to 49.2 from 50.1 in September.
The attack on Paul Pelosi has raised the incredible specter of all types of conspiracy theories and nasty derogatory remarks that are very problematic. Mr. Scalise who was attacked by someone from the left has frequently raised that issue and nonetheless, did not speak out against those in the Republican party fostering these false Pelosi conspiracy theories. It really causes one to wonder what his response would be, if someone were to say “well, that attack on you was staged, the fact that you were wounded so badly was simply a mistake, but it was done in order to get support from your base.” That is exactly the tact that is being taken by Republicans with regard to Paul Pelosi.
I read an interesting discussion about the number 1/137, which apparently shows up everywhere in physics, but what does it mean? Is it simply a number, or does it have some deeper significance? Apparently, theoretical physicists have pondered this number, and it has been discussed on PBS Spacetime, by New Scientist Magazine and numerologists, including religious ones who appear to be inspired by the number. We have other numbers which seem to have significance, such as (a)/or pi 𝛑. This type of musing is interesting, but well beyond my understanding of mathematics, nonetheless, the fact that people are looking at it means there may be something there.
The US trade deficit widened last month as exports declined likely because of the strong dollar.
Canada will bolster its economy by admitting 250,000 more immigrants. Sound familiar, The US still has over 10 million unfilled jobs, not really.
On the recession front hiring was 261,000 last month slightly below prior numbers. The FED raised rates another 75 basis points as the FED also signaled rates will be higher for longer.
Apparently the FED is providing a new program of 5% inflation, 5% unemployment and 5% money rate as its economic goals. We have a long way to go on inflation, short term on rates, but a real negative with that level of unemployment.
Democrats on balance missed the issues that are important to a majority of Americans. One who didn’t was Matt Castelli.
Twitter and Musk ready to jump off the edge?
Please vote for whomever your candidate is.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.