Congressional Bipartisanship

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Darrell Castle talks about the end of 2022 as the United States Congress came together in an act of bipartisanship to prevent a government shutdown and pass the $1.7 trillion, 4,155 page omnibus spending bill.

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CONGRESSIONAL BIPARTISANSHIP

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 6^th day of January in the year of our Lord 2023. I will be talking about the end of 2022 as the United States Congress came together in an act of bipartisanship to prevent a government shutdown. Congress was able to attend to its priorities quite well during December 2022 and I will be looking at the priorities of Congress as manifested by the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill passed at the last minute as the last act of 2022 or the first of 2023 depending how you want to view it.

I’ve heard the Democrat Party referred to as the evil Party and the Republican Party referred to as the stupid Party. Occasionally they get together and do something both evil and stupid which is known as bipartisanship. Yes, everyone knows that the U.S. is more than 31 trillion in debt it cannot repay. More than 3 trillion would have to be shaved from the budget this year to reduce the debt by 1 trillion and then do that for 31 years so unpayable is a reasonable word.

Instead, the plan is to destroy what’s left of the American economy by spending wantonly, irresponsibly, and foolishly on waste and war. The passage of the bill funnels more than $47 billion additional dollars to aid the Ukrainian efforts to fight Russia. That will bring the total aid package to roughly $111 billion. U.S. defense contractors such as Raytheon and General Dynamics will be happy since they will build the weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Some of the missiles being ordered will reportedly not be ready for shipment until 2025.

What will be the results of all this spending? More of the nations’ resources will be shifted to unproductive uses such as buying weapons and buying foreign politicians. Real American wealth is reduced while unproductive dollars flood through the system. Dollars are given birth without any subsequent increase in production. Congress is just doing what it does best, destroying the economy with fake money and stupid spending.

Let’s look at just a few of the things your labor will be paying for in this bill of 4,155 pages which congress was given 3 days to read and digest.

$410 million to protect the borders of Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Oman, and Lebanon.

$65 million to restore Pacific salmon populations.

$3.6 million to make a hiking trail named for Michelle Obama.

$200 million to promote gender equity and equality some of which is for Pakistan.

$3 Million for an LGBTQ museum in New York.

$477,000 for the Equity Institute of Rhode for antiracism virtual labs.

$1million for Zora’s House in Ohio, a co-working and community space for women and gender expansive people of color.

$750,000 for LGBT and gender non-conforming housing in Albany, NY.

$2million for the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore.

$750,000 for the Trans Latin Coalition to provide workforce development for transgender and gender non-conforming and Intersex immigrant women in Los Angeles.

$1.2 million for LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers.

$1.2 million for DACA recipients at San Diego Community College.

$5.4 billion in earmarks for the Democrats.

$858 billion in defense for the Republicans.

We were told before passage of this bill that aid to Ukraine was the number one issue for Republicans. That is what Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said anyway, but it seems that not many Republicans will admit to that. “Providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians, that’s the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most republicans.” To that statement by senator McConnell, I say nonsense, but if it is somehow true, then that is a fine example of why America is in the deep trouble that it is in.

I don’t say nonsense because I don’t believe Ukraine is important, but because I don’t believe that giving away more billions is the most important issue for most republicans. The war in Ukraine has been the most important issue all year and it still is most important, but here in America many of us believe we have our own troubles to address, and they should come before we stick our noses in an eastern European War. The War in Ukraine has dominated world events throughout this year, and once again bipartisanship reigns in Congress as pouring more billions into an eastern European conflict can never be questioned.

 With the additional money for Ukraine in this bill the total U.S. support exceeds the yearly defense budget for all other nations except Russia and China. Apparently not a single member of Congress bothered to read it and why should they? Each one knows the fix is in and the bill would be passed read or unread.

Speaking of Ukraine, its President was in America for the end of this session and spoke to a joint session of Congress. He said he appreciated all the billions, but it isn’t enough. He wants congress, on a bipartisan basis, to consider all the money they are stealing from the American people to be an investment. Yes, Mr. Zelensky was in the chamber of congress in his green sweatshirt and green fatigues. It briefly reminded me of another leader who famously wore fatigues even when speaking to the UN.

Yes, it seems that bipartisanship really is possible. The final vote in the Senate was 68 for and 29 against. There is something about dumping almost 2 trillion of debt on the backs of the American people that makes congress happy. Perhaps it was just the festive holiday season or perhaps they wanted to get out of town before the winter storm hit.

In contrast to what Senator McConnell said about Republican priorities, many Republican voters have other very important priorities none of which are addressed by this bill. The Senator most likely rarely if ever speaks to anyone outside the Washington D.C. area but If he did, he would find that virtually every American family is very concerned about how inflation is eating away at their paycheck each week.

Another issue the American people, especially Republicans, believe to be important is security of the southern border. This bill does provide $1.56 billion to Customs and border protection but it specifically prohibits use of the money for border security, new technology etc. In other words, it’s just more waste without any real benefit.  The U.S., it seems, is committed to protecting borders all over the world just not its own.

The President was, of course, ecstatic about the passage of the bill. At the time of the final passage, he was so happy he was vacationing in the Caribbean at the estate of a billionaire donor. Despite the dangers of climate change he flew on Air Force One to St. Croix for a few days of golf and swimming with the sharks. The president had until December 30^th to sign the bill, but he could not interrupt his vacation, so another Air Force plane had to fly the 4,155-page bill to St. Croix for him to sign. So much for climate change.

The President has decided that he must return to Washington for an important speech today, January 6^th so he can continue the story of the January 6^th “insurrection.” The January 6^th committee has already released its report, but I doubt if the President will rely very much on it for his speech. Buried within the report was a very interesting text sent by a man named Ray Epps who was prominent on video, but somehow never charged or even arrested. Mr. Epps was on video on both January 6^th and the day before hectoring trump supporters to “go into the capitol.” Epps’ texts reads as follows: “I was in the front with a few others, I also orchestrated it.”

He remains unindicted and as of this recording he is free. Why would the committee not look at him? Why would the FBI not pursue him? That one, at least, is easy, the FBI is not interested because he is one of them. The purpose of committees and investigations is no longer to find the truth but to justify the official explanation of the ruling elite.

Elon Musk’s revelations about the cooperation between Washington, its intelligence agencies, its captive media and the tech media companies was perhaps the second biggest story of the year because it proved that the media companies are no longer private but have become so directed and so intertwined with Washington that they can be said to be government agencies. The Twitter Files revealed by reporter Matt Taibbi along with Bari Weiss show a pattern of capture of tech media by the federal government in order to perpetuate government lies to the point that they all blend together.

Finally, Folks, 2022 revealed the federal government to be a quagmire of lying filth designed to gain and intensify the power and profit of the ruling elite. Maybe it’s always been that way, but if so, I admit that I have been unaware of how bad it really is. Perhaps I’m just a hopeless romantic.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.