Pretzels And Popcorn! 🥨🍿

Good jobs report. Israel is dragging Biden and Harris down in the polls.

Six months to go before the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election and President Joe Biden is still embracing Israel despite the backlash from his base. The concerns of the U.S. going as far to ban the International Criminal Court is also being floated around.

Of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the jobs report details how many jobs were spread across the United States. Some areas seen job growth while others saw job losses.

The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in April while the unemployment rate rose, lifting hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates in the coming months.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 on the month, below the 240,000 estimate from the Dow Jones consensus, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.9% against expectations it would hold steady at 3.8%.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from the previous month and 3.9% from a year ago, both below consensus estimates and an encouraging sign for inflation.

The jobless rate tied for the highest level since January 2022. A more encompassing rate that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons also edged up, to 7.4%, its highest level since November 2021. The labor force participation rate, or those actively looking for work, was unchanged at 62.7%.

Wall Street already had been poised for a higher open, and futures tied to major stock market averages added to gains following the report. Treasury yields tumbled after being little changed before the release. The report raised the prospect of a “Goldilocks” climate where growth continues but not at such a rapid pace to force the Fed to tighten policy further.

“With this report, the porridge was just about right,” said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade. “What would you like at this point the cycle? We’ve had interest rates jacked up pretty high, so you would expect to see the labor market slow down a little. But we’re still at pretty high levels.”

Greene threatens to remove Johnson because of aid to Ukraine and his refusal to impeach Biden.

Consistent with recent trends, health care led job creation, with a 56,000 increase.

Other sectors showing significant rises included social assistance (31,000), transportation and warehousing (22,000), and retail (20,000). Construction added 9,000 positions while government, which had shown solid gains in recent months, was up just 8,000 after averaging 55,000 over the previous 12 months.

Revisions to previous months took the March gain to 315,000, or 12,000 from the initial estimate, and February to 236,000, a decline of 34,000.

Household employment, which is used to calculate the unemployment rate, increased by just 25,000 on the month. Workers holding full-time jobs soared by 949,000 on the month, while those hold part-time jobs slumped by 914,000.

The report comes two days after the Fed again voted to hold borrowing costs steady, keeping its benchmark overnight borrowing rate in a targeted range between 5.25%-5.5%, the highest in more than 20 years.

Following the decision, Chair Jerome Powell characterized the jobs market as “strong” but noted that inflation is “too high” and this year’s economic data has indicated “a lack of further progress” in getting inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target.

But market action shifted after the jobs report indicated an easing labor market and softer wage increases. Traders priced in a strong chance of two interest rate cuts by the end of 2024, with the first reduction expected to come in September, according to CME Group data.

Congress is trying to pass laws that outlaw flying the Palestinian flag and criticism of Israel.

“This is the jobs report the Fed would have scripted,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “The first downside payrolls surprise in several months, as well as the dip in average hourly earnings growth, will bring the rate cutting dialogue back into the market and perhaps explains why Powell was able to be dovish on Wednesday.”

Though inflation has come well off its highs in mid-2022, it is still considerably above the central bank’s comfort zone. Most reports this year have shown inflation around 3% annually; the Fed’s own preferred measure, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, most recently was at 2.8%.

Higher prices have been putting upward pressure on wages, part of an inflation picture that has kept the Fed on the sidelines despite widespread market expectations that the central bank would be cutting interest rates aggressively this year.

Most Fed officials in fact had been mentioning the likelihood of reductions in their public comments. However, Powell at his post-meeting news conference Wednesday made no mention of the likelihood that rates would be lowered at some point this year, as he had in the past.

Do not assume that every place has jobs. Companies are closing up shop. The tech industry, retail, trucking and press are laying off workers. The service industry is continuing to suffer due to stagnant wages, lack of achievements and work overload.

Also, housing is still down. More Americans can't afford rent or car payments.

AIPAC has poured money into many of these primaries. It openly bragged that its choices which were Democrats and Republicans beat their challengers.

House members passed a bill to define antisemitism in attempt to suppress freedom of speech. The insufferable House of Representatives in a bipartisan moment are trying to criminalize thought and dissent.

They are now trying to outlaw any criticism of Israel as hate speech which could be punishable by sanctions, divestment or allowing companies to terminate employment of anyone who dares criticizes Israel.

Let me get this straight: You are more upset over words than actions. You are upset someone using their freedom of speech to criticize a foreign country engaged in a propaganda campaign to shield itself from war crimes and impunity. You are upset over people using their voices, their wallets and their time to protest an injustice. Well, get upset over your taxpayer money aiding foreign nations. Get upset over foreign nations killing Americans in a war funded by our taxpayer money. Get upset over the deaths of thousands in Haiti, Chad, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Venezuela, Myanmar, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine and Palestine. Get upset at your president, your senator, your representative, your governor, your state leader, your mayor and your local junk food media for bowing to the evil regime of Israel.

The Congress has less work than most Americans. It is infuriating that the average worker works more 50 hours a week while 157 House members and 36 senators work on average of 25 hours a week.

Republicans see the only path to victory is basically obstruct and complain about the president. They won't offer solutions or policies. All they care about is trying to keep folks angry with culture wars and distractions.

To make this clear, it doesn't matter anymore who the fucking president is. Biden, Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are backing Israel over the world. They are so out of touch with reality.

Turkey halts trade and diplomatic ties with Israel.

Holding Biden accountable for his actions doesn't mean a lockstep vote and support.

I. Am. Calling. Him. Out. 

Biden is an advocate of war and genocide. He is tone deaf and unfortunately a lost cause.

What pisses me off is our lawmakers are calling protesters "Hamas supporters" to paint peaceful protests as an act of "terrorism."

With billions of dollars of aid going to Israel, you would think that American lawmakers would have our taxpayer money spent on more useful things!

The lawmakers will spend more taxpayer money to fix our crumbling infrastructure.

Many of these Republicans who vote against funding the government and assistance for some of America's less fortunate are willing to give billions to a foreign nation engaged in an illegal act of genocide. Same with Democrats. They claim they want to protect democracy but endorse a fascist government sworn to being an ethnostate on our taxpayer dime.

President Joe Biden's headaches:

1. Donald J. Trump.
2. Elon Musk and X.
3. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook and Meta.
4. TikTok.
5. The Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate stalling his agenda.
6. Bad poll numbers.
7. The media asking him about Russia, Israel, Hunter Biden and Trump's controversies.
8. The Supreme Court making controversial decisions that impact the country.
9. Gun violence and Congress not doing anything to stop it.
10. Inflation.
11. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith (R-MS) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
12. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) , Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).
13. Republican governors Ron DeSantis, Doug Burgum, Kay Ivey, Greg Abbott, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Bill Lee, Glenn Youngkin, Kristie Noem, Kim Reynolds, Brian Kemp, Brad Little and Greg Gianforte.
14. Federal Judges and Supreme Court members appointed by Trump.
15. The junk food media and their never ending dramatizing of world events.
16. Anti-Vaxxers. 
17. Lawmakers and activists who protest the CDC guidelines during the pandemic.
18. The endless culture wars that Republicans find outrage in.
19. Fox, Breitbart, Libs of TikTok, The Daily Mail, Newsmax and OANN's relentless talk about Biden conspiracies. 
20. Mark Levin, Sean "Softball" Hannity, Charlamagne tha God, Peter Doocy, Alex Jones, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck, Simon Ateba, Greg Kelly, Forgiato Blow and Bill Maher.
21. The Republicans constantly dogging his brother James Biden and son Hunter Biden.
22. The Republicans and conservatives spreading misinformation about daughter Ashley Biden.
23. The junk food media mentioning Russian propaganda and Tara Reade.
24. The endless racism towards Vice President Kamala Harris, former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
25. The relentless talk about spending despite the former president's reckless spending.
26. The lack of civility towards fellow Americans.
27. The junk food media's obsession with his age.
28. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
29. Vladimir Putin.
30. Xi Jinping.
31. Kim Jong-Un.
32. Benjamin Netanyahu.
33. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
34. Alexander Lukashenko.
35. Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

Monthly reminders: 

The coronavirus doesn't care about your age, race, gender, sexuality, nationality, religion, politics, economic or social standings. It doesn't care about your business, your performances, your personal finances and travel. It doesn't care about the funerals, the birthday parties, the weddings, the vacations, the events and your graduations.

An active shooter doesn't care about the politics, race, gender, sexuality, nationality, religion, your finances, your family, your plans that day, your successes, your failures, and most importantly, your life.

You're not safe in the school, the concert, the hospital, the church, the casino, the bus station, the subway, the light rail train, the buses, the malls, the local big box store, the political rally, the protest rally, the women's center for reproductive surgeries, the mosque, the synagogue, the state buildings, the workplace, the gas station, the family picnic, the food truck rally, the funerals, the birthday parties, the graduations, the wedding, the televised events, the sporting events and many more events that have some terrorist with a firearm. Domestic violence, suicide, racism, culture war inspired, politically motivated and international operative inspired are types of gun violence.

Food prices, energy prices, rent, city services and college education have risen. Companies are struggling to find workers. They are now trying to push incentives to get workers in. However, there is always a catch to working entry level jobs that make over $20 an hour. Folks must work hours that do not accommodate home and social life, it may only be part time work or temporary. Some jobs may force overtime or refuse to pay for work rendered. With union being weaken by states, it may be an at-will company. So if you are on social media, protesting injustices or supporting controversial issues or making threats to local officials, you could lose your job.

Real Reasons To Why Unemployment Rate Stays The Way It Is! The main reasons why some are not working.

1. DEAD
   
2. BORN
3. IN PRISON
4. IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
5. IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
   
6. IN HIGH SCHOOL
7. IN COLLEGE FULL TIME
8. VOLUNTEER
9. DISABLED
10. INFLATION
11. STAY AT HOME PARENT
12. LACK OF TRANSPORTATION OR BABYSITTING
13. RETIRED 
14. QUIT ON THEIR OWN
15. TERMINATED FROM EMPLOYMENT 
16. NOT HIRING UNQUALIFIED
17. NOT HIRING TOO QUALIFIED
18. ACTIVE MILITARY
19. NATURAL DISASTERS
20. MASS SHOOTINGS DISRUPTING DAILY ROUTINE
21. RACISM
22. WAGE THEFT
23. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE ON JOB POSTING BUT DECEPTION UPON HIRING
24. BEING LAID OFF DUE TO CLOSING OR STAFF REDUCTION
25. DESTRUCTION TO FACILITY OR PROPRETY
26. OUTSOURCING JOBS TO OTHER STATES OR COUNTRIES
27. BEING UNDOCUMENTED IN FEAR OF I.C.E. OR U.S. AGENCIES
28. BEING PUBLICLY OUTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA DOING SHAMEFUL ACTS
29. PARTICIPATING IN UNCIVIL OR VIOLENT PROTESTS
30. PUBLICLY SUPPORTING OR PROTESTING AGAINST ISRAEL

Jobs are looking good despite fears.

Companies are cautious about hiring employees. With the average wages stagnant, many are not looking forward to returning to a job that pays dirt wages. Many who worked in the retail, restaurant and low end service industry are not willing to take a job for less than $10 an hour. Matter of fact, no one can survive on $15 an hour.

The U.S. claims that Israel hasn't violated any laws. The world says otherwise.

Republicans don't see the bigger picture itself. They rather continue to believe in conspiracies about people collecting the safety net and not going back to work.

Give them a liveable wage and maybe things might improve in the job market.

We can't always assume that folks are lazy. People are literally dying from being exposed to the coronavirus, gun violence and folks are tired of the status quo of their jobs.

Many single mothers are having trouble trying to find quality daycare or family members to watch children. On top of that, some have lost family members due to the pandemic. A homemaker may have lost their spouse. Some may have no choice but to watch their children or loved ones due to the aftermath of the pandemic.

Folks are still trying to rebound from medical bills, late rent payments, owing taxes and college loans.

Republicans are white nationalists without a conscience. 

Trump's presidency and Republican controlled governments are incompetent. Their leadership has killed millions of Americans. Biden has a slim majority in Congress and things can't be done with obstruction from both parties.

Holding these lawmakers accountable is not just a pledge, but a promise. You need to learn who represents your community. Your local community member, your school board member, your mayor, your state representative, your state senator, your governor, your U.S. Representative, your U.S. Senator and the president need to be held accountable for their actions. 

Biden and Blinken can't admit that Israel is the cause of the world's problems.

We need to put pressure on Republicans and Democrats to do something to improve everyone's lives.

Keep pressure on them with Israel. 

Israel must be held accountable for war crimes and the U.S. must end its aid. Our taxpayer money should help Israel any further.

They are feeling it. Democrats know the risk of supporters being turned off by their policies. They know that Biden is under extreme pressure to do something. Arab Americans, Muslim and young voters have vowed to never back Biden putting his reelection chances in danger.

The call number to the White House and U.S. Capitol is now going to be used. This is the official White House numbers 202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414. This is the Congress official phone number, 202-224-3121. Please be respectful to operators, staff members and elected leaders. Your calls are monitored by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Capitol Police. 

Let them know that "thoughts and prayers," "hearts going to" and "good guys with guns" are no longer acceptable and you want legislation to curb gun violence. Let them know that you are tired of your taxpayer money going to foreign nations like Israel. Let them know this law on TikTok is a ban on free speech. You are tired of hearing about "Israel having a right to..." and the bogus claims of being anti-semitic or in support of terrorism.

We have bigger issues at home and our tax dollars should solve the housing crisis, lowering food prices, fixing roads, bridges, helping reinvest in struggling urban and rural communities. We have hospitals closing, big box retailers leaving communities and television programs dying. There are bigger issues in the country than Israel. You want an immediate ceasefire and accountability for war crimes done by Israel. You want no more foreign influence in American elections. You also want to make sure future presidents and lawmakers avoid influence from lobbyists.