1 in 6, ONE in SIX, remember that............

1 in 6 homeowners in the flood zone in south Texas have insurance.

ONE in SIX.

Who gets the bill?  One of my pals thinks very little of his wallet having to pay for the disaster.  He works his ass off and pays for insurance.  Couldn't have said it better myself!!!

"HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"............yeah, like nobody gives a shit. we can already see our tax dollars going down the "drain" by incompetent government bureaucracy, fraudulent claims by uninsured, legitimate Texans & illegal immigrants, business owners, car dealers and insurance companies.  Just like New Orleans and New Jersey, the raping of the tired and withered American taxpayer will once again be upon us as the federal, state, and local governments start their "woe is me" bullshit, and we can sit back and watch our tax dollars going down the fucking "drain".....again. it must be a excruciatingly  good feeling having NO money, but spending other peoples money ad infinitum..........

Fear running rampant!!!!!

I used to think I was just a regular guy, but . .

•     I was born white, which now, whether I like it or not, makes me a racist;

•        I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which by today's standards, makes me a fascist;

•        I am heterosexual, which according to gay folks, now makes me a homophobic;

•        I am non-union, which makes me a traitor to the working class and an ally of big business;

•        I am a Christian, which now labels me as an infidel;

•        I believe in the 2nd Amendment, which now makes me a member of the vast gun lobby;

•        I am older than 63 which makes me a useless old man;

•        I think and I reason, therefore I doubt much that the main stream media tells me, which must make me a reactionary;

•        I am proud of my heritage and our inclusive American culture, which makes me a xenophobe;

•        I value my safety and that of my family and I appreciate the police and the legal system, which makes me a right-wing extremist;

•        I believe in hard work, fair play, & fair compensation according to each individual's merits, which today makes me an anti-socialist;

•        I believe in the defense and protection of the homeland for and by all citizens, which now makes me a militant;

*        Recently, a woman called me and my friends a “basket of deplorables”;

•        Please help me come to terms with the new me...because I'm just not sure who I am anymore!

I would like to thank all my friends for sticking with me through these abrupt, new found changes in my life and my thinking - I just can't imagine or understand what's happened to me so quickly.

Funny...it's all just taken place over the last 7 or 8 years.

And, as if all this crap wasn't enough to deal with, I'm now afraid to go into either restroom....

America can't even figure this out.............

Kuiu World Tour Dallas Texas 2017

Took my lunch break and headed to Irving Texas to check out the Kuiu big rig on the national tour.  Great time, great gear.

I happened to be the 50th visitor and was gifted this shirt.

Thank you very much Kuiu.

Best millenial speech ever? You make the call..........

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2SPfF0JbFb8&feature=youtu.be

DIRECT from the trenches of Middle Class America!

Words well said from a fellow Hedger.

A couple of weeks back, I went to the pharmacy to fill a scrip for a 2 oz tube of a cortisone derivative cream. Of course I have prescription insurance, but I asked what the med would cost. I was told that tube was $1,038.00. I guessed they probably could have sold it for $15.00 and still made money. No folks, because they had it in a little 2 oz. foam can as well for $860.00. The doctor gave me one as a sample five years back. If that crap was really worth $860. or anywhere near it, they wouldn't be handing it out as a sample would they? So I told the pharmacy to keep that tube of cream, and walked out of the store. It's just a giant scam to strip the middle class of all the wealth they worked for and saved all their lives. You leave your kids with nothing because you're forced to spend a fortune on medical care, and the banks get to start your kids in debt all over again. It's horrible. 

Let's examine America's CARNAGE!

Bannon gone, Trump reversed course.  The MIC and Generals in the war machine won.  Is it a soft military coup?  Is there a fiscal conservative in office beside the Paul's?

Afghanistan has probably 20,000,000 people living in remote, inaccessible, inhospitable villages that can only be reached by road and have an extremely high goat-to-human ratio.

Very little infrastructure in the country.   The MIC is foaming to light it up!  The blank check will be more debt.  HUUUUGE debt.

Everybody now wants war in Afghanistan but who wants their sons and daughters to do the dirty work?  Haven't we bombed enough brown people in tribal groups?   Can someone come up with a cogent reason I can understand that will justify the hundreds of billions we will spend on this debacle?  And please, define "winning".  Does winning mean we send more troops to protect girls at a record shop in Kabul?

America is dead broke without a printing press running full tilt. No clear strategic objective was laid out by Trump.  There is no military objective that is obtainable.  To fight a counter insurgency in Afghanistan without the hearts and minds of the Afghan people is Vietnam all over again.  Body bags lie ahead.  Lots of them.

Ron Paul, American Hero

If you are reading this I bet you are feeling very fortunate that it is NOT your son or daughter gearing up to  head to Afghanistan and "fight" for American interests. 

Ron Paul had come to a conclusion: Trump is now nothing more than the latest neocon, one whom even Lindsey Graham applauded.

Below is a chronological rundown of Ron Paul's progressively angier tweets, as he was live commenting on Trump's speech:

• Hoping for the best in tonight's @realDonaldTrump speech but fearful that foreign intervention is only going to get worse.  #Afghanistan
• Steve Bannon brakes removed. Neocons feeling their oats.
• The military personnel are the victims of bad foreign policy.
• Sad that these wars the politicians argue for are unconstitutional yet we are told we are over there defending the Constitution.
• Mr. President it's too bad you do not follow your instincts.
• Planned in Afghanistan? What about Saudi Arabia??
• What's wrong with rapid exit? We just marched in we can just march out.
• So far very discouraging. Sounds like pure neocon foreign policy.
• The promoters of war win. The American people lose. #Afghanistan
• Remember: there was no al-Qaeda until our foolish invasion of Iraq based on neocon lies.
• The American people deserve to know when we are going to war and MUST give you permission through their representatives in Congress!
• Emphasis on Pakistan just means the war going to be expanded!
• Emphasis on military alliance with India may well lead to more vicious war between nuclear states Pakistan and India. Smart?
• Terrorism is one thing, but what about massive collateral damage? Killing civilians creates more terrorism. Round and round we go.
• Shorter Trump: "Afghanistan: give us your minerals!"
• Nothing new. More of the same. Obama was wrong. This is NOT the good war. Sooner we get out the better.
• More killing is not the road to peace.
• The emphasis on the "grave danger" of terrorism is greatly exaggerated. But more intervention surely creates more terrorism.
• How many Americans are really sitting around worrying about an Afghan terrorist coming over and killing them?
• So many of our problems are self-inflicted by a deeply flawed foreign policy. US troops - and the family members - suffer the consequences.
• Big issue of the night: US expanding the war into Pakistan. Could precipitate more conflict between nuclear India and Pakistan.
• If Americans are tired of 16 year war, how will they feel about another decade or two? When will they wake up?
• Our ultimately "hasty" departure from Vietnam finally ended a lot of grief. Even if it came way too late.
• Beware! @LindseyGrahamSC loves Trump's speech! Why are arch-neocons celebrating so much? Very telling!
• There's nothing hasty about ending America's longest war. @POTUS bowed to military-industrial establishment; doubled down on perpetual war.

Based on Trump's speech, Ron Paul's concerns are well founded. Then again, as we await Breitbart's response to Trump's adress one thing is certain: Steve Bannon will not be happy with what "neocon" Trump said tonight, even if the WaPo and NYT are now on "mute" mode when it comes to NSA-sourced, anti-Trump scoops.

And while there is a distinct possibility that tomorrow night, when addressing his increasingly shaky core support base, Trump will change his mind, with two generals whispering in his ear constantly to determine US foreign policy even as two ex-Goldmanites now write domestic US policy, it is quite likely that the Trump who was unveiled tonight, is the Trump that will stay with the US population for the indefinite future. And if for some reason the "new and improved" Trump slips and fades away again... well there's always the Mueller "Russia collusion" probe in the background keeping the president on his toes.

Update: Here's Breitbart's take, as expected.

Ritz Carlton Dallas, # ECLIPSE2017

Was having lunch at the Ritz when the Eclipse came through this neck of the Texas plains.

Got so dark high end hookers started to show up.

DEBT CEILING CRISIS

What a nation we have become.

Why they call it a debt ceiling is laughable.   Debt only goes one way with these politicians.   They should call it a DEBT FLOOR.

It's really a credit binge.  Binging is acceptable to the public and doesn't stipulate an upper level to the insanity!

Maybe each state should have a DEBT GUILLOTINE.

With Steve Bannon gone, the TRUMP AGENDA is toast.

Spend away Congress Critters!  

With $100 TRILLION of unfunded liabilities ahead this should make for interesting times.

If you have children it's a different story.

Abacus, NUMBERAID and the ECLIPSE

My old abacus surfaced over the weekend.  It is what I started on at St. Mary's grade school in Morris, Minnesota.

What a great learning tool.  

Lucky to have found it as I was able to check and recheck the math and make sure the eclipse was on for today!

NFL and the 2017 NFL Season

Having been blessed to attend 4 Super Bowls it's been a great run of watching NFL games.

This year will be a repeat of last year for Dean Parisian.  I refuse to sit and watch grown men in an epic sport refuse to stand for our National Anthem.  This is all I needed to see in 2017!

Go ahead, you are free to kneel  on the sidelines during our National Anthem.   We are free to shut off the TV, close our wallets and boycott your league.
 
Screw 'em.

Another year of watching high school football.

Doesn't get much better than in Texas......

DISCO

There are still plenty of meat heads who can't dance and bash disco songs of the 80's.

No one. Ever.  Nobody. Not a single person.

Was ever killed, maimed or gunned down in a disco song.

 

The world we live in today............

A good buddy had some under-25'ers over last weekend that were friends with his son.

He called and asked if I wanted to come over and keep him company.   He said we'd have no problem carrying on a conversation.   He said the millennials just wanted to come over, drink free beer and stare at their cell phones.  

All night long.  

North Korea: FAT BOY v. AGENT ORANGE

Since when is winning the goal of a foreign war? The goal is to expend as much military hardware as possible wrecking the country so you can then spend countless more billions rebuilding it. The longer the war drags on the better for these people.

Ask yourself how many shares of major defense contractors these Congress-critters own and how many millions they will make as "advisors" and "experts" from the gigs they will be offered by the same companies after their public "service" ends.  They have been winning all along and it's only getting better.

Remind me again how many countries North Korea had invaded since the truce in 1953 and how many the United States has invaded in the same time? 

The Donnie Trump show and North Korea will do what every other country does to the United States: Cost America billions everyday to patrol the rock concert. Right now, the tour is going on all over the world. $20 trillion in debt and counting. N Korea is winning.  We spend a large amount of money every day, every year to keep our nuclear triad at the ready.  Deterrence is front and center.  It's what we do. Take a guess at what it costs per day to keep the US fleet and all that hardware up and running to have an elevated level of vigilance? This can and will go on for months. Would you want to write that check? 

Didn't think so.

But guess what, you are. And if you're not, it's being borrowed. And you owe it. Broke is where the US will land.

By escalating tensions with North Korea, Trump is doing everything, literally everything, we elected him NOT to do. He needs to be draining the swamp at home, not fighting NeoLib wars abroad. 

Bring it home Donnie.   Tax code reform, FED audit,  Fed abolishment, lawyer reform, immigration, border security, social security and on and on and on.

It's true,  the only goal of an elected politician is to get reelected.     

James Bullard, St. Louis Fed Chair Today on Bloomberg

Bullard admitted that "The Fed's inflation and growth 'misses' add up... and undercut credibility."

Which raises a simple question - what credibility?

Fear? Aw come on who is scared of this market?

With the VIX near dead in the water I thought readers should get acquainted with some fear and greed.   They haven't gone out of style for 10,000 years but it seems like they have gone Tango Uniform, T.U. the last few months.  Click on this YouTube link:

GREATEST MARKET MOVE IN FEAR EVER!

Watch in action a tremendous teacher and GREAT Coach!

This guy is one of the best at what he is paid to do.

I don't care if you coach flag pee-wee's or NFL lineman you can learn from him.  Click on this link, sit back and listen!!!

Greatest Motivational Speech at Milton High School EVER!

FED True or False?

T or F:   The Fed has never functioned in any way except to help Wall Street inflate bubbles, protect big banks and allow the Federal government to spend like a drunken sailor.

A:   The Fed is functioning very well as far as those who are in a position to change it are concerned – it is massively redistributing income to the real owners of governments and allowing politicians to continue to promise more than they can deliver with tax receipts since they can borrow their way to prosperity and loudly claim economic “recoveries”.

Today and all the tomorrow's ahead.....................

It seems that I have been running into far too many younger Americans who aren't thinking straight or right.  Maybe it has something to do with their cell phone stuck in their face.

Stop looking back.  Stop looking ahead.  Just STOP the madness.

Listen up.  Do this checklist.   Again and again and again.

You will eventually get it right. 

Here is a right-now-checklist: Are you breathing? Are you eating well? Did you sleep enough last night? Did you exercise? Did you avoid the people who put you down or stress you out? Did you come up with ideas? Did you laugh? Are you grateful for what you have? Can you surrender to the universe, to the angels that anchor you to your fears, just for a moment, and say, “Who today do you want me to help?”

SAN DIEGO'S PROBLEM, AMERICA PAYS FOR IT!

1979!  What a great time to roll into San Diego and become a new resident of what was back then, America's Finest City.

Fast forward to today.

Homelessness in San Diego has surged in recent years. A January tally put the number of transients in the city at over 5,600, up more than 10 percent from last year. The total number has risen more than 40 percent since 2014. 

The chairman’s idea is for the city to construct temporary housing on the practice field of Qualcomm Stadium, where the San Diego Chargers played until 2016, and the San Diego State Aztecs play.

The number of homeless people in Los Angeles is skyrocketing. 

In just one year, the figures revealed that the homeless population in the city grew 20% while the numbers for the wider Los Angeles County were even higher at 23%.

As if looking at those numbers isn’t cringeworthy enough, The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported Wednesday that 6,000 homeless young people were tallied across the county in January, a 61% increase over the 2016 total. Most of the young people are ages 18 to 24. All the youth shelters have waiting lists and affordable housing is tough to find, even with a rent voucher, according to Heidi Calmus of Covenant House California, an international youth homeless services agency with a branch in Hollywood. “The system is overwhelmed,” Calmus said Tuesday night as she and a colleague, Nick Semensky, delivered toiletry bags and sandwiches to young people living in the streets.

Despite efforts to combat the problem, the number of homeless continue to go up.

And just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day.  And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about.  It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen by 60 percent since the last recession, and Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in a homeless shelter or in some other form of emergency housing at some point last year.  Yes, the stock market may have been experiencing a temporary boom for the last couple of years, but for those on the low end of the economic scale things have just continued to deteriorate.

Obamaisms..........

"Failure by Congress to raise the U.S. debt limit "could plunge the world economy back into recession," President Barack Obama declared Friday, and he acknowledged that he must compromise on spending with Republicans who control the House to avoid such a crisis. Obama urged swift action, saying he doesn't want the United States to get close to a deadline that would destabilize financial markets. He said he was confident Congress ultimately would raise the limit. "We always have. We will do it again," said Obama, who voted against raising the debt limit as a freshman senator from Illinois." The statement merely underscores that the president is now in contention for the Nobel Prize in hypocrisy: after all compare this statement to Obama's now supremely ironic remark from March 20, 2006: "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better." 

They sure do. And in order to replace the current failed leadership, they will gladly start with a new president.

Goldman Sachs in the "old" days..........

A fine of $550,000,000 is a total joke.  That is 3% of the GS bonus pool!!

 

How much "free" money does GS make daily by borrowing at the discount window and reinvesting in 10-year treasuries?

 

This is how it worked then.......... and now..........

 

1) GS fraudulently screws up our financial system and economy.

2) Deemed TBTF, The Fed tells GS to convert into a savings bank.

3) GS now borrows freely at the discount window and uses taxpayer $$$ to buy treasurys.

4) Obama DoJ sues GS for fraud.

5) GS settles with the government and pays the fine with $$$$$ it earned  at 0% interest from taxpayers.  All at zero

 risk.

 

What a racket.  

de Blasio, the RICH and NYC Subways...............

Yo, Billy.   The rich don't ride in your subways.  Never have.

It's been limo's, taxi's or choppers as you well know.  UBER & LYFT these days.   I bet you've never met a rich person in New York that can't wait to pay more taxes to government!

It doesn't appear that economic principles are alive and well in New York or California.  

The last few middle class taxpayers are about finished.

Yes, Bill, it will get ugly.   New York City deserves you and your ilk.

Tired. Sick. Tired.

As a sexual libertarian it doesn't matter to me who you want to screw.   Color, age, race, sexual gender, you name it as long it doesn't cost me money via tax dollars misspent or illegal or morally wrong have at it. You want to change yourself into a unicorn have it.  Do it on your dime please.

In the end God will sort it out and it won't be pretty.

Are you like me and so dam tired of the letters  L   G   B   T day after day after day?

Stop the madness, Liquor Guns Bacon Tits makes far more sense.

Texas has one less thug.......maybe two...........

A 60-year-old Texas woman wasn't taking any chances Monday morning when she heard two intruders enter her home, grabbing her pistol and shooting one of the would-be thieves dead, police said.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, confronted the two armed men after they entered her Harris County home through an open garage door around 11:30 a.m., WTSP reported. 

Cathy Hanks, a neighbor, said it's not surprising the woman fired her pistol when she saw a threat in her home, explaining: "That's really how we are. That's just Texas."

"It's the state of Texas. If you're going to go into someone's home, you're going to get shot," Hanks said.

Harris County Sheriff's Office's spokesman Thomas Gilliland told WTSP that both intruders -- neither of whom were identified -- were armed with pistols when the woman confronted them. She fired several shots and struck at least one man, who collapsed and died in her front yard. 

The Obama FED Trump Stock Market Bubble

All good things come to an end.

Having dismissed the "big, fat, ugly bubble" during his presidential campaign, President Trump is now tweeting how his tenure has promoted the market higher.   22,000 has a nice ring to it.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, blues and reds listen up.

The FED is in control.   If Trump can get tax reform and get some folks off the couch and back to work, so be it.  Good for him.  The market will scream higher.  But, the Fed normalizing interest rates?  Are you done laughing yet? Until then, please, no crow Mr. Trump. Loud and clear, this move isn't on you.  Janet Yellen and Obama kept this fraud going far longer and now you want to take credit?  GMAFB pal.  Okay,   but while you are taking credit for stocks could you please build a mile or two of wall while you are at it.  Maybe a half mile somewhere.  Just to say you tried to keep a campaign promise?

For now, the non-GAAP chicanery will continue in the financial engine rooms for sure.  Top-line, revenue growth is a tough find these days. And an anemic GDP isn't going hyperbolic any time in my life.  I will bet you on that.

My wish is that President Trump stop embracing the bullshit of the markets as anything he conned up.  Help Americans and stop the madness at the FED Mr. Trump!

When the algo's are turned off and Mom & Pop in Mandaree, Manderson or Mission are getting their stock market holdings creamed and the big bullshit banana's running banks are spitting out their bourbon from fear I will want to put some money to work.

Until then, watching this shit show unfold is rather entertaining.  The K Street crowd of bribers has got to be happy.   Ginning up some bullshit in south east Asia, McCain style,  is right up their alley after decimating the Middle East.  George W. Bush did the Middle East a "bang up" job in keeping his daddy's legacy alive.   I just wish all of those fine American men and women who lost limbs were whole and sane today.

May God bless America.  We need all the help we can get.

Syria and Arizona's McCain

Syria’s great historic cities of Aleppo and Damascus have been virtually destroyed – along with its lesser towns and villages and nearly the entirety of its economy. There are 400,000 dead and 11 million internal and external refugees from an original population of hardly 18 million. The human toll of death, displacement, disease and disorder which has been inflicted on this hapless land staggers the imagination.

Yet at bottom this crime against humanity – there is no other word for it – is not mainly Assad’s or Putin’s doing. It can be properly described as "McCain’s War" in the manner in which (Congressman) Charlie Wilson’s War in Afghanistan during the 1980’s created the monster which became Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.

Even the fact that the butchers of ISIS were able to establish a temporary foothold in the Sunni villages and towns of the Upper Euphrates portion of Syria is the direct doing of McCain, Lindsay Graham and their War Party confederates in the Congress and the national security apparatus. That’s because Syria’s air force and army would have stopped ISIS cold when it invaded in 2014 if it had not been weakened and beleaguered by Washington’s oppositions armies.

But why did Washington launch McCain’s War in the first place?

The government of Syria has never, ever done harm to the American homeland. It has no military capacity to attack anything much beyond its own borders – including Israel, which could dispatch Assad’s aging air force without breaking a sweat.

Moreover, even if a purely sectarian civil war in this strategically irrelevant land was any of Imperial Washington’s business, which it isn’t, Senator McCain and his War Party confederates have been on the wrong side from the get-go. The Assad regime going back to the 1970 was Arab Baathist – a form of nationalistic and anti-colonial socialism that was secular and inclusive in its religious orientation.

Indeed, as representatives of the minority Alawite tribes (15% of the population, at best), the Assad regime was based on Syria’s non-Sunni Arab minorities – including Christians, Druze, Kurds, Jews, Yazidis, Turkomans, and sundry others. Never once did the Assad’s seek to impose religious conformity – to say nothing of the harsh regime of Sharia Law and medieval religious observance demanded by the Sunni jihadists.

The point is, the Syrian opposition recruited by Washington for McCain’s War exploited the grievances of ordinary Sunni citizens, but it was led by radical jihadist military commanders. Washington’s endless charade of "vetting" these opposition fighters to ensure that aid only went to "moderates" was a sick joke.

Such moderates as existed were mainly opportunistic politicians who operated far from the battle in Turkish safe havens – or even from temporary residences in the beltway. It is a proven fact that most of the weapons supplied by the CIA and the gulf states were either sold to the Nusra Front and other jihadist factions or ended up in their hands when the CIA’s "moderate" trainees defected to the radicals.

So the question recurs. Why did Washington embark on this tremendous, pointless folly?

The answer is straight forward. Washington has become an Imperial City populated by a permanent class of sunshine patriots and self-appointed global field marshals like Senator McCain, who do the bidding of the military/industrial complex and its far-flung Warfare State apparatus.

That is, they identify and demonize the enemies and villains that are needed to keep the money flowing into the Empire’s $700 billion budget. In this case, Assad drew the short straw because as a member of the greater Shiite confession in the Islamic world he was naturally allied with the Shiite regime of Iran.