"The Wreck called Hillary Clinton" (Video)

As Hillary Clinton piped in on President Trump's White House ballroom construction, here's a great parody video called "The Wreck called Hillary Clinton", a take on Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

Don't Let Biden B.S. You, We're In A Recession

Above, the meter reading of Biden's claim of no recession.

Traditionally, when we have two consecutive quarters of decline in the U.S. economy, the country is in a recession.

This was what has happened. We had two consecutive quarters of decline and the Biden Administration is trying to persuade people semantically that we're not. 

I received the following from my investment banker and he sees us in a recession:

Gross Domestic Product was reported this morning at an annual rate of -0.9%.  Weakness was more broadly based than the first quarter this year, with housing declining due to the substantial increase in mortgage rates.  As I’ve written in these messages for months now, nominal activity remains rather robust and employment is rather strong, but the burst in inflation is gobbling up all the nominal gains.  We are now living with the consequences of the policy response to the COVID shutdowns: federal authorities flooded the economy with massive quantities of new money in 2020 and congress doled out direct stimulus checks to a majority of the population.  The Federal government’s 2020 policy actions remind me of the Dire Straits song Money for Nothin’: Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free.  Once again, we are reminded of the ‘Austrian School’ economists’ assertion that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Most economists and investment professionals are calling this a ‘technical’ recession.  We now have two quarters of economic activity in 2022 behind us and both were declines in real (inflation adjusted) terms.  The definition that’s most frequently used as a recession is two consecutive quarters of real economic decline.  The administration is engaging in semantics with the NBER definition of recession trying to assert that we are not in a real recession.

What does this all mean for your portfolio?  We are seeing US equity markets rise strongly in July just at the times otherwise negative economic data is fresh news.  In fact, the US equity market has been up on news of both a substantial Fed Funds rate increase with at least another to come, and now the first estimate of GDP showing Q2 decline.  Treasuries are rallying, consistent with a slowing or declining economy.  My best estimate is that 1) growth stocks as a group have returned to favor for the summer months, and in an environment that favors growth stocks, valuations matter little, so equities are probably going to be fine for a short while ahead, and 2) that environment may be somewhat short-lived.

 Remember what President Bill Clinton once acknowledged:

"A recession is two quarters in a row of negative growth."

-- President Clinton, Dec. 19, 2000

Why Music Radio Sucks

Above, Gallup's and Window Rock's KYAT plays classic and modern country music.

Ever wondered why stations play the same thing and new artists can't get airplay on them? 

You can thank the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and Bill Clinton (for signing it) for this.

About the Telecommunications Act of 1996 from Future of Music:

Major Findings

Evidence of Consolidation

1. Ten parent companies dominate the radio spectrum, radio listenership and radio revenues. Deregulation has allowed a few large radio companies to swallow many of the small ones. Together these ten parent companies control two-thirds of both listeners and revenue nationwide. Two parent companies in particular, Clear Channel and Viacom, control 42 percent of listeners and 45 percent of industry revenues (see Chapter 3, pp. 24-25).

2. Consolidation is particularly extreme in the case of Clear Channel. Since passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Clear Channel has grown from 40 stations to 1,240 stations — 30 times more than congressional regulation previously allowed. No potential competitor owns even one-quarter the number of Clear Channel stations. With over 100 million listeners, Clear Channel reaches over one-third of the U.S. population (see Chapter 3, p. 24).

3. Oligopolies control almost every geographic market. Virtually every geographic market is dominated by four firms controlling 70 percent of market share or greater. In smaller markets, consolidation is more extreme. The largest four firms in most small markets control 90 percent of market share or more. These companies are sometimes regional or national station groups and not locally owned (see Chapter 3, pp. 31-35).

4. Virtually every music format is controlled by an oligopoly. In 28 of the 30 major music formats, nationwide, four companies or fewer control over 50 percent of listeners (see Chapter 3, pp. 36-39).  

Effects of Consolidation

5. A small number of companies control the news Americans hear on the radio. Four parent companies control two-thirds of the nation’s News format listeners. Two such firms, Viacom and Disney’s ABC Radio, also control major television networks (see Chapter 3, p. 38).

6. Format consolidation leads to fewer gatekeepers. A small number of companies control what music is played on specific formats. Coupled with a broad trend toward shorter playlists, this creates few opportunities for musicians to get on the radio. Further, overwhelming consolidation of these formats deprives citizens the opportunity to hear a wide range of music (See Chapter 4, pp. 61-63).

New musicians can't get airplay to be discovered and older artists, like George Strait, can't get airplay on "country" stations thanks to the "gatekeepers".

According to Country Rebel, Strait is not alone:

Country singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson is a huge talent, but radio stations won’t play his music. They got together and wrote about their frustrations with being kicked off country radio and titled the song “Kicked Outta Country.”

The song opens with the lyrics, “I just got the news today, the record I sent them they threw it away/It don’t fit the format, don’t make the list/They said I’m too old, won’t even be missed.”

Throughout the song, he sings about when country radio stopped playing Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. He notes that they continued to write what they knew, sing what they wrote, and they didn’t care what anyone thought.

So, if you are wondering why all we hear on the radio is the same pabulum, this is why.

Thank goodness there are still some independent radio stations around. In the Gallup, New Mexico area, there is a "Navajo Country" radio station, KYAT, that plays classic and new country music, including George Strait, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr., Roy Rogers and, if you can believe it, Walter Brennan. It's a damn good station!

Rock is dead, that is why I switched to country.

There Are No Words...

Epstein's Bill Clinton Painting

Above, the Bill Clinton painting from Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse.

The whole Jeffrey Epstein story has been a bizarre one right from the beginning.

Epstein's "suicide" last weekend hasn't ceased the flow of weird news on the case. The news is only getting weirder.

The latest is from the New York Post:

It’s certainly a conversation starter. 

Jeffrey Epstein had an oil painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress — lounging on a chair in the Oval Office — hanging up in his Manhattan townhouse, according to law enforcement sources. 

“It was hanging up there prominently — as soon as you walked in — in a room to the right,” a source told The Post. “Everybody who saw it laughed and smirked.” 

But the bizarre home decor didn’t stop there.

To read more (if you dare), go here.

By the way, word is out that the autopsy of Jeffrey Epstein revealed several broken neck bones, common in strangulation homicides. The plot thickens!

Just So You Know...

From the New York Post:

Millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died in an apparent suicide while in federal custody in Manhattan early Saturday, a stunning end that both infuriated and baffled his victims, and the federal officials responsible for his safety. 

For reasons still unclear, the jet-setting 66-year-old financier, who had faced up to 45 years in prison on charges of sex-trafficking dozens of teenage girls — accusers who have also implicated many in his circle of powerful, wealthy pals — had recently been taken off suicide watch, officials said. 

He was found unresponsive in his single-inmate cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center at about 6:30 a.m. and was dead on arrival at nearby NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, sources told The Post. 

The disgraced money manager was found hanging by his neck, a source told The Post.
US Attorney General William Barr said he was “appalled” by the apparent suicide at the ultra-secure lockup, which has held some of the world’s worst terrorists and drug lords. Suicides there are nearly unheard of.

To read more, go here.

Media Manufactured Immigration "Crisis"

This whole flap over immigration of late is media-manufactured (as Rush Limbaugh pointed out this morning).

Separating children from their illegal immigrant parents has been a policy passed by congress under Bill Clinton. It predates the Trump Administration over over 20 years. It is the law and the Trump Administration is enforcing the law.

If this is so bad, why didn't George W. Bush or Barack Obama and their congresses change the law?

Here's the facts:

If you don't want this to happen to you, then keep your ass in your own country!

David "The Attention" Hogg Exposed

Above, David Hogg.

My, my.

Ever since the tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida last week, a so-called "student" named David Hogg has been basking in the limelight by appearing on different networks' news.

It turns out that there is more to David "The Attention" Hogg than meets the eye.

According to NeonNettle:

As more and more questions about the authenticity of some of the Flordia shooting witnesses emerge, it has been revealed that David Hogg may not only be a 'crisis actor' but also a puppet for the John Podesta funded Center For Amerian Progress. 

A quick look back at his tweets reveals Hogg's posts seemed to be dedicated to the Podesta organization. 

On the surface, the organization mission statement is to prevent sexual assaults, but as we all know, anything connected to the Clintons warrants further investigation. 

And, an Antifa group claims he was not a student where the shooting took place:

“David Hogg didn’t attend #Parkland high school. I went to school with him at Redondo Shores High School in California and he graduated in 2015. Here he is in our yearbook from 2015. He always wanted to work for CNN and be an actor.” 

The liberal media is trying to debunk the aforementioned. Even if they are, there's no denying that this kid is an attention hog.

To read more, go here.

Where Did The Haiti Aid Money Go, Bill?

James Woods vs. Bill Clinton:

Coincidence? We Think Not!

Above, Chelsea Clinton (left) and Rebecca Hubbell.

The Clintons: A Bunch of Grifters

The Wall Street Journal has a hard-hitting opinion piece by Kimberley A. Strassel on Bill and Hillary Clinton, "Grifters-In-Chief".

First off, what's a "grifter"?

According to The Free Dictionary:

grift  (grĭft) Slang 

n. 

1. Money made dishonestly, as in a swindle.
2. A swindle or confidence game. 

v. grift·ed, grift·ing, grifts 

v.intr. 

To engage in swindling or cheating. 

v.tr. 

To obtain by swindling or cheating.

In her opinion piece, Strassel begins:

In an election season that has been full of surprises, let’s hope the electorate understands that there is at least one thing of which it can be certain: A Hillary Clinton presidency will be built, from the ground up, on self-dealing, crony favors, and an utter disregard for the law. 

This isn’t a guess. It is spelled out, in black and white, in the latest bombshell revelation from WikiLeaks. It comes in the form of a memo written in 2011 by longtime Clinton errand boy Doug Band, who for years worked simultaneously at the Clinton Foundation and at the head of his lucrative consulting business, Teneo. 

It is astonishingly detailed proof that the Clintons do not draw any lines between their “charitable” work, their political activity, their government jobs or (and most important) their personal enrichment. Every other American is expected to keep these pursuits separate, as required by tax law, anticorruption law and campaign-finance law. For the Clintons, it is all one and the same—the rules be damned.

Strassel concludes with:

This is how the Clintons operate. They don’t change. Any one who pulls the lever for Mrs. Clinton takes responsibility for setting up the nation for all the blatant corruption that will follow.

She is right. Anyone who votes for Hillary Clinton on Election Day, and if she wins, bears the responsibility for the corruption that is sure to follow. Already, the Clintons (with plenty of help from President Obama, FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch) for ruining the once-solid reputations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice. As I said before, anyone who votes for Hillary Clinton after all of the revelations put out by WikiLeaks and Project Veritas Action has to be either a moron, an idiot or dishonest.

Pure and simple, the Clintons are crooks!

To read the full article, go here.

Crooked Clintons: "Special Attention" For "Friends of Bill" In Haiti Relief

ABC News has posted emails showing that the Clinton Foundation gave "special attention" to donors during the Haiti earthquake disaster, possibly for government aid contracts.

According to ABC News:

In a series of candid email exchanges with top Clinton Foundation officials during the hours after the massive 2010 Haiti earthquake, a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly gave special attention to those identified by the abbreviations “FOB” (friends of Bill Clinton) or “WJC VIPs” (William Jefferson Clinton VIPs). 

“Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC,” wrote Caitlin Klevorick, then a senior State Department official who was juggling incoming offers of assistance being funneled to the State Department by the Clinton Foundation. “Most I can probably ID but not all.” 

Klevorick and Amitabh Desai, the director of foreign policy for the Clinton Foundation, exchanged dozens of emails, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Republican National Committee and then shared with ABC News. ABC News independently authenticated the emails.

To read more, go here. 

Donald Trump and the Self-Righteous Prigs

Above, self-righteous prig John McCain.

It is amazing at how the so-called Republican "leaders" such as Senator John McCain, House Speaker Paul Ryan and others are distancing themselves from Donald Trump.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said this morning they and others should re-think all this. Trump is running for president, not Pope.

These lily-livered "leaders" should be subjected to primary challenges during the next election cycles and defeated. Screw 'em!

For years, as Rush Limbaugh pointed out this morning, the Republican establishment has been complaining about and trying to drive out those of the "religious right" from the Republican Party while claiming that their issues such as morality and abortion are "non-winners". Now that they got what they got what they wanted in Donald Trump, they are heading for the tall grasses. These self-righteous prigs are showing their hypocrisy for all to see.

The left-wing Democrat Party is likewise showing their hypocrisy. They have been clamoring for a secular, non-moral nation and defended their "rapist-in-chief" Bill Clinton for actions (including those while he was president) that makes the locker-room talk of Donald Trump of eleven years ago greatly pale in comparison. Suddenly, they pile on Trump. Their indignation is totally bogus.

Remember those anti-Palin t-shirts from 2008? This ought to jog your memory:

In a column at P J Media titled, "America, You Have No Right To Judge Donald Trump", D. C. McAllister put it best:

From the moment the tapes were made public, the drumbeat to Trump's personal walk of shame began. Politicians who formerly endorsed him fled in terror, not wanting the soiled stain of sexual stigma attached to them. NeverTrumpers descended in holier-than-thou glee as they declared how noble and right they've always been not to support such a despicable man. And the left has been howling like puritanical wolves, condemning him for his immorality and sexist treatment of women. 

I find this reaction to Trump's private conversation rather ironic. It's ironic coming from a secular culture that long ago declared objective morality dead. It's ironic coming from politicos and media bottom-feeders who defended the abusive and disgusting behavior of Bill Clinton, not when he was a private citizen but when he was a sitting president.

To read more, go here.

Trump Had Hillary Off-Balance Tonight

It was a "do or die" debate tonight. And one candidate exceeded expectations.

I have felt that the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was essentially a tie. This time, Trump knocked Clinton off-balance and she remained off-balance. Her face became reddish and she stammered. She usually doesn't stammer or studder.

On the "issue" of Trump's locker room talk of 11 years ago, he apologized for it and said he was not proud of it. But, he turned it around and went after the women Bill Clinton victimized over the years (and who were present in the hall) and went after Hillary Clinton for her attacks on them. She never recovered from that. And, Trump received rousing cheers. (See Bill Clinton's reaction here.)

Trump won this debate, there's no question in my mind about that. He performed better than many expected. He had to in order to save his campaign. I think he did so. He also fought back on the biased moderators.

On the issues, Obamacare (a big one for him), ISIS, energy, economy, foreign policy and all the rest, Trump was better prepared and it showed.

Trump exceeded expectations. Hillary withered.

Juanita Broaddrick Responds To Chelsea Clinton: Best Comment!

To read the article, go here.

A Clinton-Era Relic: "Monica's Used Cigars"

Above, "Monica's Used Cigars". Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since we're a bit over a month away from the General Election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, I thought it would be fun to bring out a "relic" of the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.

Back in Clinton's second term, he was caught up in a sex scandal involving a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, which led to an impeachment trial. It came out during the scandal that President Clinton had made "innovative" uses of cigars. I shall refrain from describing how he used the cigar. (Just take my word for it and use your imagination.) One of Clinton's quotes ("It tastes good!") after Lewinsky was done with the cigar is also on band as is the Clamper motto.

Above, an actual Clinton quote after Monica was done with it and he tasted it. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

During that time, the incoming Humbug of Platrix Chapter No. 2 of E Clampus Vitus decided that his "Humbug's Gift" to the chapter would be an especially-made cigar. He enlisted the aid of yours truly to come up with a unique cigar band featuring Lewinsky.

Above, the Clamper motto. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

So, at the next clamp-out, all attendees were given one of "Monica's Used Cigars". As one can imagine, they were a big hit at the clamp-out!

I managed to save mine took the accompanying photographs of it.

Ah, memories!

Obama In Hiroshima

Above, the Atomic Dome in Hiroshima. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Barack Obama is going to Hiroshima, Japan.

He has said that he will not apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, as an article in  Japan Today indicates, he will weigh in on the debate on whether or not the bombings were justified.

If he does, he's walking into a landmine. A more deft politician like a Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan or even a Bill Clinton would not walk into such a landmine. But Obama, during his nearly eight years in office, has shown no depth or any expertise in foreign affairs. He has caused more problems since he first took the oath of office. The world is not a safer place than it was seven and a half years ago.

Japan Today posted:

TOKYO/WASHINGTON —Japan and the United States are presenting U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima as an affirmation of a strong alliance and a step towards world denuclearisation, but critics see selective amnesia and paradoxes on nuclear policy. 

Aides have said Obama will not apologise when he becomes the first sitting U.S. president to tour the site of the world’s first atomic bombing next Friday, accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 

Nor is Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 partly for making nuclear non-proliferation a centrepiece of his agenda, expected to address the debate over whether the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. 

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, killed thousands instantly and about 140,000 by the end of the year. Nagasaki was hit on Aug 9 and Japan surrendered six days later. 

A majority of Americans see the bombings as having been necessary to end the war and save U.S. and Japanese lives, although many historians question that view. Most Japanese believe they were unjustified.

I would be pleasantly surprised if Obama kept his trap shut over the justification of the atomic bombings. It's a sad state of affairs if that is the best we can hope for.

To read more, go here. 

Was Hillary Thinking of Bill When She Said That?

Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made a funny Freudian slip on Friday.

National Review reported:

Slate notices Hillary Clinton made a funny Freudian slip in a speech at an NAACP banquet in South Carolina Friday, declaring, “As president, I will take steps to ‘ban the box’ so former presidents won’t have to declare their criminal history at the start of the hiring process. That way, they’ll have a chance to be seen as someone who has done more than serve time.”

Was she thinking of her husband Bill when she said that? Or was she channeling the gaffe-prone Vice President Joe Biden?

Read more and see the video at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/426582/hillary-stands-rights-criminal-former-presidents-jim-geraghty

Clinton Administration Caused Housing Crash and Bank Crisis

From Investors.com:

Subprime Scandal: Newly released memos from the Clinton presidential library reveal evidence the government had a big hand in the housing crisis. The worst actors were in the White House, not on Wall Street. 

During the 1990s, former Clinton aides bragged that more aggressive enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act pressured banks to issue riskier mortgages, lending more proof the anti-redlining law fueled the crisis. 

A 2012 National Bureau of Economic Research study found "that adherence to that act led to riskier lending by banks," with "a clear pattern of increased defaults for loans made by these banks in quarters around the (CRA) exam, (and) the effects are larger for loans made within CRA tracts," or low-income and minority areas. 

To satisfy CRA examiners, Clinton mandated "flexible" lending by large banks. As a result, CRA-approved loans defaulted about 15% more often, the NBER found. 

Exhibit A in the 7,000-page Clinton Library document dump is a 1999 memo to him from his treasury secretary, Robert Rubin. 

"Public disclosure of CRA ratings, together with the changes made by the regulators under your leadership, have significantly contributed to ... financial institutions ... meeting the needs of low- and moderate-income communities and minorities," Rubin gushed. "Since 1993, the number of home mortgage loans to African Americans increased by 58%, to Hispanics by 62% and to low- and moderate-income borrowers by 38%, well above the overall market increase. 

"Since 1992, nonprofit community organizations estimate that the private sector has pledged over $1 trillion in loans and investment under CRA." 

Other documents reveal how the community-activist group ACORN and other organizations met with Rubin and other top Clinton aides on "improving credit availability for minorities." 

Clinton's changes to the CRA let ACORN use the act's ratings to "target merging firms with less-than-stellar records and to get the banks to agree to greater community investment as a condition of regulatory approval for the merger," White House aide Ellen Seidman wrote in 1997 to Clinton chief economist Gene Sperling. 

"Community groups have come to recognize how terribly powerful CRA has been as a tool for making credit available in previously underserved communities," Seidman added. 

Seidman later boasted that Clinton's 1995 CRA revisions created not only the subprime mortgage market but also the subprime securities market. Of course, subprime loans and their high default rates ruined minority neighborhoods when the market crashed. 

Memos also reveal how Clinton aides held repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act hostage to strengthening the CRA. They gave Republicans deregulation of banking activities in exchange for over-regulating how those banking activities applied to low-income communities. 

Clinton aides viewed ending the Glass-Steagall Act as a way to "extend the CRA to Wall Street firms" and wanted to extend it to insurers, mutual funds and mortgage bankers. But due to GOP opposition, that was "not politically feasible," Rubin told Clinton in a 1997 memo. 

In 2000, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo lit the fuse on the subprime bomb by requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase subprime, CRA and other risky mortgages totaling half their portfolios. 

A 1993 memo, "Racism in Home Lending," captured the tone of Clinton's affordable-housing crusade. It proposed coordinating with the Washington Post and Congressional Black Caucus on bank investigations. 

These White House papers are smoking-gun evidence of Clinton's culpability in creating the subprime bubble. The mainstream media's silence is deafening.

###

Naturally, because the "fit hit the shan" during the final months of George W. Bush's administration, Democrats try to blame him for the crisis. It was the Bush Administration that first sounded the alarm that fell on deaf ears and led Christopher Dodd, Barney Frank and Maxine Waters (among others) to claim everything's alright and charge the whistle-blowers of racism. [See this.]

TWA Flight 800: A tale of two reports and conclusions

A new documentary on the crash and investigation of TWA Flight 800 re-igniting interest in the cause of the July 17, 1996 crash.

According to ABC News:

In a new documentary, former investigators who looked into the mysterious crash of TWA Flight 800, which killed 230, are breaking their silence to claim that the explosion that brought down the plane in 1996 was likely no accident, and that the final report on the cause of the blast was falsified.

TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air on July 17, 1996 about 11 minutes after taking off from New York's JFK airport on its way to Paris. Though theories abounded as to what happened to the plane -- from a bomb on the aircraft to it being struck by a missile or even a meteorite -- the National Transportation Safety Board concluded after a four-year investigation that the probable cause of the crash was an accidental fuel tank explosion.

ABC News's website links to the 2000 NTSB Report on the crash.  The 2000 Report states the cause to be:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the TWA flight 800 accident was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank (CWT), resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. The source of ignition energy for the explosion could not be determined with certainty, but, of the sources evaluated by the investigation, the most likely was a short circuit outside of the CWT that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication system. 

However, here is the July 17, 1998 Interim Report by Commander William S. Donaldson, U.S.N. Ret on the cause of the explosion and crash of TWA Flight 800. Note the summary page (page 5) that states the causes.  Here are the first two:

Notice the difference?

This smells like a cover-up.  Guess who was president at the time?  Bill Clinton.

Why would this be covered up?  Could the disaster be from "friendly fire"?  Or, could it be from an attack by al-Qaeda agents (after all, this did happen a little more than four years before September 11, 2001 and after the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombings) that the Clinton Administration did not want disclosed?  Clinton was running for re-election that year.