Ford Kavanaugh Nonsense

Anyone who thinks the FBI can figure out in 10 days what happened 36 years ago misses the ability of the FBI to figure out all of Hillary Clinton's lies over five years. 

Common sense is in short supply. 

Have you ever witnessed such a display of weasels and bullshit artists as you did yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee?

The sad thing is that taxpayers are paying everyone in that room.  Day after day.   Year after year.

GOOGLE Bullshitters..............

(00:00:00 – 00:01:12) Google co-founder Sergey Brin states that the weekly meeting is “probably not the most joyous we’ve had”and that “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad.”

(00:00:24) Brin contrasts the disappointment of Trump’s election with his excitement at the legalization of cannabis in California, triggering laughs and applause from the audience of Google employees.

(00:01:12) Returning to seriousness, Brin says he is “deeply offen[ded]” by the election of Trump, and that the election “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values.”

(00:09:10) Trying to explain the motivations of Trump supporters, Senior VP for Global Affairs, Kent Walker concludes: “fear, not just in the United States, but around the world is fueling concerns, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”

(00:09:35) Walker goes on to describe the Trump phenomenon as a sign of “tribalism that’s self-destructive [in] the long-term.”

(00:09:55) Striking an optimistic tone, Walker assures Google employees that despite the election, “history is on our side” and that the “moral arc of history bends towards progress.”

(00:10:45) Walker approvingly quotes former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s comparison between “the world of the wall” with its “isolation and defensiveness” and the “world of the square, the piazza, the marketplace, where people come together into a community and enrich each other’s lives.”

(00:13:10) CFO Ruth Porat appears to break down in tears when discussing the election result.

(00:15:20) Porat promises that Google will “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance really important values.”

(00:16:50) Stating “we all need a hug,” she then instructs the audience of Google employees to hug the person closest to them.

(00:20:24) Eileen Noughton, VP of People Operations, promises that Google’s policy team in DC is “all over” the immigration issue and that the company will “keep a close watch on it.”

(00:21:26) Noughton jokes about Google employees asking, ‘Can I move to Canada?’ after the election. She goes on to seriously discuss the options available to Google employees who wish to leave the country.

(00:23:12) Noughton does acknowledge “diversity of opinion and political persuasion” and notes that she has heard from conservative Google employees who say they “haven’t felt entirely comfortable revealing who [they] are.” and urged “tolerance.” (Several months later, the company would fire James Damore allegedly for disagreeing with progressive narratives.)

(00:27:00) Responding to a question about “filter bubbles,” Sundar Pichai promises to work towards “correcting” Google’s role in them

(00:27:30) Sergey Brin praises an audience member’s suggestion of increasing matched Google employee donations to progressive groups.

(00:34:40) Brin compares Trump voters to “extremists,” arguing for a correlation between the economic background of Trump supporters and the kinds of voters who back extremist movements. Brin says that “voting is not a rational act” and that not all of Trump’s support can be attributed to “income disparity.” He suggests that Trump voters might have been motivated by boredom rather than legitimate concerns.

(00:49:10) An employee asks if Google is willing to “invest in grassroots, hyper-local efforts to bring tools and services and understanding of Google products and knowledge” so that people can “make informed decisions that are best for themselves.” Pichai’s response: Google will ensure its “educational products” reach “segments of the population [they] are not [currently] fully reaching.”

(00:54:33) An employee asks what Google is going to do about “misinformation” and “fake news” shared by “low-information voters.” Pichai responds by stating that “investments in machine learning and AI” are a “big opportunity” to fix the problem.

(00:56:12) Responding to an audience member, Walker says Google must ensure the rise of populism doesn’t turn into “a world war or something catastrophic … and instead is a blip, a hiccup.”

(00:58:22) Brin compares Trump voters to supporters of fascism and communism, linking the former movement to “boredom,” which Brin previously linked to Trump voters. “It sort of sneaks up sometimes, really bad things” says Brin.

(01:01:15) A Google employee states: “speaking to white men, there’s an opportunity for you right now to understand your privilege” and urges employees to “go through the bias-busting training, read about privilege, read about the real history of oppression in our country.” He urges employees to “discuss the issues you are passionate about during Thanksgiving dinner and don’t back down and laugh it off when you hear the voice of oppression speak through metaphors.” Every executive on stage – the CEO, CFO, two VPs and the two Co-founders – applaud the employee.

(01:01:57) An audience member asks if the executives see “anything positive from this election result.” The audience of Google employees, and the executives on stage, burst into laughter. “Boy, that’s a really tough one right now” says Brin.

All you need to know about Islam...........

Hurricane Florence. Listen up!!

1. Charge any device that provides light. Laptops, tablets, cameras, video cameras, and old phones. Old cell phones can still be used for dialing 911. Charge external battery back ups (power banks).
2. Wash all trash cans, big and small, and fill with water for flushing toilets. Line outdoor trash cans with trash bags, fill with water and store in the garage. Water in trash bags should not be used to bathe or drink. Bags contain chemicals to suppress insect and odor. Use for toilet flushing purposes only.
3. Fill every tub and sink with water. Cover sinks with Saran Wrap to keep it from collecting dust. Fill washing machine and leave lid up to store water.
4. Fill old empty water bottles and other containers with water and keep near sinks for washing hands.
5. Fill every Tupperware with water and store in freezer. These will help keep food cold longer and serve as a back up water supply.
6. Fill drinking cups with water and cover with Saran Wrap. Store as many as possible in fridge. The rest you can store on the counter and use first before any water bottles are opened. Ice is impossible to find after the storm.
7. Reserve fridge space for storing tap water and keep the sealed water bottles on the counter.
8. Cook any meats in advance and other perishable foods. You can freeze cooked food. Hard boil eggs for snacks for first day without power.
9. Be well hydrated before the storm hits and avoid salty foods that make you dehydrated.
10. Wash all dirty clothes and bed sheets. Anything dirty will smell without the A/C, you may need the items, and with no A/C, you'll be sweating a lot. You're going to want clean sheets.
11. Toss out any expiring food, clean cat litter boxes, empty all trash cans in the house, including bathrooms. Remove anything that will cause an odor when the A/C is off. If you don't have a trash day pickup before the storm, find a dumpster.
12. Bring in any yard decor, secure anything that will fly around, secure gates, bring in hoses, potted plants, etc. Bring in patio furniture and grills.
13. Clean your environment so you have clear, easy escape routes. Even if that means temporarily moving furniture to one area.
14. Scrub all bathrooms so you are starting with a clean odor free environment. Store water filled trash cans next to each toilet for flushing.
15. Place everything you own that is important and necessary in a backpack or small file box that is easy to grab. Include your wallet with ID, phone, hand sanitizer, snacks, etc. Get plastic sleeves for important documents.
16. Make sure you have cash on hand.
17. Stock up on pet food and fill up bowls of water for pets.
18. Refill any medications. Most insurance companies allow for 2 emergency refills per year.
19. Fill your propane tanks. You can heat soup cans, boil water, make coffee, and other stuff besides just grilling meat. Get an extra, if possible.
20. Drop your A/C in advance and lower temperatures in your fridges.
21. Gather all candles, flashlights, lighters, matches, batteries, first aid kit and other items and keep them accessible.
22. Clean all counters in advance. Start with a clean surface. Buy Clorox Wipes for cleaning when there is no power. Mop your floors and vacuum. If power is out for 10 days, you'll have to live in the mess you started with.
23. Pick your emergency safe place such as a closet under the stairs. Store the items you'll need in that location for the brunt of the storm. Make a hand fan for when the power is out.
24. Shower just before the storm is scheduled to hit.
25. Keep baby wipes next to each toilet. Don't flush them. It's not the time to risk clogging your toilet!
26. Run your dishwasher, don't risk having dirty smelly dishes and you need every container for water! Remember you'll need clean water for brushing your teeth, washing yourself, and cleaning your hands.
27. Pack a small suitcase and keep it in your car in case you decide to evacuate. Also put at least one jug of water in your car. It will still be there if you don't evacuate. You don't need to store all water in the house. Remember to pack for pets as well.
28. Check on all family members, set up emergency back up plans, and check on elderly neighbors.
29. Pets are family too. Take them with you.
30. Before the storm, unplug all electronics. There will be power surges during and after the storm.
31. Cover televisions, computer monitors and other electronic devices with trash bags in case windows break and expose the interior of the house to the elements.
32. Cover windows with plywood from the outside.
33. Gas up your car and have a spare gas container for your generator or your car when you run out.
34. Touch base with neighbors prior to the storm to determine if they are ready and capable to weather the storm. Building relationships with neighbors also comes in handy if you need to borrow a chainsaw or need extra hands to clear debris.

New York Times, Letters to the Editor

Every once in a while, 3, maybe 4 times a year I will read some of the comments following an article in that liberal paper.

It is getting unbelievable.  Some of the letters are so far-fetched they defy publication.

Where do these people live?  Surely not outside of New York.

Carlos Slim.   You have yourself some of the scariest readers on the planet.     

Weekend Humor

Two blondes are in a river holding fishing poles with the lines in the water. A game warden comes up behind them, taps them on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me, ladies, I'd like to see your fishing licenses."

"We don't have any." replied the first woman.

"Well, if your going to fish, you need fishing licenses." said the game warden.

"But officer," replied the second girl, "we aren't fishing. All we have are magnets at the end of our lines and we're collecting debris off the bottom of the river."

The game warden lifted up the lines and, sure enough, there were horseshoe magnets tied on the end of each line. "Well, I know of no law against it," shrugged the game warden, "take all the debris you want." And with that, the game warden left.

As soon as he was out of sight, the women started laughing hysterically. "What a dumb Fish Cop! Doesn't he know that there are steelheads in this river?!"

Obama's CIA

Dear Mr. Brennan,
I understand that you are a political opponent of the current President of the United States. I understand that you are an American citizen, and you have the right to freedom of speech. I encourage you to utilize that right. I encourage you to speak your mind. I encourage you, as I do all Americans, to be heard.
I implore you, however to cease and desist from continuing to attempt to portray yourself in the public media as some sort of impartial critic concerned only with the fate of the republic. I beg you to stop attempting to portray yourself as some sort of wise, all-knowing intelligence professional with deep knowledge of national security issues and no political inclinations whatsoever.
None of this is true.
You were never a spy. You were never a case officer. You never ran operations or recruited sources or worked the streets abroad. You have no idea whatsoever of the true nature of the business of human intelligence. You have never been in harm’s way. You have never heard a shot fired in anger.
You were for a short while an intelligence analyst. In that capacity, it was your job to produce finished intelligence based on information provided to you by others. The work of intelligence analysts is important, however in truth you never truly mastered this trade either.
In your capacity as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, while still a junior officer, you were designated to brief the President of the United States who was at that time Bill Clinton. As the presidential briefer, it was your job to read to the president each morning finished intelligence written by others based on intelligence collected by yet other individuals. Period.
While serving as presidential briefer you established a personal relationship with then President Bill Clinton. End of story.
Everything that has transpired in your professional career since has been based on your personal relationship with the former president, his wife Hillary and their key associates. Your connection to President Obama was, in fact, based on you having established yourself by the time he came to office as a reliable, highly political Democratic Party functionary.
All of your commentary in the public sphere is on behalf of your political patrons. It is no more impartial analysis then would be the comments of a paid press spokesman or attorney. You are speaking each and every time directly on behalf of political forces hostile to this president. You are, in fact, currently on the payroll of both NBC and MSNBC, two of the networks most vocally opposed to President Trump and his agenda.
There is no impartiality in your comments. Your assessments are not based on some sober judgment of what is best for this nation. They are based exclusively on what you believe to be in the best interests of the politicians with whom you long since allied yourself.
It should be noted that not only are you most decidedly not apolitical but that you have been associated during your career with some of the greatest foreign policy disasters in recent American history.
As CIA Director for Barack Obama you:
-Presided over the Iran nuclear deal, which allowed Iran to escape from decades of containment and set the Middle East on fire.
-Watched while Russia annexed Crimea and then reestablished itself as a hostile force in the Middle East.
-Dithered and tinkered with organizational wiring diagrams at Headquarters while China annexed and fortified the entire South China Sea
The extent to which you are tied directly to the Clintons, Barack Obama and the Democrat Party is clearly evident in the emotional nature of your recent commentary.
Ever since this president was elected there has been a concerted effort to delegitimize him and destabilize him. This has been an unprecedented attempt to undermine the stability of the republic in order to achieve partisan political advantage. You and your patrons have been complicit in this effort and at its very heart.
Now as the Mueller investigation collapses of its own weight and the extent of this conspiracy is beginning to become clear you are in evident panic. You should be.
You are free to do as you wish politically. Stop representing to the American people that there is anything else at play. You abandoned any hope of being a true intelligence professional decades ago and became a political hack. Say so.
Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul’s assessment of you stands:
“John Brennan started out his adulthood by voting for the Communist Party presidential candidate. He’s now ending his career by showing himself to be the most biased, bigoted, over-the-top, hyperbolic sort of unhinged director of the CIA we’ve ever had.”


Charles Faddis is a retired CIA operations and case officer, and the author of “Beyond Repair: The Decline And Fall Of The CIA"

NFL

The National Felons League lost me.

I was laughing with a trader in New York today and told him the only thing that would make me want to watch pro ball would be good close-ups of nude cheerleaders.

Elon Musk

Appears to me TESLA has to weed out a few issues.

Wells Fargo

Always remember when Meyer Lansky was taken down to the NY Stock Exchange floor and then on to a big lunch with many a Wall Street top dog he remarked -

"I think I joined the wrong mob".

The Gambino family seems to be the equivalent of a professional pickpocket organization compared to Wells Fargo. 

Wall Street Leadership Gone Wrong in 2018

The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Registered Investment Advisory firm  of Native American Advisors, Inc. whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this anonymously is the only way to deliver important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit questions about the essay or our vetting process here. 

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the firm of Native American Advisors, Inc.  

Dean Parisian is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American corporate leader.

It’s not just that the idea of a bear market looms large. Or that the firm is bitterly divided over Mr. Parisians leadership. Or even that his family  fortune might well lose  a few dollars to an opposing investment strategy which might cause a drawdown of say, 5%. 

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own company are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his investment strategy and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them.

To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” .   We want clients to succeed and know that many of its policies have already made clients far more prosperous.

But we believe our duty is to an untested investment strategy  that we read about in Money Magazine.   It is about forecasting a bear market instead of waiting for a bear market to start.

We feel the CEO of the firm continues to act in a manner that is negative to the health of our client portfolios and should lighten up market exposure as the market goes higher.

That is why many employees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our new and untried strategy  while thwarting Mr. Parisians experience and investment moxy. 

The root of the problem is the president’s desire to work hard  us so hard and ask so many questions about "what might happen" in a market pullback that anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible principles that guide his decision making regarding a market corrections.  He keeps talking about 1986 in bonds, the '87 crash of 22%, the Russians in 1998, the pounding in NASDAQ shares in 2000, and on and on and on, yet he remains fully invested. 

Although he voted as a Republican, the president shows great affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in  settings across all aspects of the firm. 

In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the markets will again pull back like any normal correction we think he is the “enemy of the short-sellers”.  

Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless positive message of the firms investment philosophy fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, more robust military spending and so much more.

But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is honest and inspiring.  

From the executive branch departments  and senior officials of Native American Advisors, Inc privately admit their daily disbelief at the CEO's comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their negative thinking  from his positive whims.

Meetings with him can veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants about staying the course, staying fully invested, and his impulsiveness often results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless humor that never seems to have to be walked back.

“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major  decision he’d made only a week earlier.   "We are going to be keeping the old Keurig Coffee Maker for the foreseeable future!"

The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the firm.  Some of his friends have been cast as villains by other anonymous sources  because they donate too much to charity. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep those "bad" decisions contained to the golf course, though they are clearly not always successful.

It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Dean Parisian  won’t.  The result is a two-track investment ideology.

Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where methodology in equal-weighted indexes counters capitalization weighted investments.  

On bonds, for instance, the president was reluctant to liquidate so many of the high yield holdings held in the firm.   He thinks the FED is in a corner.  Raising rates is foolish politically.  He knows raising rates will hurt the owners of the FED and make President Trump irate.  

This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.

Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the firm of invoking the old trading rule of never shorting a dull market, which would start a complex process for removing the possibility of getting killed in a short squeeze. But no one wanted to precipitate a crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the trading desk in the right direction until — one way or another — that thinking is over.

The bigger concern is not what Mr. Parisian has done to the firm  but rather what we as a firm have allowed him to do to us. We have been elevated so high in our net worths with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of any pessimistic thought.

Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter.  All Americans should heed his words and break free of the bear market  trap, with the high aim of uniting our shared values and love of the great investment strategy of using both active and passive management.

There is a quiet resistance within the firm of choosing to put clients interests first because the SEC won't do it in their quest to make American investors better off in dealing with brokers and brokerage firms. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above negative thinking and putting money to work with the great leading and entrepreneurial companies, reaching across the aisle between growth and value and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: making money.

The writer is a senior official in Native American Advisors, Inc.

Vacation? Forgettaboutit..........

Wife and I were thinking of heading south this winter for an extended camping trip; maybe over the holidays. But we decided against it. We don’t want to miss that much of John McCain’s funeral.

Humor at the expense of a great liberal bullshit artist

Chuck Schumer was visiting a Washington D.C. primary school and the class was in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings.

The teacher asked Mr. Schumer if he would like to lead the discussion on the word 'Tragedy'.

So Mr. Schumer asked the class for an example of a 'Tragedy'

A little boy stood up and offered: 'If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a tragedy.'

'Incorrect,' said Schumer. 'That would be an accident.'

A little girl raised her hand: 'If a school bus carrying fifty children drove over a cliff, killing everybody inside, that would be a tragedy.'

‘I'm afraid not’, explained Schumer, 'that's what we would refer to as a great loss'.

The room went silent.  No other children volunteered. Schumer searched the room.

'Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?'

Finally, at the back of the room, little Johnny raised his hand and said: 'If a plane carrying you and Mrs. Pelosi and The Obamas and Mrs. Clinton was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile & blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy.'

'Fantastic' exclaimed Schumer, 'and can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?'

'Well', said Johnny, 'it has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be a fucking accident either!'

From the worlds largest gambling operation, J.P. Morgan bank.

• J.P. Morgan's top quant Marko Kolanovic predicts a "Great Liquidity Crisis" will hit financial markets, marked by flash crashes in stock prices and social unrest.
• The trillion-dollar shift to passive investments, computerized trading strategies and electronic trading desks will exacerbate sudden, severe stock drops, Kolanovic said.
• Central banks will be forced to make unprecedented moves, including direct purchases of equities or negative income taxes.
• Timing of when this next crisis will occur is uncertain but markets appear to be safe through the first half of 2019, he said.f