America is delusional – but worse, the ailment has spread to our formerly respected news media. This come at an inconvenient time, too: Some 30,000 people are likely homeless from Hurricane Harvey.
Evidence (again) of our national breakdown came this morning as I hit Google’s search tools to find out a few things. As expected, there were about 9.6-million hits on the keyword “Harvey” under their “News” tab.
But the shocker was that a search for +Harvey +Trump turned up an amazing 3.56-million hits. Huh?
(Continues below)
Reading through the bash-bucket of pseudo-news, some is indeed legit. But other stories were just attacks and hit pieces as should be evident to any thinking reader.
For example, the Washington Post headlined “Cost of cleaning up Harvey will bring new test of governance for Trump and the GOP.”
OK, that’s one way of looking at it (if your newspaper is owned by the titan online retail that is tearing up mall traffic numbers and there’s a president who has used the word “anti-trust” about e-tailing).
But how, exactly, is this a Trump problem? Trump didn’t make the idiot collection of do-nothing losers and deceivers – the Fools on the Hill – and they, in return, have failed to act like a “team.” It’s more like a mob riot at a soccer game.
Spending measures, as we all know, originate in the House of Representatives, then move on to be ratified by the Senate, and then spending the ear-marked money will become Trump’s problem.
But that’s a long way off. This morning, the story is rain.
Since we have some “skin in this game” – we’ll get about 7-8″ by the end of this episode – we look at things a little more sensibly than America’s new anti-Trump industry.
Need another example? Sure! How about Slate’s “Trump Plugs Book, Celebrates 2016 Election, Promotes Border Wall Amid Harvey Devastation.”
I read this fine piece of journalism scratching my head. OK, yet-another hit-piece, then.
Let me see: Promoting a book by a black sheriff is bad? Clarke doesn’t like Black Lives Matter and is willing to say so. Conservative black leaders don’t have free speech rights?
Then in what we’d take to be another direct Trump-bash, the Slate piece, rolling through Trump tweets complains what while Trump acknowledged it was a 500-year event.. “The president didn’t mention that people had already died.”
OK…How much content do you want the Prez to compress into tweet? He also didn’t tweet the rainfall total as Aransas Pass, either. GMAFB! GTFU – the body count belongs on the MSM.
Then the whining goes on: citing a tweet Trump would be going to Texas “soon” that didn’t seem fast enough. I don’t know if the writer of this “fine piece of journalism” knows shit from Shinola about moving the President around.
Take it from someone who’s “ridden the bus” (the national press corps bus if you need more coffee) that a President’s movements have to all be worked out in advance by the Secret Service. There is security – and while law enforcement is doing other stuff (like doing house-to-house searches, looking for victims, maintaining order in the heart of the disaster area, directing people to shelters…well, shit cowboy…I think Trump should visit. But for people in the disaster area (not in the NE liberal bubble) “soon” is good enough.
Besides, there is no “right” time for his visit. The New American Trump Bashing Industry (NATBI) will piss and moan if he’s too quick. I can hear that as “Trump’s trying to be a grandstander and showman disrupting vital blah, blah, blah.”
A second too late, though, and it will pivot to “President Trump’s lethargic response to the dire needs of these poor people who are homeless underscore how he’s a rich so-and-so blah, blah, blah…”
The guy can’t win. The NATBI is running the press which means the narrative. In a world where the Millennials consider in-depth reporting to be back-to-back tweets, well, we’re totally screwed as a nation…
Let’s call this news-impaired country what it is:
The World’s First Dumbocracy!
Next, this (fine journalism piece) attacked Trump for mentioning the border wall some 20-minutes later, which as any Twitter user knows is a couple of lifetimes.
I don’t know about you, but this lefty anti-Trump bias is bullshit of the highest order.
As our opening headline correctly reveals: This is about the rain, not Trump.
Berkeley’s Head-bashing Lefty Revolutionaries
You know: The one’s that can’t tolerate “free speech” unless it’s from one of their kin?
Even the Washington Post is admitting how “Black-clad antifa attack peaceful right wing demonstrators in Berkeley. Well, duh.
America’s left is trying to be the new German Reich – only arising from the Left this time. It’s all in keeping with this being the 1929 replay with the key actors trading places…
The fact is this Berkeley behavior proves again that “antifa” is really “myfa” – and like it, or not, the Trump statement on Charlottesville was correct. The idiot left is as guilty as the idiot right.
We now return you to the planet you left Friday – the one where 37 UrbanSurvivors still had brains, read more than a headline, and considered where things were going.
Markets Flat
Fresh International Trade numbers are just out from Census:
“Advance International Trade in Goods The international trade deficit was $65.1 billion in July, up $1.1 billion from $64.0 billion in June. Exports of goods for July were $127.1 billion, $1.6 billion less than June exports. Imports of goods for July were $192.2 billion, $0.5 billion less than June imports.
Advance Wholesale Inventories Wholesale inventories for July, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $601.2 billion, up 0.4 percent (±0.4 percent)* from June 2017, and were up 3.1 percent (±0.7 percent) from July 2016. The May 2017 to June 2017 percentage change was revised from up 0.7 percent (±0.4 percent) to up 0.6 percent (±0.4 percent).
Advance Retail Inventories Retail inventories for July, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $619.6 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.2 percent)* from June 2017, and were up 3.3 percent (±0.5 percent) from July 2016. The May 2017 to June 2017 percentage change was unrevised at up 0.6 percent (±0.2 percent).
We still expect a down week in the stock market, but then when it sinks in that Harvey will set off a surge in home building and other such recovery efforts, capitalism will flex its muscles and we should head back up in a week or three, or so it looks from here.
Tomorrow the S&P, Case Shiller, Corelogic (and the pizza guy) will be out with the monthly housing data. We expect it to be soft.
Curiously Watching Bitcoin
There is a chance that the top is in for Bitcoins, at least for a while. Last week, the SEC announced this:
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Release No. 81474 / August 23, 2017
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) announced the temporary suspension, pursuant to Section 12(k) of the Securities Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), of trading in the securities of First Bitcoin Capital Corp. (“BITCF”), a Canadian corporation, at 9:30 a.m. EDT on August 24, 2017, and terminating at 11:59 a.m. on September 7, 2017.
The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of BITCF because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of publicly available information about the company including, among other things, the value of BITCF’s assets and its capital structure. This order was entered pursuant to Section 12(k) of the Exchange Act.
Moreover this morning BTCs were running about $4,314. We look at them as something of a proxy for the market blow-off, under the theory that BTC’s are this longwave economic cycle’s version of Tulips.
We are doing some chart work comparing the BTC run-up with the 1929 Dow and expect to have more on this Wednesday on the www.peoplenomics.com side of the house.
Latest check showed the Dow would open up 20 – right where our Peoplenomics model forecast Friday at the close….
Useless Time-Wasters & Distractions
Game of Thrones finale: What did the critics think?
Review: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Is a Gonzo Strategy Masterpiece. (I took the ViseGrips to apply them firmly to my left forearm as Time now seems to be in the video game promotion business…)
Advertising: Statesman Bourbon Hits the Big Screen and the Shelves.
Yup, sounds like breakfast time to me…”Moron the morrow” then…
CNN this a.m. in England got right to Trump bashing, the biased beast who was interviewed even stated that President Johnson got in a boat during the flooding aftermath of a hurricane, he was helping evacuate people to shelters, WHERE IS TRUMP? Yeah, I thought, you are going all the way back to Johnson, the SOB who got 58 million AMERICAN CITIZENS killed for a BS war?(And God only knows how many hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, etc., were killed, and a million refugees.) Yeah, CNN is TRASH! And the bashing of Trump is shameful!
58,000 is the approximate number of deaths in Nam
I meant 58,000 thanks for the correction.
My understanding is that regulator bitcoin concern relates to the use of cryptocurrencies to fund start-ups outside the purview of authority.
Bitcoin owners lose it all, do you know my number?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/12/20/hackers-have-stolen-millions-of-dollars-in-bitcoin-using-only-phone-numbers/#44d02bdb38ba
Some of these idiot Antifa clowns need to go back to school and retake some of their classes. Case in point, I overheard several of them talking about getting rid of Trump. They are under the opinion if Trump goes then Hillary Clinton can come in and take over as president. I had to butt in and tell them it doesn’t work that way. If Trump leaves then Pence takes over and if he goes the Speaker of the House is next, all Republicans. You should have seen the look on their faces, I could tell they didn’t understand how things like that work in government, and all these young people talking were in their mid to late 20’s. Ahhh the dumbing down of our youth with liberal educators.
LMAO. I had a similar situation this past weekend.. anyone that knows me knows at I am opinionated I am a voracious reader.. lately I have been passing on my daily news scan mostly because I can pretty much tell you what will be in them.. anyway I was watching my favorite no thinking involved movie series was on drinking my lemon slushes and one of our guests made a comment. Which boiled down to .. you should read up and be informed..the next humorous thing I noticed was I have a few drinks under my belt and everyone that knows me had quietly left the room..
I chuckled and realized they figured that I would involve myself in some huge debate..(them fighting words I ain’t got no fancy sheet of paper on the wall.. I don’t speck like I am sum edjamencated man ain’t got no riches to show for my labors but I ain’t no illiterate fool ) instead I just asked please explain your opinions so I can understand..
Then went on to finish my movies..to the shock and amazement of everyone in the house that I’m sure updated him at how they thought I would debate the issues he brought up.
Dear George, stop letting the leftist propaganda get to you. Your health and sanity and time are far too valuable to waste it even perusing that swill. Breathe deeply, and let it go. Your savvy readers are well aware of the poison being distributed.
Speaking of Antifa and like minded groups, some of us ‘old timers'(70+) when in the public square, who maybe asserting their god given and Constitutional rights , when PHYSICALLY ATTACKED, may actually use one of these rights for self preservation, since ANY blunt trauma event may be fatal, and this may go a long way in reducing the communist take over of the USA……imho
“theFools on the Hill – and they, in return, have failed to act like a “team.”
To interpret that my opinion of the good old boys club is pretty much an understatement.
They haven’t done a thing since the early eighties. Refuse to read legislation they vote into law, they don’t write any of it and every candidate runs on popular dead dog policies that anyone having half a brain should realize will be tabled shortly after they are elected.
What surprise’s me more is we are the Dumbo’s voting them in consistently..
As far as Trump be bashing I am surprised that mainstream media even took time out to report that there was a rainstorm in Texas at all.
So what did cons and senuts do about health care now off radar. Nothing getting done politics as usual Crap
Is being a cheering “FAN” for Trump the only thing you can talk about? Left – Right – let’s have a fight —- sure get’s your readers going. I’m afraid you will all get what you are looking for — AND DESERVE — soon enough!!~
Sorry, but you drank that revolutionary Kool-Aid bubba.
I didn’t cheer trump. He is, however, America’s newest growth industry, lol – and you don’t get it.
Go read huffpo, lol
George, am back from vacation, and your lead story is — how badly the press treats poor Trump? Really? Not that the economy didn’t collapse on August 24th?
No matter how much phony outrage you muster, Trump still boosted Nazis and the KKK. And then later lied about it. Best, Mike.
1. Go back to grade school – learn to effing read.
2. NO where – did I predict a market crash on 8/24 or any other date.
3. If you would read before opening mouth, I did report that the top might already be in on aug 11 – https://urbansurvival.com/market-top-already/ and sure as shit, hasn’t been higher since.
There’s this thing called facts. Not left-wing hate-baiting…just facts.
Use ’em or leave.
Make up any more bullshit like that and you’ll get banned, got it?
Yes, George, you did say awhile back that you were watching the ‘Presidential Cycle’ counting days from Hoover’s inauguration to the crash of ’29, which would have been Aug 24th, 2017 if compared to Trump’s inauguration.
Your’s was an interesting theory nonetheless.
So Houston is seeing somethun it aint never seen before…guess what happens when ‘climate change’ produces warmer weather & warmer water….you got it, MORE INTENSE STORMS!!! So take a dip in the big ‘de Nile’ hitting Texas!
(p.s. and thanks for the excellent book recommendation, Trial by Fire/Ice, which tells us that the warmer stuff comes right before the cold stuff). Could be solar induced (other planets have more heat recently), could be some of it man-made (if there’s a way to make stuff more ecologically, then let’s do it). Sorry I don’t have time right now to add the links on this….
Our high prediction seems now to be a brilliant call – if you’ve looked at futures prices this AM
to: that pres cycle — BS on climate change and you know it! You climate conartists are sickening, you never let a good crises go to waste; yeah, I see that ole al goreish isn’t there flying in water for the troops or the citizens. He sure made a hundred million off of his bogus theories. You climate scammers, can you spare a dime?
Like most lefties you didn’t read the fine print & have no original thoughts. You are led by the leftist nose ring. The 8/24/17 market decline was based on the charts compared to 1929. Whether it comes about may or not happen but it puts you on alert to make a decision which you don’t seem capable of doing. You need to be told it is lunch time and OK to eat it.
Bread and Circuses as usual.
Amen! Peanuts?
Texas voted for Trump.
Harvey was not sent here
by Mother Nature! It’s bazar
course is under control of TPTB!
Despite the negative comments and massive lack of understanding about Bitcoin, I recognized some potention when it first popped above $5. Looking at the fresh start of an Elliott wave that could not be manipulated by the ‘financial engineers’ that groom gold and stock prices, I took a chance on Bitcoin at under $10. It has been a breathtaking ride on the Elliott waves. Now that we are in wave 5 I’ve decided enough is enough. It was a 50-bagger for me. Bought some shiny hard assets with BTC and still have some small change left. We’ll see where it goes from here.
One assumes after a 50-bagger you now have an impressive new ham radio tower, big 4-element widespaced 20-meter beam and a gorgeous woman to assist in duties around the estate?
Hank’s Nest and the Ferrari?
Working on the tower… the rest can wait. :-)
Im hearing on the radio that people using their own boats to save people in Houston, are being shot at by people who weren’t able to be picked up and also by people trying to steal the boat. Is that being reported on the MSM?
Im not so sure I want to be a good Samaritan these days.
No but there’s no shortage in the world of idiots and pricks…if that was the question
That’s a BS story. If you were stuck on your roof, would you shoot the guys trying to get you to dry land? Jeezus but people just cannot even THINK anymore! Go look at the pictures – the entire 4 county area is turning into a lake. They are calling for a county-wide evac for Fort Bend. Shooting at rescuers? They would let you sit there and drown, because most are volunteers.
More likely, someone shooting to attract attention, as there are many trees and visibility is iffy to see people on the roof.
There were some teens looting and bragging on FB – they just got outed and good thing, because people were just about to go lay in wait for them – and it wasn’t to go to jail.
If you are too self-cautious to risk your life, then don’t try to help when you are in these situations. Not everybody is brave or confident. Just remember that if you allow someone to rescue you from a bad situation, thanks are in order. Even better, return the favor in some way, even if it is just donating food or clothing.
Our big issues now are oak trees falling and water rising with rain incessant. Then we have fire ant balls and snakes in the flood, so swimming isn’t too sexy. And the water isn’t static – it is moving. No Class I rapids, but a good water speed trying to find a way out from between higher areas.
Watch for the media to blame the mayor, which is BS too. By the time the rain forecasts were finalized and agreed upon, we had 36-48 hours. How do you evac 7 million people in that time? Where do you evac them to?
But then again, media is Common Core math, so by the time they work the problem, we will all be dead anyway. If you watch any news, I suggest KPRC local here – they are doing a good job on reporting and helping to get word out about troubles in the area affected – so volunteers can help out.
This proves that the time to ‘bug out’ is before it gets bad. By the time it is mandatory, it is too late. By the time the fighting is full on (the blame), it is too late. Those people that have a house full of water up to the rafters may be able to rehab their house, but those whose houses have been destroyed or blown off their foundations, most will have lost everything, so it is too late for their stuff and some people will have lost their lives as well, so it is too late for them. When to go and WHEN to stay, that is the question!
Midwesterners are interesting.
For instance, few people outside Milwaukee County know David Clarke is a Democrat, and wildly popular within his bailiwick. His political affiliation is never mentioned in the MSM because it goes against the grain of the racial poison with which they wish to infect their audiences.
I first noticed this “Midwestern thing” years ago. I started listening to talk radio when my daughter was eleven. I was driving her to D.C. for a national competition — long drive — and was getting woozy listening to music. I started channel-surfing and came across Coast to Coast AM. Art Bell was discussing Mothman. A few minutes into the broadcast, I noticed I was driving over the bridge between Gallipolis, OH and Point Pleasant, WV which replaced the “Mothman” Silver Bridge — Freaky! It literally gave me chills and I came dead-awake. I took it as an omen, and have listened to the talkers ever since.
OKAY, back to that “Midwesterners thing:” One of the talkers I listened to regularly was Greg Garrison. Garrison’s claim to fame is he’s the Indianapolis (Marion County) Prosecutor who put Mike Tyson behind bars for rape. After politics, he got into the radio talk-show business.
Garrison is also a Democrat, and is more conservative than virtually any of the national “Republican” or “Conservative” talkers. His spiel is “common sense” as much as it is conservatism, and is very like what the public hears from Sheriff Clarke. I still catch The Garrison Show when I’m on the road in Indiana (it’s syndicated on a number of local stations) between mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
(As an aside, my introduction to Mike Pence came via The Garrison Show. I was surfing, looking for a rebroadcast of Garrison, when I came across this talker named “Mike.” He was, like Garrison, a common sense conservative and a very good talker. 5-6 years later, he wins a Congressional election… whodathunkit?)
Long point, but it is that upper Midwesterners who make it into the talk circuit seem to do so irrespective of political affiliation, because they espouse common sense (or they make it in the mainstream because they foment hate.) The latter is not unlike the trend on the coasts, but the former gives me some small hope for the continuation of the Republic…
So is this what is looks like when the shoe is on the other foot? I don’t ever remember you going out of your way to comment on Obama being mistreated by the right leaning press — in fact you are wanton to cite sources that used to say the nastiest things about him, often engaging in name calling yourself.
Regarding your multi-paragraph rant on “…new test of governance for Trump…” — not sure why you think Trump has nothing to do with it. Last time I checked most of the agencies that will be cleaning things down Texas way report to the executive branch. I wonder how many of those “key” spots have yet to be filled (or even nominated to be filled)? Wouldn’t the executive (branch) be expected to “lead” in driving and coordinating the post-Harvey efforts?
You haven’t been listening to the news closely -= gov. abbott et all have called the whole federal side of the response outstanding.
If you listen to the crooked media, you get cockeyed views – you need to be seeing the feeds out of the storm area – the ones not making it pass the editors and agendizers are the ones.. not the pap of the agenda
George, my comment was regarding your question on why Harvey is a governance test for Trump. I agree this is a ways off in the future. I didn’t read the negative connotation you attached to the headline, but I did find your response surprising. Aren’t leaders suppose to lead?
Glad to hear the responses so far have been exemplary.
209 of those “key” spots have yet to be filled. Mr. Trump has his Post nominations in place, and has had for months. Congress has been foot-dragging. Mr. Obama’s people are still running these committees and agencies, so if you really wish to attach political blame to a natural disaster, well…
Hmmm. You have to nominate to get. According to Partnership for Public Service, fewer than 300 out of about 1100 have been nominated (as of early Aug). Sure Dems are mucking up the works – surprised? Repubs did much the same thing when Obama was in office… I wouldn’t look for things to get better on that front. Particularly regarding judicial nominations, which have become toxic in recent years.
Jeff:
Mr. Trump stated in January he would leave several hundred appointment positions unfilled, because he considered the jobs unnecessary, inefficient, and a waste of taxpayer money. That’s not at-issue. What is, is the appointments he’s made, which Congress hasn’t gotten around to.
And BTW, the problem with Congress is not “Democrats,” it’s the entrenched “Establishment” of both parties.
The great fear of Trump is that he’s an outsider, not beholden to any political party or interest, and previously functioned in a world where a modicum of efficiency was necessary for survival.
Governments are not efficient and they NEVER solve problems or issues. Were a governing body to actually fix something, it would lose some of its power and the governed would gain a sliver of freedom or autonomy, therefore, they don’t. What governments DO is address symptoms, because symptoms can be legislated over forever, as they arise, with never the need for the government to actually fix a root cause or core problem.
Were Trump to “drain the swamp,” 1.7mln government employees and many thousands of media would lose their jobs. Therefore, if they can stop him, the government and the media will never let him do it. They will do whatever they can, legal, moral, or otherwise, to render Mr. Trump so he’s not a danger to their playhouse.
Oh george……..I have not read your blog since before the election ( sorry). I used to be a daily reader and now will come back to the fold. I am amazed at how divided and hate filled some of your readers have become, I shouldn’t be surprised, we are being manipulated at the highest order. This is the first post I personally have read about Trump from you and WOW! , I thought your readers were above the Trump bashing. I am afraid the ptb will cause a civil war, I have never seen such bias and hate against a President….ever! I will now start my day reading your blog. Thanks for your unbiased, level headed wisdom.
If you ask the alt-left/antifa’s I am a right-wing reactionary stooge.
If you ask the alt-right I am a liberal toadie because I do think government should provide some services to the People.
Welcome back!
Now, if you could just get one or two congressoids to read, lol…