Scattershots – 29jul18 (updated 31jul18)

July 2018
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

OUR LINKS

YubaNet
White House Blog
Watts Up With That?
The Union
Sierra Thread
RL “Bob” Crabb
Barry Pruett Blog

Scattershots – 29jul18 (updated 31jul18)

29 July 2018

George Rebane

Speaking of wholesale lying to the public, the Left’s lamestream is now telling America that the current economic surge under President Trump 1) is really just the planned outcome of all the things that Obama got started, or 2) a spontaneous act of nature like particularly wet season after a drought – actually they can’t make up their mind on that. Today NPR’s Mara Liasson did her best on Morning Edition to downplay the latest quarter’s 4.1% growth as just the roll of the dice – sometimes good stuff happens, but don’t count on it to last. At no time did she mention Trump’s tax cuts or regulatory roll backs, or the subsequent jump in biz confidence metrics which then were confirmed by huge increases in capital equipment investments. The latter alone promise to give the Trump economy legs as it railroads through the midterms into the 2020 election. Talk about the spread of Trump Anxiety Disorder (TAD). If the economy were going south, whose name do you think the lamestream would be blaming in neon lights?

[31jul18 update] Last night we attended a fundraising dinner for Congressman LaMalfa in Chico. The featured guest was Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who joined LaMalfa on the stage for an after-dinner conversation about the Russia collusion investigations. Compared to Rep Nunes measured words on national TV, I was surprised at how much his extemporaneous and lively remarks about the investigations sounded like RR commentaries and the comments of our right-leaning readers. He confirmed that the FBI placed and paid for at least one informer to work the Trump campaign. And he also reported that he and the committee have seen no evidence of Dem alleged collusion, and opined that Mueller also has no evidence of same, else that would have already been leaked to the committee co-chair Dem “Shiftless” Schiff who would instantly have told every lamestream outlet about it. Finally, Nunes went on at length wondering why Hillary and the DNC are not being investigated for Russian collusion for which evidence abounds with the Steele dossier and other communications and meetings between Dems and Russians. In short, what we have been concerned about in these pages correctly represents the views and concerns of congressional Republicans. Some real smelly stuff is going on in Washington.

Posted in Culture Comments, Our Country

16 responses to “Scattershots – 29jul18 (updated 31jul18)”

Don Bessee

29 July 2018

The quickening pace of growth in the nation’s economy, as exhibited in the robust first reading of the gross domestic product in the second quarter, will keep the US from any economic downturn for the next few years, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
“I don’t think this is a one- or two-year phenomenon. I think we definitely are in a period of four or five years of sustained 3 percent growth at least,” Mnuchin said in an interview with ‘Fox News Sunday.’
The US economy, backed by strong consumer spending, grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter — at a 4.1 percent annualized rate. Also underpinning the uptick in the GDP is that farmers rushed shipments of soybeans to China to beat retaliatory trade tariffs before they took effect in early July.
https://nypost.com/2018/07/29/mnuchin-sees-healthy-us-economy-through-2022-despite-bad-forecasts/
😉

LikeLike
Scott Obermuller

29 July 2018

Judging the economy is a tricky thing. Trump’s actions have definitely been a plus – the jury is out (will be out for a while) on the trade actions he’s taking. Admin spokes-folk always play up the long range cheery news bit. It doesn’t hurt the market and why bad mouth your own work? I’m always for an upbeat econ report no matter who runs the country, but I like looking at the fundamentals and the basic underlying stuff. Over all, it’s pretty good, but there are always Black Swan events and something else that is rarely talked about.
Things (tech, buying habits, mores, lifestyles, etc) are changing ever more rapidly. Whole industries can and have been wiped out in the past in short order, but the order is ever more quick these days. With most parts of the economy becoming more concentrated, a bad decision on the part of just a few individuals can doom a lot of workers to pink slips. It’s a junior version of the govt running everything. They don’t have enough information always at hand because they are so removed from the everyday and they can’t move fast enough due to too much bureaucracy. Another drag (or worse) are states like CA and IL. Badly run and headed for deep financial trouble, they can’t be laughed off. The nation will end up having to bail them out and it will hurt. How much remains to be seen.
I haven’t even touched the shift in long range labor markets due to AI, but that’s for another post. Right now it’s govt freebies vs what an employer can pay for your time. Employers are now complaining they can’t find workers and the socialists are claiming we need govt guaranteed jobs. Go figure.

LikeLike
Walt

29 July 2018

So NPR is part of the problem
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/28/npr-fails-coax-e-u-ambassador-trashing-trump-trade-set-out-very-positive-agenda/
“National Public Radio (NPR) failed on Thursday to coax E.U. Ambassador David O’Sullivan into criticizing President Donald Trump’s trade policies after the president made another winning deal, setting the U.S. and Europe on the path to better trade relations.”

LikeLike
Don Bessee

29 July 2018

Reality check –
These are the very trade violations that Mr. Trump has been railing against for years — but that no president has done anything about. We don’t engage in these anti-trade activities — Europe does, Japan does and China does. Before Mr. Trump came on the scene most nations denied that this cheating and stealing were even happening.
Any progress in ending these unfair trade practices is an indisputable victory for the United States. Well done, Mr. President. You’ve accomplished something in 18 months that no president has in at least 30 years.
Yet the spin from many of the media and political pundits who spun this story begins by opining that Mr. Trump was the one who blinked here. The Politico story lead was amazing: “Trump Backs Off New Tariffs on EU in Retreat from Trade War.” Bloomberg also described the agreement as a “Trump retreat” and a “victory for the EU.”.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jul/29/the-eu-pledges-to-lower-its-tariffs-on-american-so/
😉

LikeLike
George Rebane

29 July 2018

In our country at most 9,999 out 10,000 Americans know the provenance of the longstanding grievously asymmetrical tariff situation that the US has had to endure/tolerate after we rebuilt the post-war economies. Trump inherited a bad trade schema that was getting rapidly worse in the age of tech-acceleration and mature competitive economies. It was Trump who had the guts to lift the curtain and expose this mess now calcified by the WTO, no other president dared touch it. And his reward for starting the process of world trade change (no matter how you critique his mannerisms), is that the ever anti-American socialists of the country now blame him for the inevitable bumps on the road to resolving this situation in more favorable terms for America and its workers. The Left must fight economic progress on all fronts, for it cannot afford to loose its carefully created and strategically nurtured legions of ‘victims’.

LikeLike
Don Bessee

29 July 2018

A clear eyed view –
The director of the White House National Economic Council on Sunday staunchly defended President Donald Trump’s use of targeted tariffs against China, while insisting the president ultimately “wants to have no tariffs” on the European Union.
“You know, if they’re targeted for good purpose, as per China, I think the answer is absolutely yes,” Larry Kudlow said of imposing trade duties during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That’s always been my view. Most free traders agree. China has not played by the rules. And the trading system is broken, largely because of them.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/29/kudlow-china-tariffs-trade-747494
😉

LikeLike
Bill Tozer

31 July 2018

Re update, Devin Nunes.
Dr. Rebane, you lucky dog you. That Nunes should get a medal for his service to our country in the face of overwhelming odds and obstruction from the Dems and their Depp State. It was Nunes that started asking the questions that had the Dems up in arms. First they filed trumped up phony ethics charges to silence him. He blew through that, much to Shiftless Schiff’s chagrin. He kept saying he wanted to see the FISA warrant. Oh, the outcry, of the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Nothing to see there. Nunes is crazy. Unhinged. Off the rails!
Nunes presisted and he was laughed at and ridiculed as some kind of conspiracy nut. Nunes kept pushing and the Dems and media kept saying the dossier was not the key evidence presented to the FISA court. There is a bunch of evidence in the warrant application, not just the dossier supporting the real meat and potatoes. Come to find out the dossier appears to be the only evidence. Good job Nunes.
Keep pushing, Rep Nunes. Find out when the counterintelligence investigation into both Hillary’s and the Administration’s political opponent began. Find out who ordered it. Looks like June, not July. Possibly began earlier than that. We know it began earlier than they said it did which is after Trump won the nomination. Definitely before Trump announced a list of foreign policy advisers due to media pressure, of which was listed one Carter Page….a person Trump never met. But what about the first FISA request that was denied and filed for immediately after Bill met with Loretta Lynch on the tarmac. The next day or two. What a coincidence.
If they were spying on Trump before the RNC convention, then what other campaigns were they spying on? Let’s see the unredacted FISA warrant request in October. 2016 and the denied July, 2016 FISA request.
Boy, that would have been one hell of an October surprise if Hillary could have got one media outlet to publish the dossier before the election. Lord knows they tried. It’s was passed around to media outlets for months before the election. Guess that denied FISA warrant in July, coupled with the dossier being published down the stretch instead of post election was the plan and Wikileaks was not anticipated. Exciting times. The best of times and the worse of times. Never a dull moment…except today’s reprieve from all the TAD.
.
Me thinks all the leaks from the CIA, DOJ, FBI, State Department, NDI and the Obama Administration in Jan and March 2017 were to drive Trump from office straight out of the gate, duh. Bust Trump’s kneecaps and overturn the election. July 2016, October 2016 are notable dates, but they really revved it up went for the jugular after Trump won, pre and post Inauguration.
We know what we know in large part due to Nunes. Thank you Devin Nunes, a Californian that is not crazy.

LikeLike
Paul Emery

02 August 2018

Yeah George pretty smelly stuff in Washington currently with Trumps former campaign chief on trial for multiple felonies after having his bail revoked for attempting to tamper with witnesses. There will be a smelly thrill every day for awhile to keep us occupied for the rest of this hot summer.

LikeLike
George Rebane

02 August 2018

PaulE 209pm – In your continued display of TDS, are you not confusing Manafort’s pre-campaign activities and NO govt participation with the government swamp that is Washington? You do know there is a difference?

LikeLike
Bill Tozer

02 August 2018

Punchy, you do realize that Manafort’s lawyer was not given a witness list (withheld by Team Meuller) and Manafort is accused of tampering with a witness (sending an e-mail) to someone he did not know or could have known was on the witness list??

LikeLike
George Rebane

02 August 2018

BillT 347pm – Hope you’re not holding your breath for that answer Mr Tozer.

LikeLike
Don Bessee

02 August 2018

@209 says – There will be a smelly thrill every day for awhile to keep us occupied for the rest of this hot summer.
So you are saying you will be doing smelly things with the bums in the downtown park in Nevada City, now that’s disgusting even for a po’ ol’ fakenewsman.
😉

LikeLike
Paul Emery

02 August 2018

Bill that is the case Manafort must have a really bad lawyer because certainly the judge didn’t buy it.

LikeLike
Walt

02 August 2018

Now where is the LIB SOB the loved to write in all CAPS,, “COAL IS DEAD!!” ?
http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/02/coal-exports-donald-trump/
“Global demand for American coal is increasing — by a ton. Steam-coal shipments are expected to rise by 58 percent in 2018, according to an analysis by Guillaume Perret, the founder of a London-based research firm. Perret believes exports will reach as high as 65 million tons by 2025.”
“Coal exports increased by 61 percent in 2017 — the first year of Trump’s presidency. Much of this increase is thanks to Asia, where U.S. exports more than doubled in 2017. India, South Korea and Japan were three of the top five purchasers of American steam coal exports that year, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, Europe continues to be the country’s largest buyer of American coal.”

LikeLike
Don Bessee

02 August 2018

Walt @ 648, nice reminder of the reality. The money rolling into LNG drilling expansion and distribution is going to overwhelm the socialist blocking of any energy infrastructure. JOBS IN THE USA I can not wait for the Euros flowing west to American workers and taking money away from Iran and the reformulated USSR!
Drill Baby, Drill! 😉

LikeLike
Bill Tozer

06 August 2018

Nunes: The more I dig, the more it looks like the entire Russian scandal is a set up. The more I dig, the more it all points back to the Dems and the prior Administration hatching a hoax. The more Dems cry we are conspiracy nuts, the more I uncover a conspiracy…by them.
Going off the established maximum that whatever the Dems are accusing others of, they in reality are committing themselves. Big time.
Looks like if/ when Dunes gets the FISA apps unredacted, the cover off the whole thing will blow. Space prevents a deeper discussion, but Nunes is spot on.
Three scandals going on, a three pronged attack to set Trump up. I will briefly touch on just one: Laundering Information, (just like one would launder money).
Laundering information to appear intel is coming from multiple sources.
1) Steel to FBI.
2)Justice Department to FBI. After Steel is fried by FBI, he continues to feed fake intel from Dossier to his co-worker, Nellie Ohr, wife of Bruce Ohr, Justice Department official.
3) State Department to FBI. State Department bureaucrats feeding Steel information to FBI. Hmmm. Since when to State Department bureaucrats open criminal investigations?
3a) State Department intel from a friend of Sydney Bloomenthal, which is same Steel Dossier/ Fusion GPS infor..disguised as coming from somewhere else.
To walk into a FISA court, one must proove two things for the probable cause to obtain a FISA warrant, in this case Carter Page is a spy.
1) That Carter Page as working on behalf foreign agent
2) That Carter Page was violating US law.
FBI swore to the court that the information was verified. It was not.
Bottom line, the FBI could not walk into court with the Dossier and get a FISA warrant. But, if they walked into court and say they are getting information from multiple sources (Steele, DOJ, State Department, unnamed informant), then it looks legit…even though it’s all the same intel from the same original source connected to the Clinton Campaign.
Bottom line #2. The Dossier cannot be not be verified because it’s BS. The scandal of Trump making contacts with the Russians to get the e-mails to Wikileaks cannot be proven because it never happened. A set up.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/08/01/tucker-carlson-interviews-devin-nunes-this-is-a-phoney-fisa-completely-fraudulent/comment-page-1/
BTW, Page was the door in the “Dems” needed. Carter Page was not working for the campaign when the warrant was issued. Once into Carter Page’s e-mails, the FBI could read every e-mail Page received and sent, and in turn could get access to every e-mail those folks sent and received to others, which in turn…….

LikeLike