Friday, February 9, 2018

Got It? Israel's GDP Increases Per IMF. Judicial Watch and Government's Love of Sun Block.




The Democrats after Trump won the election: https://www.facebook.com/Breaking911/videos/733593393502395/

And:

If we get Nuked, it'll be by;

Missiles built with technology given to China by Bill Clinton,
funded by Iran with money Obama gave them, with
warheads developed from uranium sold to Russia by Hillary
and refined by Iran into weapons-grade plutonium
in Russian centrifuges bought with money Obama gave them.

And Trump's trying to undo this mess, but he's the Traitor.

GOT it?
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Is another high up Democrat ready to be ensnared? (See 1 below)
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You just can't follow your animal instincts anymore. (See 2 below.)

And:

This is not fake news. (See 2a below.)
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Many of my friends know I am very proud of Kim Strassel and frequently post her op ed column: Potomac Watch."  This is what he sent me:

"Thought you would enjoy hearing (if you missed it) about a complete segment of today’s Rush Limbaugh show. In it he absolutely lauded Kim S. column on Steele, the dozier, the FBI et al. Really noted how ridiculous the whole affair has been relative to the FBI, the media, Comey, Mueller all feeding on themselves and now Kim approaches it from a fresh, thorough angle “Who is Christopher Steele”?"
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Sent to me by a friend and fellow memo reader.  I have never seen. (See 3 below.)
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IMF project's an increase in Israel's GDP. (See 4 below.)
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Ross Rants. (See 5 below.)
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Finally, Russian challenges Trump faces. (See 6 below.)
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I m a modest contributor to Judicial Watch because I can no longer rely upon government to police itself, not even The Justice Department, not even The FbI, nor the many inspector general's, who are  the in-house counsel of various agencies and are supposed to represent the public's interest as ombudsmen.

If you want to learn more about Judicial Watch you can go to: www.Judicial Watch.Org.

Their success in uncovering material the government does not want you to see or release is fabulous. They are constantly bringing law suits forcing the "deep government" to come forth and enjoy sunlight. Meanwhile, the Government constantly applies "sun block." It is up to the courts to enforce/adjudicate  Judicial Watch's legitimate claims and legal pursuits.
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Dick
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1)  

Major Democrat Senator Was Just Busted For Colluding With Russia

And once again, it involves Russia.
A top Democratic Senator was just caught red handed colluding with the Russians.
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) is the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He’s one of the ringleaders who’s been fanning the flames of the fringe conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
But – as usual – it turns out the only evidence of collusion involves the Democrats.
Warner was forced to admit he repeatedly texted with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who promised him access to Christopher Steele – the ex-British Intelligence agent who put together the fake news Trump-Russia dossier.
Fox News reports:
“SEN. MARK WARNER, THE TOP DEMOCRAT ON THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE WHO HAS BEEN LEADING A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION INTO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ALLEGED TIES TO RUSSIA, HAD EXTENSIVE CONTACT LAST YEAR WITH A LOBBYIST FOR A RUSSIAN OLIGARCH WHO WAS OFFERING WARNER ACCESS TO FORMER BRITISH SPY AND DOSSIER AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER STEELE, ACCORDING TO TEXT MESSAGES OBTAINED EXCLUSIVELY BY FOX NEWS.
“WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DISCUSS U NEED TO BE CAREFUL BUT WE CAN HELP OUR COUNTRY,” WARNER TEXTED THE LOBBYIST, ADAM WALDMAN, ON MARCH 22, 2017.
“I’M IN,” WALDMAN, WHOSE FIRM HAS TIES TO HILLARY CLINTON, TEXTED BACK TO WARNER.
STEELE FAMOUSLY PUT TOGETHER THE ANTI-TRUMP DOSSIER OF UNVERIFIED INFORMATION THAT WAS USED BY FBI AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS IN OCTOBER 2016 TO GET A WARRANT TO CONDUCT SURVEILLANCE OF FORMER TRUMP ADVISER CARTER PAGE. DESPITE THE EFFORTS, STEELE HAS NOT AGREED TO AN INTERVIEW WITH THE COMMITTEE…
…WALDMAN IS BEST KNOWN FOR SIGNING A $40,000 MONTHLY RETAINER IN 2009 AND 2010 TO LOBBY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ON BEHALF OF CONTROVERSIAL RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE OLEG V. DERIPASKA. DERIPRASKA HAD HIS VISA REVOKED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT IN 2006 BECAUSE OF CHARGES, WHICH HE HAS DENIED, THAT HE HAS ORGANIZED CRIME TIES.”
The lobbying firm’s ties to Clinton is another strand in her web of involvement.
The dossier was paid for by her campaign.
And her hatchet man – Sidney Blumenthal – fed information to Steele while he was putting it together.
Now a top Democrat involved in the investigation was forced to admit he was colluding with Russians who were represented by a lobbying firm with ties to Hillary.
In 18 months worth of investigations, the only evidence of collusion has implicated the Democrats.
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2)This is sad.  
  
Very sad day today. A good friend of mine, after 7 years of medical school and training, has been fired for one minor indiscretion. He slept with one of his patients and can no longer work in the profession.  
What a waste of time, effort, training, and money. Even worse is the fact that he's still paying on his school loans. This just goes to show how one little mistake can ruin your life. Thoughts for him and his family. 
He really is a great person and a brilliant veterinarian. 


2a) If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment ,

If you can relax without alcohol,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then You Are Probably

The Family Dog!


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3) The following is from a website I came across yesterday. Are you familiar with this?  Very detailed commentary on Russia’s approach to destabilizing the West and elsewhere.


(excerpt)  Dezinformatsiya, as its known in Russia, is an umbrella term for so-called information influence operations that seek to muddy the political waters. It can involve both overt state-sponsored media—like the Russian news channels RT and Sputnik, which recently launched a radio station in DC—as well as less fringe news sites and, in recent years, a rising number of Twitter trolls and social media bots.

Let me know what you think of this information.  Credible?  
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4) IMF raises growth forecast for Israel's economy

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised Israel’s economic outlook for this year and next as it raised its forecast for global growth.

Israeli gross domestic product will expand 3.1% this year and 3.4% in 2018, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook. That marks a slowdown from last year’s 4% rate but higher than its previous estimates of 2.9% and 3% for 2017 and 2018, respectively, made in July.
The IMF upgraded its global economic growth forecast for 2017 by 0.1 percentage point to 3.6% and to 3.7% for 2018, driven by a pickup in trade, investment and consumer confidence. Forecasts for eurozone, Japan, China, emerging markets and Russia were all revised upwards.
The IMF said Israeli consumer prices would climb 0.2% this year after falling 0.5% in 2016. Unemployment will fall to 4.3% in 2017 and rise to 4.5% in 2018, it said.
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5)The basics did not change, so hopefully you did not panic and sell. The economy is doing very well, and will do even better as the year ramps up. 4% growth looks more and more possible. Just keep in mind the press and many economists said early last year we could not do better than 2.5%. Many said the tax reform would not work. They let their politics get in the way of objective analysis. Reality is we have not seen this level of optimism and growth since the nineties. Over the past 8 years we have had 9 stock market drops similar to this, and it came roaring back. The drop was inevitable. The young guys in Wall St always think they are smarter than all who came before, and they create these stupid derivatives that they think will let them hedge risk or trade in ways that are so clever, until they blow up. In the end you need to decide if you are an investor, or a trader. If you are investor, which means picking solid stocks for the long term, you will win big. That was what all those statistics I have provided in the past show you. The turtles always win. If you thought you were going to make a killing and get rich in crypto coin, now you know that was a bad decision. Coin is just a futures contract.  It is not currency, it is not an investment. The smart guys in Wall St trade it long and short, or they earn fees off you. They are not taking the risk you are taking. I know the guy who created one of the major market making trading platforms. He is super smart and understands markets as well as anyone on Wall St. His view is, coins are the same as futures, and it is just a trading derivative. At some point almost all of the coins will be wiped out. This is dot com 2. So just go about your business and take advantage of some buying opportunities if you have some cash sitting around, or if you have a weak performer and can buy a real winner at a much better price than two weeks ago. My rule is Graham & Dodd. The basic text I read back in Wharton that teaches focus on fundamentals, invest for the long term and get wealthy over time. I own some stocks that have increased 3-6 fold over the past 5 -6 years, and these are large solid companies, not coin, not emerging markets, and not some latest high flyer. Keep in mind the geniuses at hedge funds have under performed the basic indexes for years. The average managed money with all their portfolio allocation models with 40% bonds, have also underperformed the market over time. So be patient and relax. The US economy is strong, the banks are stronger than ever, and the world economy is doing better than it has for decades. It is very possible that one month from now stocks will be back up near 26,000 or headed back that way. There are real issues we are going to be dealing with for a long time. The $4 trillion of unwind by the Fed. We have the massive deficit. We have an asset bubble due to QE. All of these issues will be a drag on growth over time, but so far the Fed seems to be handling their piece fairly well. Asset bubbles in stocks will go away as earnings come through thanks to the tax bill, and real estate values will flatten or decline a little as rates rise. It is government debt that is the killer.
 The 2.9% growth in wages was not what it appears. The bump up of the increase was at the managerial level, and growth at the average worker was only 2.4%. It needs to be seen if Feb continues the rate of increase. Possibly not. Oil prices are down. Inflation is not suddenly running too high. Depending on the Feb data maybe rates will settle down. Unfortunately Congress passing new deficits is the real problem.

The real problem is Congressional Democrats as we just saw in this budget deal. They spent eight years decimating the military, and putting the US in a weak position in a time we need to be stronger than ever. Then they say, well yes the military is in bad shape now, but you need to pass tens of billions of unneeded domestic spending If you want to rebuild military power. They seem to be oblivious about the debt and that as rates increase we cannot afford the debt Obama ran up. They pass $6 billion for opioids but nobody has any idea how that will be spent or if that is too much. The Republicans just go along these days instead of really taking a real stand and making the cuts and reform of entitlements. They talk, but then fold. We need to stop the gross give away of Medicaid and reform it to cover the really needy instead of anybody who shows up with a hand out. Medicare and Social Security are eating the budget.  The stock market would do far better if the Republicans really stood for what they claim and cut the spending. When the government spends more it generally means more regulations around all the spending, and it means the private sector has less to spend. Where is Simpson Bowles. We can’t keep this up.

The next time Dems and the press say the economic growth is really due to Obama, just consider that in Obama’s last year we lost factory jobs. In Trump’s first year we added 200,000 factory jobs, and that is just the start now before tax reform. Under Obama we had sub 2% GDP, under Trump it is headed to 4% which they all said was fantasy. Those are facts, not political opinions. Over the next year, you will see a lot of capital expenditure by many companies, a lot more hiring, and a lot more economic growth.

Now it is becoming clear, Clinton and probably Obama had a plan to destroy Trump, and it almost worked. Clinton and the DNC laundered $12 million, or around that, through Perkins Coie, to Fusion, to Steele. Then Blumenthal fed Steele the material along with Russian agents. Steele then went to the press to create the façade that the dossier was real. Comey and his top managers, along with Bruce Ohr, ran with it and used it in the FISA warrant and, Comey covered up for Hillary on the emails. The whole collusion story is a creation of this group, and the Mueller investigation was designed to find something on Trump to get him impeached.  Now we find that Senator Warner was calling a Russian to get dirt on Trump. Is this different than the meeting at Trump Tower the Dems and press obsess over. The story is now unwinding and over the next few months, it is going to get very ugly for the Dems, no matter how the press tries to hide it. You may not have noted, but a new Rasmussen poll has Trump approval at 48%, higher than Obama at this point, and way higher than other polls  I don’t put much faith in polls, but maybe they are trending correct. We saw in 2016, the pollsters had it wrong, and if Trump really has decent polls in November, it does matter in the election.
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6)The Real Russia Challenge Trump Faces
After beating ISIS, the administration can’t stand by idly as the chaos in Syria leads to war between Israel and Iran’s Hezbollah auxiliaries.


Donald Trump was elected president of the United States promising an “America First” foreign policy. That was an ominous echo of America’s pre-World War II isolationists, and as troubling as that sounded to anyone with a sense of history, it seemed to match his belief that the United States had spent too much blood and treasure on wars in the Middle East.

Though he promised to defeat the terrorists of ISIS, Trump also seemed to assure a pullback from the region. And while he criticized his predecessor for the success of Islamist terrorists, his approach to the Middle East now oddly enough resembles the continuation of President Barack Obama’s decision both to abandon Iraq and leave the people of Syria to their fate.
The irony is that while Trump has been attacked for his desire for better relations with Russia, which his critics link to accusations of collusion during the 2016 election, this point of view would be an extension of an Obama policy that acquiesced to Russian intervention in Syria, which for all intents and purposes made it the pre-eminent foreign power in the region.
The impact of this surrender after Obama’s 2013 “red line” threats against Russia’s client, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, also fit with America’s appeasement of Iran, a country that also backed the Damascus government. The combined brutality of Russia, along with an Iran that had been empowered and enriched by the nuclear deal and Tehran’s Hezbollah auxiliaries, guaranteed that Assad would remain in power.
Their success has led to a human-rights catastrophe in Syria. But the aftermath of a war that is winding down in more bloodshed has set the stage for yet another conflict: a possible war between Israel and Hezbollah.
With Iran building weapons and missile factories in Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon, coupled with a devastated Syria, Israel is rightly worried that Tehran is setting the stage for another war that would make the 2006 Second Lebanon War seem like a picnic. Since that conflict, most Israelis assumed that Hezbollah understood the price of another war would be too high to pay. But the fear now is that Iran’s missile factories have changed the equation to the extent that Israel’s strength may not be enough to deter another conflagration.
That has left the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to get Russia to ensure that the balance of terror between the potential antagonists isn’t overturned. Israelis hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin shares their desire to preserve the peace and prevent more bloodshed, though their leverage over him is limited.
That’s why it’s time for Trump to prove that the 2018 version of “America First” doesn’t mean that the United States will stand by helplessly as the mistakes of former President George W. Bush, whose Iraq war had the unintended consequence of strengthening Iran, and Obama lead to a new war involving Israel.
As it happens, Trump did keep his word on ISIS. The war against the Islamic State had been stalemated for two years under Obama. But by changing the rules of engagement and how U.S. forces fought the terrorists, Trump was in no small measure responsible for helping to turn the tide of battle as ISIS was routed in 2017.
When running for president, Trump promised that the United States wouldn’t stay to clean up the mess left after the terrorists were defeated. To his credit—and contrary to the spirit of “America First”—that isn’t what he’s now doing. The administration has announced that U.S. troops will stay in Syria after ISIS is wiped out to make sure that the terrorists don’t come back under another title—exactly the sort of policy he denounced as “nation-building” prior to taking office. It’s also something that has annoyed the Russians, who have been hoping for exactly the kind of isolationism that Trump’s critics feared would define U.S. foreign policy.
All that leaves Trump facing the basic contradiction that has always been at the heart of his Middle East policy pronouncements. While he has been quite open about his desire for a rapprochement with Russia, he has been equally vocal about confronting Iran, both in terms of renegotiating or dumping a weak nuclear deal and in restraining Tehran’s adventurism.
It has always been clear to everyone, except perhaps the president, that he was going to have to choose between those two goals since there was no way to make nice with Moscow while getting tough with Putin’s Iranian allies. Much as he would like to put off that choice, the possibility of Iran and Hezbollah picking a fight with Israel means the United States must make it clear that this is not an outcome Washington will tolerate.
Does the administration have the tenacity or diplomatic skill to compel or persuade Russia to force its allies to behave? There’s good reason for pessimism on this score. But if Trump is serious about wanting to strengthen Israel and the moderate Arab states that rightly fear Iranian adventurism, now is the time for him to tell Putin rather bluntly that whatever he gained from the slaughter in Syria will be potentially lost, along with any hope that America will regard him favorably if the region erupts.
Since the goals of Russian foreign policy under Putin have been to reassemble the Soviet empire—and annoy the United States as much as possible—there’s no way of knowing if Putin thinks more chaos will help or harm him. Trump can’t undo the mistakes of the past that led to this mess. But if he cares as much about Israel as his recent stands on Jerusalem and holding the Palestinians accountable for subsidizing terror would lead us to believe, he can’t leave Netanyahu on his own to deal with Putin, Hezbollah and Iran. Standing by idly as the situation unravels is not an option.
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