Zito on our fraying culture. (See 1 below.)
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If Trump said he could cure cancer Trump Haters would say he caused unemployment. at hospitals.
They are so blinded by their hatred they cannot act sane. Maybe they never were sane to begin with.
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Treasonous behaviour on the part of a Congresswoman who swore to uphold the law? (See 2 below.)
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Another Rant. (See 3 below.)
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Dick
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1) Knitting and fraying in a divided culture 
By Salena Zito
SALEM, OH-From a knit shop in Salem Ohio I take a look at the impact of the absolutism of 
the offended whether it’s “the inclusive friendly” @Ravelry or @Nike deciding to become social 
justice organizations digital wokeness has serious ramifications on our culture

Click here for the full story.
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2)  Democrat Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX) is secretly sending staff to 
Mexico to find and coach migrants who are trying to enter the 
United States and is instructing them how to “exploit a loophole” to 
game the asylum process, multiple U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) officials allege.
By Ryan Saavedra @realsaavedra

The Washington Examiner reports that, according to the National Border Patrol Council’s El Paso 

chapter and several CBP agents, Escobar’s staff is trying to find migrants that have been returned 
from El Paso, Texas to Mexico “under the ‘remain in Mexico’ policy, then coaching them to pretend 
they cannot speak Spanish to exploit a loophole letting them return to the U.S.”
A senior union official shared evidence supporting their claims with the Examiner and said, “What
 we believe is happening is Veronica Escobar’s office is going … to basically second-guess and 
obstruct work already done by the Border Patrol.”
Under the “remain in Mexico” policy, “anyone returned must be fluent in Spanish because they may
 have to reside in Mexico up to five years until a U.S. federal judge decides their asylum claim.”
Officials claim that Escobar’s aides, who have sought interviews with thousands of migrants who 
were sent back to Mexico, are escorting the migrants back to the port of entry and are lying to CBP
 officials, telling them the migrants don’t speak Spanish despite the fact that they spoke Spanish to
 the officials at an earlier date.
“What we’re hearing from management is that they’re attempting to return people, and the story was
 changed in Mexico, where a person who understood Spanish before now doesn’t understand — 
where a person who didn’t have any health issues before now has health issues,” a union official 
said. “They went through and interviewed everybody, cherry-picked them, brought them back, and 
now are using them as tag lines. They’re going over there and manufacturing a lot of these issues.”
Mark H. Metcalf, a former federal immigration judge, told the Examiner that a criminal case could be
 brought against Escobar if she is found to be involved in the alleged scheme, which amounts to 
fraud and making false statements to U.S. officials.
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3) The likelihood of a rate cut this month is still highly likely. The data is mixed with the
 better than expected job report. Other data continue to point to a slower economy, but no
t a recession.  The combination of very slow growth in Asia and the EU, has resulted in 
slow exports, and so slower growth here. In addition, the uncertainties surrounding the 
economy, Iran, and trade issues, has created hesitation on the part of corporations to start
 major new investment projects until things are more clear for where we are headed. 
Hiring has bounced back this month , but as I pointed out recently, a substantial piece of 
slower job growth earlier this year is due to there is nobody functional left to hire who 
wants a job, and retail continues to shed jobs. Unemployment remains near historic lows 
which is most important. People with secure jobs spend money. Low income worker wage 
growth continues to be above average, and that is materially better 
than wage growth in management level, and way better than Wall St. The stock market 
continues to hit new record highs, and the wealth effect of a high stock market is very 
important to upper income spending.

Oil remains floating between $55 and $60, which is very helpful to create more spendable cash for low income people. Tax refunds have arrived for most, and when they got their tax returns and refunds, most realized they did really get a tax cut and they have more spendable cash. Borrowing rates are very close to historic lows, so many individuals as well as corporations remain in good position re their debt burden relative to income. For real estate, debt after tax cost of capital is almost like free money. At 70%-75% leverage, it makes most real estate projects very profitable, and makes most home owners easily able to afford their mortgages. This is far different, and better, then 2008 and most other economic slowdown periods. Even if we have a recession next year, which is still unlikely, it would be relatively minor. Don’t be surprised if GDP for Q2 is better than everyone expects. It is likely around 2%-2.5%, but it is very hard to predict right now given the differing signals from various data points like good jobs growth, slowing factory activity, and forecast of disappointing corporate earnings. Some economists believe we are starting  a downturn due to all the uncertainty, and that the Fed will work hard now to forestall it. The will mean another rate cut in September if true. Uncertainty is never a good thing for capital investment, and if that stops, then the economy will slow more. We need to see what happens the rest of summer to know where the next year will be.

You may have noted that dividend yields seem to have declined. That is simply because stock prices have gone up 19% on average.  It is the dollars you receive, not the yield that matters.

Apartment rental occupancies have increased across the country. Why, when mortgage rates are near historic lows. The reason I believe is house prices have continued to rise despite the slow housing market, but more importantly, the cost of a new home is simply too much for many new buyers, and so they make the economic decision to rent. Therefore the housing market appears very slow, but you need to look at  how many people set up a household, as that includes rental  houses and condos. There are over 5 million houses for rent across the country and many of them have been recently renovated. This has taken a big bite out of the traditional home purchase market. This has never been the situation previously. Many of these deals are rent to own. It is only SF, LA and Silicon Valley that have major home shortages, and that is because of vast over regulation which raises cost to build materially, and causes long delays to construction. If the regs were substantially reduced, solar was not required, and delays eliminated, there would be sufficient new affordable homes in CA.

The Dems are complete liars and hypocrites about the border. They refuse to pass desperately needed funding and immigration legislation, they sue to prevent the wall, and to prevent illegals from being deported. They refuse to fully fund Border Patrol and ICE. Then the result is a huge flood of migrants, and then we get over- crowding, and then the Dems scream about bad conditions for which they claimed there was a manufactured crisis, and they still do not provide the needed funds, nor law changes to solve the problem, which then gets worse. And then, they and the press blame Trump. And now the bartender from the Bronx lies and the press gives her top billing and repeats the lies. Then she and the Dems make claims the little kids who were rented out to illegals for a 1000 mile harsh trip, are suffering because of Trump. He did not drag these kids here. He did not invite them. When is the press going to blame the illegals for treating the little kids so badly, and risking their lives to come claim phony asylum.