What Gives? Will Hillary and Comey Write A Joint Book? Viagra Joke. Trump and Iran Deal Post Macron Visit.

From a dear friend and fellow memo reader. "According to my DC daughter who is in the know about military health issues, the opposition to the VA nominee is bipartisan and is legit.  Trump relied on the Obama vetting process for this guy and the drinking and bullying issues of his subordinates is legit.  The guy is also up for Congressional approval of a second star.  Sure, he is a good doc to the president, but can he manage the VA?  A.."
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What gives? (See 1 below.)
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More ranting. (See 2 below.)
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A review by Leno and Letterman of Hillary's literature.

One day, maybe she and Comey can write a joint book.(See 3 below.)

And more humor (see 3a below.)
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What will Trump do regarding The Iran Deal after Macron's visit?  (See 4 below.)
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Dick
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1)

Trump Admin To Grant Iran Missiles Capable of Destroying Israel

Administration insiders, congressional official outraged over concession

By Adam Kredo

Getty Images

The Trump administration is poised to legitimize Iran's ballistic missile program, granting the Islamic Republic the ability to produce and test a series of missiles capable of striking Israel, according to those familiar with U.S. concessions during ongoing talks over the future of the landmark Iran nuclear deal.

After weeks of pressure from European countries, senior Trump administration officials handling the talks are said to have conceded to a demand that Iran only restrict ballistic missile activity to its longer range missiles, leaving untouched its mammoth arsenal of short-range and medium-range missiles that could easily hit Israel and other Middle Eastern nations.

The concession, which comes after months of wrangling over the future of the nuclear deal ahead of a May deadline, has roiled congressional officials and administration insiders who have been pressuring the White House to stand firm against these European demands.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), a vocal opponent of the nuclear deal who has been advocating in favor of tough new restrictions on Iran, told the Free Beacon that the fixes proposed by the Europeans and supposedly endorsed by the Trump administration do not go nearly far enough in addressing Iran's contested missile program.

"Obama's Iran nuclear deal was fatally flawed from the beginning," Cruz told the Free Beacon."The deal required reckless international concessions and incentivized the international community to turn a blind eye to Iranian bad behavior. These proposed European ‘fixes' don't address the missiles Iran would actually build, the inspection problems that would actually arise, or the eventual sunsets as they would actually occur. They would only constrain the Iranians from doing things they never would have done. President Trump should reject these empty promises and withdraw America from this disastrous deal."

In addition to the relaxed restrictions of Iran's missile program, European leaders and Iran deal supporters are urging the president to accept a basket of so-called fixes to the deal that Iran deal experts and administration insiders say falls far short of President Trump's original demands. This reversal in the negotiating position of the United States could result in Trump deciding to wholly abandon the nuclear deal.

French president Emmanuel Macron, in town this week for his first official meeting with Trump at the White House, is expected to pressure the president to remain in the deal and give in to European demands that Iran be permitted to engage in multimillion-dollar business deals across the region.

European officials have echoed these concessions, including the relaxation of restrictions on Iran's missile program, for weeks, worrying administration insiders that Trump may cave despite his tough rhetoric.

European officials, on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., are said to have attended a dinner party where they met with former Obama administration officials and Iran deal supporters to figure out ways to preserve the accord and not give in to Trump's demands, according to sources familiar with the ongoing talks.

"When political directors [from European allied countries] came to town, they huddled with the deal's supporters, another sign they're just looking to preserve the JCPOA," said one veteran foreign policy adviser apprised of the situation.

There also has been little change in the U.S. negotiating team and its stance since former secretary of state Rex Tillerson was fired by Trump for failing to carry out his hardline stance on reforming the Iran deal, sources said.

U.S. officials confirmed to the Free Beacon in recent weeks that the negotiating team has not changed personnel since Tillerson's exit, a disclosure that opponents of the deal have found troubling.

"The Tillerson-McMaster negotiating team is carrying water for the Europeans," said one administration insider with knowledge of the nuclear talks, referring to H.R. McMaster, the recently fired national security adviser who also was viewed as going along with European concessions on Iran's nuclear program.

"They have nothing real to show after months of negotiations," the source said. "The idea that they are even close to ‘fixing' the JCPOA is farcical."

Among the sticking points in these talks are efforts to fully restrict Iran's ballistic missile program, which has been endorsed by many in Congress, as well as by Trump.

Rather than focus on the totality of Iran's program, U.S. and European officials are choosing to focus only on Iran's long-range stockpile. Officials are pushing for a cap on Iran's missiles that would keep them below a range of around 1,240 miles.

This distance is the same one embraced by Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei when he issued a 2017 edict on the country's missile program

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A State Department official confirmed to the Free Beacon that Iran's long-range capabilities are currently up for discussion. The official would not comment specifically on whether distances would be capped in line with the ayatollah's demand.

"We have discussed the areas the president identified in January where he wants to see improvements—including ensuring Iran never comes close to developing a nuclear weapon and addressing our concerns with the sunset dates, taking strong action if Iran refuses IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspections, and preventing Iran from developing or testing a long-range ballistic missile," the official said.

The Trump administration maintains the United States will walk away from the deal if negotiations fail to produce an acceptable agreement by May.

"This is a last chance," the official said. "In the absence of a commitment from our European allies to work with us to fix the deal's flaws, the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. And if at any time the president judges that agreement is not within reach, the United States will withdraw from the deal immediately."

Recent moves to align the United States more closely with Iran's position has roiled White House allies and congressional officials, as well as hawks in the Jewish community who believed Trump would finally crackdown on Iran's repeated threats to destroy the Jewish state.

"I honestly don't know how the president can sell Israel down the river like that," said one Jewish official who routinely engaged with the White House on Iran issues. "It's bad enough they're trying to deal with missile threats to their north alone. Now Iran gets a green light to perfect missiles that will one day constitute an existential threat to Israel's existence?"

Richard Goldberg, a former top aide to Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) who currently advises the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Free Beaconthat the only acceptable fix to Iran's missile program is a complete blanket ban.

"A true fix on missiles should align with the Roskam-Cheney bill in the House—total snapback of all sanctions if Iran develops or tests any nuclear capable ballistic missile, period," Goldberg said, referring to current legislation that would fully outlaw Iran's missile program. "That's the gold standard. That's what the Security Council calls for. Otherwise you're just negotiating a bad missile deal to supplement a bad nuclear deal."

Josh Block, a longtime foreign policy professional who serves as the CEO and president of The Israel Project, told the Free Beacon that by only focusing on Iran's long-range missile capability, the Trump administration is leaving Israel open to attack

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"We know that the mullah regime already has the capability to strike targets up to 1,240 miles from Iran's borders—a range sufficient to hit the State of Israel, our Arab allies across the region, every U.S. military installation and American soldier in the region, and even parts of Europe," said Block, a former Clinton administration official.

"Iran's new ballistic missile cap offer is a total sham—one cooked-up by Iran's allies in Russia, who are already supporting Tehran and Assad's violent war to dominate the Middle East—designed to fool President Trump, with the support of greedy Europeans who care more about making money," Block said.

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2)The ten year is finally at 3%. They had hit 3% in January 2014. Part of cause- flood of Treasury issuance of $114 billion this week.  In addition, retail sales rebounded in March up .6% vs down .1% in February. Auto sales were up 2.0% It is a purely psychological issue for the kiddies in Wall St. The ten year historically trades well over 5% on average over decades. At 3% most investments still make a lot of sense as to returns, and real estate deals still work given the low spreads. Banks do well the higher rates are.  If your deal or investment worked at 2.8%, but not 3%, then the deal made no sense in the first place.  If it is not viable at 3% then it was a bad deal anyway. For decades we made deals make sense at a ten year at 6% and loan rates at 8%. Rates will rise further, but they have a very long way to go, likely over the next two years before they are at a level to really inhibit good investments. This is not going to stop or slow growing capital investment by companies, nor by governments. The problem is so many youngsters in Wall St and banks think 2% on the ten year is the norm, that they do not understand history. One day the ten year is likely to be at or above 5% again, but that is at least a few years away if not more. One reason is the US government will be broke if rates go that high given the massive added $10 trillion debt Obama and the Dems loaded us with. Summary, the ten year at, or a little above 3%, is not going to inhibit the economic growth we are experiencing. The other issue is the kiddies have not seen a real growing economy for over 11 years. So now they do not think earnings will rise much more. They are wrong.

The other illogic today is the market collapsed just as Trump sends Mnuchin is going to China to work out a deal, China said they want to make a deal, Macron has moved the ball ahead on EU-US trade and backing Trump with China, it seems N Korea talks are still moving positively for the moment, earnings are coming in well and will continue to do so as the year progresses.  So steel prices are up a bit. Not the end of the world. Oil is back down. Inflation is not taking off. The jitters over inflation because commodity prices are up is now what the nervous nellies are overly fretting about. Despite the press claiming Macron did not think much of Trump with the handshake at NATO, but we see ourselves Macron and Trump get along great. Ignore the media claims about such things. To me the real issue is there is so much in play at the moment that most people cannot understand what is really going on. However if you listen carefully trade with China is likely to get resolved well, NAFTA will get agreed, N Korea and Trump will find a way to get real negotiations moving ahead, Trump now has a superb national security team, the EU and Trump will reach some deal on Iran, and the economy worldwide is growing nicely. All good news, but too much for the media and many people who get their politics and emotions in the way of clear thinking. Two months from now we may see a new NAFTA, real progress on trade, real negotiations with Kim, continued strong economic growth, rates settling around 3% and inflation around 2%. 2Q GDP is likely to be around 3%+. Things could go off track, but in my view, we may be on the serge of some really historic very good things. If Trump does pull these off, and the news of the Democratic conspiracy to stop Trump unfold, the Republicans win in November.

Apartments are still providing good returns, although not at the level they had been. The growth of the economy, combined with the high prices and low inventory of houses, has kept demand at a good level in many, but not all markets. In addition, the construction of new units in many markets is going to slow in the next year, keeping inventory in line. Multifamily starts in March were up 14.4% but all single family was down 3.7% which is part of the reason home prices are rising so much- no inventory. New home sales were up nicely in March.

Despite all the hoopla that oil is going above $70, it has backed down to around $68 where it has been for months.  Oil always rises as we get to summer. There is also a bottleneck in transporting oil due to a lack of enough pipeline capacity.  They are building more lines, and they will come on line over the next year, relieving some price pressure. There is also the $5 risk premium now due to Syria, Venezuela, Russia, etc.  Barring a major war in the Mideast, this premium will probably stay at these levels, or decline over time. A major war between Israel and Hezbollah and Hamas will upset the pricing if it happens, which is growing more likely. But that will only be for a short while. The Saudis and Russia continue to reduce output, but the US is adding output and exports. The US has now surpassed Russia as the largest provider of oil to the EU- a very important point in geopolitics as it reduces EU dependency on Putin.  The entire balance of power in the oil market is upside down from where it used to be thanks to fracking.  (Recall Obama and the Dems tried to stop fracking and Cuomo has banned it in upstate NY).  I am not an oil expert, but just look at the growing exports of US oil thanks to fracking, and it just seems to me the OPEC reductions will not have as major effect on prices as OPEC hopes for. Oil is not going to send inflation rising a lot despite some increase at the pump in the US as summer arrives.  Gas prices in the US are well below the EU. Gas prices are like the ten year. A small rise is a psychological issue more than real, since people got used to very cheap gas.  While oil prices are up considerably from two years ago, they have been in the $60-$70 range for quite awhile. The reduction in oil pumped by OPEC, is being partially offset by much greater mileage for cars and the edicts in a few parts of Europe that fossil fueled cars will be outlawed in 5 years. Do your own research before your rush to invest in oil related stocks. Maybe I am wrong or maybe right.

As a result of constraints on banks due to Dodd Frank, there is now a liquidity issue trading stocks and bonds. A big piece of the trading desks disappeared making liquidity much less in more thinly traded securities.  That means less perfection of prices on those securities. 50% of all stocks on the exchanges trade less than 100,000 shares per day which in today’s world is not much and the result is a much wider bid asked spread. It also means in times of real stress in the markets, selling may be very hard to impossible in some securities. One more area where Congress went over board and did not understand what they were doing, not that they ever understand what is really going on Trump is trying to deregulate this situation as much as he can, but it will take Congress to fix it and that will not happen if Nancy becomes speaker.  Another reason not to vote for Dems in November. It will impact your portfolio.

The great rush to light rail and similar expenditure by cities is almost over. Ridership is declining and is likely to continue to do so. The combination of cheap gas, Uber, expense of the rail construction, the coming of driverless buses, remote working, and people still preferring to drive is combining to bring the era of light rail to an end. As driverless cars become available, there will be less incentive for rail. Transit oriented development may not be great opportunity in the future  it has been.

We know the DNC had a Pakistani and his brothers running their IT.  When it was discovered they were criminals, everyone but Wasserman fired them. What did he know?  When the DNC servers were hacked and Wikileaks published emails, Wasserman refused to let the FBI see the servers.  Why? What are they hiding? The father sent a thumb drive of data to the Pakistani government based on the data from the DNC. What is on that drive? It seems likely the Pakistani knew what was on the server and blackmailed Wasserman with threats of exposure.

There is zero, none, nada, intelligence, according to Congressmen who reviewed the files,  which points to collusion  by Trump, so the question is how and why did the whole collusion story happen? What was used to launch the “investigation”.  Is this the “insurance policy” McCabe and Strozk had. The whole situation, per Congress, is out of line with normal procedure.  The Comey memos show Trump told him to find out if anyone on his team did collude. The DNC and Hillary colluded to deny Bernie the nomination. Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shear, a really questionable character friend of Hillary, were feeding garbage to Steele and the state department that ended up in the dossier. We know Perkins Coie laundered millions from Hillary and DNC to finance the dossier. Hillary was paying Russian agents via Perkins Coie to Fusion to Steele  to provide garbage on Trump. Collusion with Russia and possibly a felony. The dossier was the prime evidence for the FISA warrant against Carter Page which gave the FBI . The Comey memos reveal Trump had doubts about Flynn, and he never actually ordered Comey to drop the case, which was not dropped. Someone in State, supposedly old Hillary staffers, leaked the information on Flynn to get him charged- a felony for leaking. Susan Powers made over 200 requests to CIA and NSA to unmask people she had no right to ask about as UN Ambassador.  Strozk, Lisa Page, McCabe, and people at DOJ had some sort of conspiracy to stop Trump-the “insurance policy”. Mueller has refused to meet and interview the Russian lawyer who met with Don Jr, even though she has offered to meet. We know all the Dems assumed Hillary was going to win so nobody would be found out. Bill Clinton got $500,000 for a short speech in Moscow just before uranium one, and those people involved then donate over $100 million to the foundation- why would a Russian donate that sort of money. Most of the press has engaged in highly biased continuance of reporting of the claim of collusion and obstruction with no evidence of either. It is very clear now with the bizarre Comey book tour that firing him was fully justified.

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3)

"In Hillary Clinton's new book 'Living History,' Hillary details what it was like meeting Bill Clinton, falling in love with him, getting married, and living a passionate, wonderful life as husband and wife. Then on page two, the trouble starts."

~ Jay Leno

"Hillary Clinton, our junior senator from New York, announced that she has no intentions of ever, ever running for office of the President of the United States.  Her husband, Bill Clinton, is bitterly disappointed. He is crushed. There go his dreams of becoming a two-impeachment family." ~David Letterman

"Last night, Senator Hillary Clinton hosted her first party in her new home in Washington. People said it was a lot like the parties she used to host at the White House. In fact, even the furniture was the same." ~ Jay Leno

"CNN found that Hillary Clinton is the most admired woman in America. Women admire her because she's strong and successful. Men admire her because she allows her husband to cheat and get away with It." ~Jay Leno

"Hillary Clinton is the junior senator from the great state of New York. When they swore her in, she used the Clinton family Bible – the one with only 7commandments." ~ David Letterman

3a) Guy goes to a pharmacy and asks about Viagra.  Pharmacist says very effective.  Guy asks can he get it over the counter.  Pharmacist says probably  if you take four.  
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4) What you should know about Macron, Trump and the Iran Deal 
Washingtonpost.Com, Jennifer Rubin

We would be foolhardy to predict what President Trump might do on May 12, when the deadline comes up to extend the waiver on nuclear sanctions against Iran. Trump’s views change day to day, and his pronouncements are so lacking in content that they can be read however one is inclined. However, for those dreading the possibility of the United States exiting the Iran deal, as well as facing isolation from its allies and acquiring the reputation as altogether unreliable in nuclear nonproliferation while having no backup plan, there is reason for cautious optimism.

Taking a step back, French President Emmanuel Macron is selling Trump on Trump’s plan. In October, Trump declared that he was prepared to leave the deal unless the sunset clause was removed, inspection procedures were strengthened and Iran’s missile program was addressed. Macron cleverly adopted these three and added one of his own. At the White House, Macron explained:

We therefore wish, from now on, to work on a new deal with Iran. What we need — and I believe that on that, our discussions allowed us to shed light on our convergence of views — is that we need to cover four topics.

The first one is to block any nuclear activity of Iran until 2025. This was feasible thanks to the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]. The second is to make sure that, in the long run, there is no nuclear Iranian activity. The third fundamental topic is to be able to put an end to the ballistic activities of Iran in the region. And the fourth one is to generate the conditions for a solution — a political solution to contain Iran in the region — in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, and in Lebanon.

Trump naturally would be pleased to hear his own demands read back to him. After Macron explained in answer to a question that a new deal would come on top of the existing deal, Trump had this word-salad response:

But there is a chance — and nobody knows what I’m going to do on the 12th, although, Mr. President, you have a pretty good idea — but we’ll see. But we’ll see also, if I do what some people expect, whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations. Because this a deal with decayed foundations. It’s a bad deal. It’s a bad structure. It’s falling down. Should have never, ever been made. I blame Congress. I blame a lot of people for it. But it should have never been made, and we’re going to see what happens on the 12th.

Somewhere in there is the potential for a “new deal” (Macron’s construction) that wouldn’t require exiting the JCPOA.

Let’s be clear on several points.

First, for two of Trump’s goals — the block Iran’s ICBM program and extending the deal — it makes no sense to exit the deal. Since Iran’s ICBM program is not covered by the current Iran deal, the West could impose sanctions and/or seek a new deal while leaving the JCPOA in place. As for the sunset clause, it is entirely illogical to exit a deal early because it does not go on long enough(!).

Second, there is zero chance the Europeans leave the deal. Trump and backers of his plan have never fully explained what happens then. Do we reimpose sanctions and start punish our allies whose companies still do business there? Do we actually think there is a realistic military option?

Third, if Trump really is concerned about Iranian regional aggression (as Macron is, evidenced by his inclusion of this item as his fourth pillar), there is nothing that would suggest withdrawing from the JCPOA would help matters. Last October, the very first item Trump identified on his list of to-do items for a new Iran policy was “to work with our allies to counter the regime’s destabilizing activity and support for terrorist proxies in the region.” However, if anything, Trump has moved backward on this point, signaling he is willing to cede Syria to Iran and its ally Russia. It is hard to imagine that leaving the JCPOA and creating a major rift with allies will improve our ability to check Iran’s hegemonic ambitions.

“The more dangerous issue relates to what the Iranians are doing in the region. They are becoming more risk averse,” longtime Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross told me. He added: “They are embedding themselves in Syria, they are providing more to the Houthis, they are anxious for us to leave the region — an objective they share with the Russians. If we are going to counter malign activities of Iran in the region — one of the pillars of the policy — walking away from the JCPOA will make that harder because we will walk away alone and will trigger a breach with the Europeans. Under those circumstances, they will not put any pressure on the Iranians for their regional behaviors.”

In sum, it is anyone’s guess (including Trump’s) what Trump will do in May. However, Trump likes being liked, and his international BFF Macron will like him even more if he stays in the deal. (That simple-minded formulation may actually be closer to Trump’s internal thought process than you’d think.) Ross said that “based on the president’s comments after seeing Macron, it is possible we will not walk away. I hope that is the case because we have much more leverage when the Europeans are with us, and there is the chance that we can start with them to create an expectation that limitations beyond 2030 make sense.” And maybe as a reward, Macron could throw him another parade

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