Xander Shawn

Last night my son Jason and daughter in law Liz blessed me with the birth of their 2nd child, a 7 lb. 3 oz. bundle of joy, a little boy, Xander Shawn. I am now the very proud papa of 4 angels….and feeling very blessed.

Israeli Incursion

Egypt attempted to broker a truce between Israel and the radical group Hamas in Palestine. Hamas has refused to seek a diplomatic solution. The rockets began firing again on Tuesday morning. How did this start? Hamas murdered 3 Israeli children and buried them in a field under a bunch of rocks. Three irate Israeli citizens responded by murdering a Palestinian youth. Naturally, Hamas blames Israel for this escalation in violence. Truth is the Palestinians have been lobbing rockets into Israel on pretty much a daily basis. The Israelis, to their credit, have shown an incredible amount of restraint in dealing with these attacks. With the current escalation, Israel has said enough is enough and they are going after Hamas. They have given fair warning to the Palestinian people to leave their homes to avoid harm, and many have done so. Where will it end?

Meanwhile, back in la la land, President Obama said “We are encouraged that Egypt has made a proposal to accomplish this goal….” as he hosted a White House dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Bullcrap

Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities

Discussions continue in Vienna to bring an end to Iran’s goal of having nuclear capabilities, the deadline is the 20th. The world should be paying close attention to this as Iran is a terrorist state. They supply the Palestinians and other terrorist groups with rockets and other weapons and are the impetus for untold acts of terror across the globe. Ignoring the threat of Iran attaining nuclear warhead capability is like ignoring Hitler in 1939.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that

nuclear talks between Iran and six powers were set to extend past the July 20th target date as Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif cited significant progress on Tuesday (what have they been doing the past 6 months?), while saying much work remains.”

This is simply stupid. What needs to happen is that Iran’s nuclear military capability needs to be destroyed and confirmed to be destroyed. There should be no further discussion without that happening. Re-instate sanctions recently loosened and add more. Iran is a rogue state hell bent on destroying the west (that’s us-the United States) and Israel. Playing this diplomatic game with rogues cannot end up well for anyone.

Bowe Bergdahl

Bowe Bergdahl has been assigned to administrative duty on a military base in Texas. What? The man was a prisoner of the Taliban for 5 years, was converted (likely forced to convert) to Islam, went AWOL from his post in Afghanistan and is accused of being a deserter from the US Army and his comrades in arms. Unbelievable!

The July 2014 Empire State Manufacturing Survey was released on 7/15

It indicates that business conditions improved significantly for the third consecutive month for New York Manufacturers and has reached its highest level in more than four years. Conditions overall are expected to continue improving in the months ahead.

AbbVie Inversion

The Obama administration joined the growing debate over US companies reincorporating overseas for tax purposes, urging lawmakers to pass legislation to limit the moves. In a letter to leaders of the congressional tax-writing committees, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said lawmakers “should enact legislation immediately…to shut down this abuse of our tax system.”

(Wall Street Journal 7/15)

Let me make 2 points:
1- Exactly who is it that created and passed the laws which allow corporations to reincorporate overseas for tax purposes? Our crooked lawmakers, that’s who. So, Washington creates the laws (for their friends) to allow this and now they want to create more laws to disallow this. Does that make any sense whatsoever?

2- You want to stop this? We have the highest corporate tax rates on the planet. Instead of creating new laws and more bureaucracy, just lower the tax rates on corporate America. Make it desirable for companies to conduct business here and to re-invest profits in their companies here.

US raw steel production

… jumped 2.7 percent last week as mills operated at an average capability utilization rate (ACUR) of 79.1 percent. In the corresponding week last year mills operated at an ACUR of 77.3 percent. Thus far this year mills have operated at an ACUR of 76.6 percent compared to an ACUR of 76.8 percent in the same period last year.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System released their report on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization July 16, 2014:

Industrial production increased 0.2 percent in June and advanced at an annual rate of 5.5 percent in the second quarter of 2014. In June manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent for its fifth monthly gain, while the production at mines moved up 0.8 percent and the output of utilities declined 0.3 percent. For the second quarter as a whole, manufacturing production rose at an annual rate of 6.7 percent, while mining output increased at an annual rate of 18.8 percent because of gains in the extraction of oil and gas….the capacity utilization rate for total industry was unchanged in June at 79.1 percent.”

World Conflicts

On Thursday some 283 passengers and 15 crew on a Malaysian commercial airliner were shot out of the sky near the border of Ukraine and Russia. It is not yet clear who fired the ground to air missile and it is quite possible the plane was mistaken for a military aircraft.

Also on Thursday Israel launched a ground offensive into Gaza aimed at crushing Hamas militants, this after Hamas had fired more than 100 rockets into Israel at the end of a 5 hour cease fire which was meant to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Of course rockets had been fired into Israel during the cease fire. Who would put up rockets being fired at their cities on a daily basis?

Earlier in the week it was reported that Boko Haram has murdered 40 more people this week in Nigeria (where the 200 school girls were abducted). How is it that no one can find these scum bags and those innocent young women?
And where was President Obama during all this? In New York City attending a couple of fund raisers. Go figure. The president seems clueless to what is going on in the world.

Let’s end with some relatively good news:

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the US increased 0.3 percent in June to 102.2 following a 0.7 percent increase in May and a 0.3 percent increase in April.”

Broad based LEI increases over the last six months signal an economy that is expanding in the near term and may even somewhat accelerate in the second half”

Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at the Conference Board

Remember:

  • Fast & Furious-providing weapons to criminals leading to a loss of American life. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
  • The loss of 4 American lives at our embassy in Benghazi, Libya. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
  • The IRS targeting conservative political groups for tax-exempt status. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
  • The National Security Administration eavesdropping on the phone calls of American citizens. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
  • The software program created for the Affordable Healthcare Act, at a cost of $1 billion (thus far) and 3 ½ years to “perfect”, has been unusable to the American people. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
  • Spying on our Allies, specifically Angela Merkel of Germany. No one held accountable. The president was unaware. (Although these things go on knowingly between countries all the time, the fact that our president denies knowledge of this is just another sign of his incompetence as the leader of the most powerful country on the planet).
  • “If you like your current insurance plan you can keep it. Period” Barack Obama
  • “If you like your doctor, you can keep him. Period” Barack Obama

Have a great weekend and….

Hug your children and grandchildren, tell them you love them.
Buy American made products whenever you can.
Hire a Veteran: they are patriots, honest, hard working, disciplined, loyal…. and …. They need and deserve our support.

God Bless America