Give me manure in the air; a haystack at my back.

Today's Tids Issue 3,528

Opening Stuff:

There’s nothing that makes me as feel good about reading something than those paragraphs that start out humanly with worlds like “Holy cow!” Simple emotions from the heart always get me. And, I smile all the way through.

One of my favorite lines coming out of the NH primary: “Apparently New Hampshire women chose Hell over Hillary.”

The freefall of oil prices is good for drivers, alternative energy and as a defense against ISIS growing stronger off of captured oil fields. But, when Russia and Saudi Arabia go bankrupt, the world economy will tank with it.

The Question:

Who was Bernadette Soubirous? Bonus: I’d never be able to answer this Question so just consider moderately interesting information. What are the five worst investment calls of this century?

The Headlines:

--Dow Futures Expected To Open On A Downer; FTSE And EuroStocks Hit Lowest Levels Since 2013.

--Russia Says US Planes Bombed City Of Aleppo On Feb 10; Turkey Protests US Involvement with Kurds.

--Hackers Fool IRS Into deliver 100,000 Payer Pin Codes; Agency Says It Found Problem And Stopped It Before Anything Happened.

--North Korea Army Chief Of Staff Executed; Rumors Say Kim Feared His Grip On NK Powerful Military.

--Kasich has To Hold Head Above Water Until He Gets To Midwest Primaries; Tids Faves Christie And Fiorina Drop Out Of Repub Race.

--Goldman Tells Investors That Five Of Its Biggest Trades This Year Are Not Going To Work.

Do you get the feeling that most of the year end financial reports are held together with duct tape? That with every highlighted number there are two negative numbers or opinions hidden inside somewhere.

In one speech during the past two days, Hillary managed to demean the cops to get the black vote and praise the bravery of police to get the public servant vote.

A lot of my favorites did well on American Idol last night. McKensie Bourg may have been the best of the night. Other among my likes who looked good and sang well are Jeneve Rose Mitchell and Avalon Young. Stephany Negtrete did better than expected. I particularly liked Jenne Renae, and Sonika Vaid was good but not my favorite. Emily Brooke really disappointed and could be gone along with Jordan Sasser, Thomas Stringfellow (Most thought he should never have been in the 24) and James VIII.

In case you are driving though Providence, a stop at Los Andes restaurant on Chalkstone Ave would be a treat, if you can get in. This family run Peruvian place was named #57 on the Yelp list of Americans top 100 Restaurants. Only one other New England restaurant mad the list.

I hope I don’t sound too irritable this morning, but the newspaper repeated yesterday’s comics. I need comics in the morning, and today I don’t have them. Stick with me. I’ll try to fight through it.

It doesn’t’ surprise me to see Bernie sitting with slick Al Sharpton, the person who takes the air out of Hope for blacks. Yup, Bernie, who wants to give away all for nothing in return, and the guy who continually takes it all whenever he can. Quite the pair.

If I were the Repub presidential nominee, I’d pick Carly for Veep and put her in charge of Cyber security. Considering all of the other crapola that candidates snipe about, I believe the cyber problems are among the biggest we face in the future. Carly knows Cyber.

The Answer:

If you remember the movie Song of Bernadette, about the young girl who saw visions of Mary in white robes 18 times at Lourdes, then you  know who Benadette Soubirous is. The vision occurred in 1858, and people still flock to the holy site. Bonus: Consider this answer as evidence of why you should not go manic over every piece of financial news you see. #5. Goldman Sachs Predicts $200 Oil. #4. Mark Faber And Peter Shiff (Doctors Gloom and Doom) see hyperinflation and $5,000 gold. #3. Meredith Whitney predicts default of 50 to 100 municipal bonds and city, town and county bankruptcies. #2. Bernanke says “Subprime” crisis is contained. And #1 of all… the bad call from our super smart expert: Alan Greenspan says there is no housing bubble. Sometimes your own gut tells you more than the geniuses.

Countdown to Valentines day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57tK6aQS_H0&list=PL73135477763DC262&index=70