Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Friday, January 12, 2018

From Cars to Cheetos.


Today's Tids Issue 4,037
For exasperation and wide eyed wonderment:

As one guy said to me earlier this morning, “President Trump really knows how to water down his equity, doesn’t he?”

The really good news today could be JP Morgan beating profit estimates.

I am definitely not a big fan of yesterday’s renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This as you probably know allows the NSA to basically spy on communications of Americans without a warrant. Obviously, the intent of trying to find evidence of possible terror acts before they occur is a good idea, but the casual vacuuming up of everything which lays in the path to get to a potential foreign scoundrel could have damming effect on an innocent American. This is true even with the slight alteration to the original law passed yesterday. That says the FBI or other agency must have a show cause order to pursue info on any other matter found amongst the collected debris from their chase of a terrorist. The doesn’t make me feel anymore protected. In fact, by acknowledging that data could be found and used is totally not comforting.

The Question:
Many American cultural icons and foods and beverages are more popular in countries outside America than here. What are the American favorites: TV Show in North Korea, Clothing for South Korea, Beer in China, Rock Star in Germany, Fashion in Myanmar, TV rerun in Japan, TV Character named restaurants in Spain, and Cartoon character for a Swedish Christmas. and the Ukraine’s favorite American actor.  

The Headlines:
--Markets Look Heathy Today As Bank Profits Strengthen; Dow On Track To Cross Over 26,000 In Record Time; Sector Rotation Appears To Stabilize Markets Even As Internals Weaken.
--Trump Says Tough Language On DACA Proposal Was Reported Accurately, But Crude Remark Wasn’t.
--Dems Join Together To Call President Racist.
--Facebook Usage Down; Zuckerberg Announces Big Changes Including Many To News Tool. Stock Is Punished.
--Putin Says Kim Jong un Has Outwitted Trump; President Says He Is Open To Talks With Kim.

My heart is palpitating as I anticipate the big game Saturday night. In fact, not only will the Pats/Titans get my blood rushing, but the other three look real good too. Philly plays Atlanta, last year’s NFC champ, a team that is coming on strong. The Eagles were the early favorite until Wentz got banged. So how good are the defenses? That now is the big question  with Foals at QB. I take Philly. At 8:15 the Titans come to Foxboro. Running has killed the Pats “D, and Tennessee does that well. Mariota is one of my non-Pat’s favorites, but not tomorrow against my team. I think the Pats D is growing. and I’ll be a homer. The early Sunday game looks very interesting. How good will Antonio Brown be on his return? How good really is Jacksonville’s “D”? This could easily go either way. But I don’t think Bortles is the QB who can beat the Steelers. It seems that New Orleans is the new favorite among sports writers, and Minn gets little cred. But they have just done everything well all year. I see the Vikes continuing their march to be the first team ever to host a Super Bowl.

I always thought Jack Lord’s simplistic Hawaii 5-0 was pretty good, but I find the new version pretty much unwatchable. Must be an age thing.

Gallop’s latest poll of American voters says that 42% call themselves independents, while 27 % say are Repubs and 29% say are Dems. That is surprisingly close for the “Major” parties. However, when asked which way Indies lean, the Dem margin jumps a bit to 5% from the 2% margin.

To me, the January thaw means not wearing socks for a while.

Political Junkie, Department:
The Arizona Repub primary will be a doozy with Rep. Martha McSally (31%), Joe Arpaio (29) and Kelli Ward (25) pretty much statistically even. This is a must win state for Dems if they want to have a chance to take back the Senate. Lots of eyes will be focused on this GOP shake-out. The winner there will face in all likelihood a popular Dem Congressperson- Krysten Sinema.

By the way, is a Sinema a movie theater that shows X-rated films?

For me, in TV drama shows there is just too much posing and too much inane talking. It almost seems like the agents or studio diversity managers are writing the scripts, and they are not very good at it.

A supposed H-Wood celebrity Bella Thorne, mad that her car was blocked by road closures in the vicinity of the killing mudslides, tweeted “F—k u 101 so Santa Barbra (sic), I’m missing my boy friends first date on his (Band’s Concert) tour.” Rob Lowe replied, “Bella, I’m sorry you were inconvenienced. We will try to move out our dead quicker.”

This is just one more reason why I don’t watch awards ceremonies or any celebrity interviews.

Many of our one-time world dominating manufacturing cities have recreated themselves making coffee, brownies, pet treats and healthy snacks. Where we once made diesel engines, we are now competing for the scone business. Master machinists have spawned families of artisan bread makers. Our biggest exports seem to be movies. We don’t have large steel producers any ore, but we have plenty of landscapers. Oh, there are pockets of industrial might still going strong like In Seattle Tacoma where Boeing pushes out magnificent airplanes like soft serve ice cream. But for the most part we are retracting into cute little food and tourism businesses, and apps that do things we really don’t need that much at all.

Is it sensible defensive sector rotation, or is it the storm before the crash.

If tourism declined significantly, we would probably not need any retail outlets.

The environmental protection agency is seriously looking for better ways to cut down Cheeto dust in the air.

Reading Between the Lines Movie Reviews:
--The newest Paddington Bear is problem the highest rated movie of the year to date. Audiences love it, and so do critics. Paddington works to save money to buy a special present for the Brown family – a Pop-up book he finds an Antique store. But the book is stolen. The Browns and Paddington undertake the task of unmasking the thief. Well done for all.
--The movie The Post gets pretty good scores form the USA critics but not so much from audiences. It’s about Wapo fighting for survival, and undertaking the Pentagon Papers story to find their star. It’s about a reluctant Katherine Graham taking over the newspaper and her relationship with super editor Ben Bradly. Streep and Hanks are the biggies, but the entire cast is very good.
-- The Commuter stars one of my favorites Liam Neeson as a innocent bystander who gets roped into a conspiracy. These type movies are always pretty good but this one misses it a bit. A just fired family man is sucked into scheme to find a person on a train by big money, and it isn’t too long before he is suddenly in over his head. But, he as the will to succeed. I would go, iffy reviews or not.

The Answer:
The favorite TV Show in North Korea is Housewives of LA (Oops, no wonder our image is down). North Face is must have Clothing for South Koreans In China they love Pabst Blue Ribbon.  Alf is the big Rock Star in Germany. They consider “Angry Birds” Fashions “It” in Myanmar. Japanese just can’t get enough of “Little House on the Prairie. The Simpsons is the name for two restaurants in Spain. Donald Duck is all about Christmas in Sweden. David Duchovny is loved in the Ukraine.   This is proving once again that people do think differently.

There’s no truth to the rumor that if Oprah wins, Kim Kardashian will be Secretary of State.

The Tids Financial Advisor Department (FAD) is always looking for ways that may help you improve the results of your portfolio. One of my favorite native Michiganders sends along this one man’s creative solution for a new industry to replace car making in Detroit idea. When cars decline, mother necessity arrives:


Have a great weekend,  E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!!.

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