Muzzle it.

Today's Tids Issue 4,491

It may take Duct Tape:

Dick: There is a lot to be said about a stoic temperament.

Jane: Yes, deflating the balloon of bombast can be offsetting to alarmists.

Dick: Did you just say, “Deflating the baboon of bombast”?

Jane: Things have changed, Dick.

When the new funeral parlor opened, the other owners faced stiff competition.

I haven’t worn a jock strap for years, much less carried somebody else’s.

Last night in baseball we a had super low payroll Tampa Bay against very low payroll Oakland, while highest payroll Red Sox went home dragging their statistics behind them. For me, it’s always nice to see the baseball people outplaying the money people. Low payroll teams have talented baseball people looking for talent while high payroll teams look for statistics and press clippings.

The College Football game of the weekend has to be Auburn at Florida. I think Auburn is pretty good. But, Florida has found a pretty darn good QB.

During this earnings reports season, I think that market analysts will be looking harder at company guidance than necessarily the last Q’s profit performance.

The Question:

What are Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits?

The Headlines:

--Futures Show Markets Opining Higher; Slowing Economy Concerns Still Bubbling Beneath.

--Boris Johns Tells EU, “Take It Or Leave It”.

--“Whistleblower” Contacted Shiff before Filing Complaint.

--PepsiCo Offers Optimism With Stronger Than Expected Third Quarter; China Stocks Tumbling; Alibaba And Other Top Global Performers Expected To Muddle Through.

--Airbnb Gathering Strong Wall Street Support For Stock List8ing.

--President Stars of Several Lash-Out News Conferences.

--US Justice Department Wants Federal Court To Decide If NY DA Can Seek Trump Tax Info.

--Anti-Iraq Government Rioting Gets Hot; Several Dead.

It is beginning to seem that we will be looking at Elizabeth Warren versus Trump. So, that’s about it in America these days.

Locals like me think we get a breather form disruption when the tourists start to leave as the cool breezes blow. We learn quite quickly that a lot of the pent-up state road construction jobs put off for tourist comforts, spring up on every corner and on every bridge. It looks industry lobbies have more clout than the people’s lobby.

Well, the Tids NFL pickers came up short angina. My sure thing for last Thursday was not so sure after all. And there were many surprises, near upsets and real upsets. I picked NO over Dallas and that made me happy. But we came up short, leading me to believe that packing in the NFL is again this season getting tougher and tougher. The Tids is now 40-22-1 (65%). So this Thursday isn’t that easy. Seattle is at home against the preseason darlings, the Rams. Neither team has been exceptional. I’ll go Seahawks to break the Thursday losing streak.

Continuing on, I like New England Over Washington despite the facts that the Skins don’t have a QB nor to the Pats have a kicker. I’m picking Carolina over Jax, Houston to lasso Atlanta, New Orleans to have an improving TB Bucs walking the plank, The Chargers corralling the Broncs, the suddenly high-flying Eagles to ground the fueless Jets and KC over Indy. There are a lot of tossups among good, and mediocre to bad teams. But, who knows this year. Minn seems to have locker room problems but is a better team than the Giants. Or are they? I pick Vikes. I’ll go with home team Bengals over Cards, and that may be stupid. Oakland has surprised but Chi is supposed to be better. I’ll pick Oak. Pitt awakened and Baltimore floundered (Or should I say got crabby) last week. Pitt at home is my pick. Buff “D” is tough. Tenn woke up at last. I’ll pick the Titans. The Browns also arose from a deep sleep, But the Niners are decent and at home. I’ll go Niners. That leaves Dallas, angry, against Green Bay, angry. I see Dallas coming back.

I wouldn’t mind taking a shot at GE CEO. All you can do is beat low expectations. If it doesn’t work even at that low level, I’ll take the one-year parachute.

No matter how hard business has been working to be good, Pollical risk continues as the biggest factor affecting growth and profits. Brexit, US tariffs and sluggish European decision making all combine for a less than exciting near-term outlook. But then, part of running a business is the ability to adapt to irrational outside disturbances.

The Moral: Keep Politicians out of the economy.

Why was Amber Guyger convicted of Murder instead of manslaughter?

The Answer:

As you may have read over the years, I am a big Stevie Nicks fan. Here is the top ten for For FM: #1 is The Chain, followed by Rhiannon, Landslide, Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Gold Dust Woman, Gypsy, Sara, Little Lies and Seven Wonders. The next five are, You Make Loving Fun, Silver Springs, Tusk, Say You Love Me and Never Going Back Again.

The more you talk, the wider you open the door for somebody to misinterpret your words.