almost cut my hair

 It happened just the other day

It's gettin' kinda long
I coulda said it wasn't in my way
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Yes, I feel like I owe it to someone (D. Crosby)

It was like a scene out of a movie as the Police and SWAT teams swarmed past my house last night , racing as fast as they could to Norwood Ave and the campus of Monmouth University. The Long Branch students were under attack and it wasn't from the Chili at Jacks Goal Line Stand. No Sir , an active shooter was reported on campus and soon thereafter social media was flooded with Tik Tok videos of the brave students cowering in closets and hiding under beds. China watches and XiXi Pingpong laughs ....why waste a missile on these asexual snowflakes ?

Thankfully cooler heads prevailed as the Police concurred that the active shooter was really just a student with a curling iron (i wish i made that up) , but never waste a crisis.....classes today were delayed until Noon......ya know, so everyone can grab a double espresso latte in the student union and share videos about their near death experiences the night before. (kind of glad David Crosby is dead and didn't live to see his classic tune dragged into this display )

in the real world Chairman Powell raised rates a 1/4 point as most people with a clear head expected, but still seemed to rattle the markets...or so that's how it is being reported this morning.....NOT TRUE.....i watched Powells Q&A live in the yard with a cool refreshing glass of beer.....he announced the hike at 2:00 .....around 2:20 the markets were actually up close to 300 points.......it seemed to change when a reporter asked how many banks received a "HEED THIS" alert from the Treasury Dept and how they can ensure that the troubled banks actually do stop what they are doing and heed this warning........first he said " I don't know"....yikes.......then someone off camera told him 6 banks recd the panic level alert.....and then he concluded we really don't have the tools to ensure that they do in fact heed this warning.......well then......in the next 90 minutes we gave back the 300 point lead and closed the session down 500 Plus. He then explained how the current quantitative easing isn't really quantitative easing (even though it involves the Treasury printing more money) Powell insisted that the reason for printing money was different now......but umm....won't printing money increase inflation ? and you just said you won't really stop raising rates until inflation is under control (2% target is absurd, we are at 6%......if he can get it to 4% i would be impressed) and so it goes........print money and raise inflation then raise rates to fight inflation.......vicious cycle.

I don't envy his position and he seems like a conflicted human...but if you are raising rates to slow inflation then you accept that some institutions will crash under higher rates and you need the unemployment # to rise to really slow the economy......well then you can't step in with a printing press to bailout all the mismanaged institutions to are crashing under higher rates and give $$$ like Sanity Klaws to the newly unemployed.....that's the definition of being counter productive ..........me head hurts, thank God i have a fridge of beeeeer

When I finally get myself together

I'm going to get down in that sunny southern weather

And I'll find a place inside to laugh

Separate the wheat from the chaff

I feel like I owe it

To someone, yeah

i don't know, but i've been told

in the heat of the sun a man died of cold

Do we keep on coming or stand and wait

with the sun so dark and the hour so late? (Hunter/Garcia)

Every action, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant; has a reaction. 

This American Experiment seems to be on a path toward failure. Freedom and Capitalism are giving way to Socialism and eventually Communism. A slow decline when you are in the midst of it, but incredibly fast when compared to historic empires. Our Political Leaders on both sides of the aisle would love nothing more than the eventual return to Feudalism. Where they and their friends & family are viewed as the Nobility of the times and the masses are mere surfs to work the land and eat scraps at the table. Perhaps there are not enough men on the planet to support a Free Capitalist Society that is also a world power, and if you are not a world power you will be conquered of course.

This Tuesday former President Trump will be arrested , and it doesn't even matter why. 

This is another warning from the establishment to the common man , KNOW YOUR PLACE and stay out of our way. The Swamp is very real and awfully deep and only Swamp creatures are permitted to play in the political game. The real smart people, the ones who actually succeed in Business ( as opposed to those that hand out a textbook and pat themselves on the back for being smarter than a teenager) the smartest amongst us are forced to the sidelines. The sharpest minds, the leaders of industry, Brilliant Surgeons and the Bravest veterans are not welcomed in the fraternity. 

The Education system has long been weaponized against the very heart of America. they live to diminish our accomplishments and shine a light onto our failures and shortcomings. they have bullied a generation of soccer moms to indoctrinate our youth with their manifesto. Boys are encouraged to be girls and girls are encouraged to abort their own children.  The classrooms of the nation are no longer a safe place for healthy debate, but rather an army of single ideology marching in lockstep. The few Conservative voices within the various teachers unions are shouted down and discouraged from voicing their opinions/concerns....instead the remain silent and let Randi Weingarten speak for them.

What stood in the way of their evil intentions had always been the Police. The Police are being gutted and replaced as we speak. The Establishment was able to use the death of one drifter Meth Head in Minnesota to vilify and discredit an entire nation of men and women that are willing to risk their own life to protect ours. The Networks have shaped public opinion to view all Police as white supremacists and not worthy of your respect. And if by chance some Police have not received the memo and are still arresting the bad guys ??  well George Soros DA's simply refuse to incarcerate the guilty parties.

This Nation is circling the drain, one has to wonder if we will even Celebrate our 250th Birthday together for 24 hours. Mark levin was on FOX over the weekend and he talked about and quoted Frederick Bastiat. Do you remember that name from your History Class ?  yep, me neither. Amongst other things Bastiat wrote in the days after the French Revolution about the myths, and lies of a Socialists Govt. He tackled Socialism brick by brick and warned his countrymen about these evils to which France was turning.....he was ignored , and we all know where France is today. One quote from Bastiat is extremely relevant in America this Tuesday as the man who tried to drain the swamp will instead be swallowed alive by the swamp

The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!

and of course Mr Hunter had his own take.

Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Things went down we don't understand
but I think in time we will..........one way or another, this darkness has got to give

the post office has been stolen

 and the mailbox is locked ( Dylan)

almost too much to unpack here, but less than a week after the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley bank there are a few questions, some out outrageous rumors and some obvious conflicts of interest.

for the interest of time i will stick to some high level bullets.

This Bank was run by California liberals with extreme ties to the Democratic party.

The Board of Directors has multiple members who worked in the Obama/Biden Administration and or for Hillary Clinton

The Bank donated over 75 million to Black Lives Matter.

The officers of the bank contributed exclusively to the Demonrats...including New Yorks own Chucky Schumer.

In the midnight hour the bank paid bonuses to themselves and sold the stock before it halted trading.

The Biden Admin originally looked for a Private Bank to take over SVB (as i mentioned saturday), it now is being reported that the Bidens team had a list of who could and who could NOT buy the bank . One can only surmise that they were afraid of another Elon Musk type buying the bank and exposing all the dirty little secrets that the demons want to keep in the closet.

The Bank was run primarily by appointees. not career bankers who earned their position by merit.

The Bank celebrated their diversity at every turn .

all bank customers like you and me are guaranteed on deposits up to 250K per acct by the FDIC. On Sunday the Bidens announced that all deposits would be guaranteed above and beyond the 250K. WHY ? and more importantly is this the new norm ? Would dementia Joe have been so generous if this was the First National Bank of Florida ? or any other RED state bank filled with Republican donors ?

is this the first step in kemosabi Warrens attempt to Nationalize the Banking industry.

yesterday the market was up as these pathetic traders were hoping this would force Powell to pause/stop or reverse his rate hikes......it will not.....i would be shocked if Powell pauses...i think once that reality sets in the bloodbath will resume. more stupid banks that invest in 30 year bonds paying 1% will fail......i think this will only make my investments in JPM, WFC & BAC stronger and better.....giddy up.

Keep an eye on the Sabres.....i predict that if they sneak into the playoffs they will be a very tough out in the first round. Cozens, Thompson and Tuch are all getting healthy.....

oh moma, can this really be the end ?

 

i hope i am wrong

 BUT , I remember how the Brett Favre experiment ended....on a cold, rainy day in the swamps of New jersey the hopes and dreams of Gang Green were washed away by a loss to the Miami Dolphins....what started as a Dream season ended as a nightmare.

Surely the Rodgers era will be different.

And then those same pesky Miami Dolphins sign Mike White to a contract and i am almost afraid to look at the schedule when it is released next month. How cruel can the Football Gods be?  Could the Jets end the season against the turquoise and orange men from South Beach?   time will tell.

I will say there is NO WAY he wears Namaths' # 12....even though Joe gave his blessing.

The precedent was set when all time great Joe Montana joined the Chiefs and chose to switch his number 16 to 19 in deference to Hall of Famer Lenny Dawson...i suspect Rodgers will do the same.

there's kissin in the valley

 Thieving in the alley

Fighting every inch of the way
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day (Dylan)

well it's more like thieving in the VALLEY, as in Silicon Valley Bank.

2023 just went from a proceed with caution year for investing to a head for hills and take cover year.....never mind sell in may and go away, get out now if you can . If you are under 40 you can ride it out, keep reinvesting dividends and enjoy an 18 month discount on stocks...but if you are over 50 , you should consider the safe haven of Money Market and T-Bills and collect your 3.5-5% over the coming 2 years.......i won't be selling my clue chips of JPM or XOM , but i will continue to move some small fish to core , and in reality i am less than 2 years from Le Boca Vista , so i doubt i will reenter the market with most of those funds...

We are coming up on the 1 year mark since the Fed started raising rates, the impact of those rate hikes are not usually felt for 12 months....Inflation has not really retreated since the higher rates, mainly because the Govt Keeps spending, spending, spending......this summer could be a blood bath. I will be shocked if we do not see a significant hit in the commercial real estate market. The cities are unsafe and nobody wants to go back to the office....last month i had to be in the office 5 straight days......i brought lunch from home everyday and never left the building.....I stopped in Shop Rite on my way to the train and picked up 6 pints each night...gone are the days of 2 or 3 lunches a week in the bars and restaurants ( a lot of the bars do not even open until 4:00) nobody is going to the food courts or even Dunkin Donuts in the morning.

Credit Card debt may be the next big story....as more and more people see the minimum payment rise , they will eventually realize they are paying twice as much as last summer just to meet the interest.(the balances will not go down) eventually these folks will say eff it and just default.

Gas is of course going to shoot well over $100 a barrel. Nothing has been even agreed upon to increase our production. and so as China continues to open up and the full impact of sanctions on Russian oil are felt , well ; you get the idea.

Back to Silicon Valley Bank.....what happens next ?

The Govt has been spending money at a dangerous clip the past 2 years , how much more debt can they assume to bail out SVB ?  the expectation now is that the Fed is begging someone/anyone in the private banking sector to Take over SVB and guarantee all client deposits. If I am the Chairman of Chase, Citi, Wells etc ......i make Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren publicly beg for my help and take back all her mean girl comments about the banking industry.

as a Wells fargo stockholder i hope they do not lift a finger for this bailout.....the left has been attacking this bank , calling them Racists , sexist etc etc for the last 5 years......how hypocritical of them to now accept help from the Devil himself.....go ask Big Paulie Pelosi for a loan, the King of Insider Trading can surely lend a hand.

anyway....buckle up for Monday morning.....on the anniversary of the Bear Stearns collapse we could have another fallout session .

Seven days, seven more days she’ll be comin’
I’ll be waiting at the station for her to arrive
Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive

i went back to ohio

 But my city was gone

There was no train station
There was no downtown  (C.Hynde)

Sweater Nite is very happy to announce we have backed out of a new international alliance with the tiny Hindu nation of Kailasa.

The USK (United States of Kailasa) reached out to us after their triumphant agreement with the city of Newark.

A quick Google search at the insistence of Mr Matteau Matteau soon uncovered that the USK does not really exist, sadly all they have is a website....but that didn't stop the Mayor of Newark "Ras Ras cisboom Barraka" from hosting a city hall press conference welcoming two women in hindu gowns and bizarre arm tatoos and handing them official proclamations of their historic agreement. Newark insists no money was sent to the fake nation, but time will tell.

Well, I went back to Ohio

But my family was gone

I stood on the back porch

There was nobody home

is there anybody in there ?

 Just nod if you can hear me

Is there anyone home? (Pink Floyd)

sometimes i just have to report the factual blips and let the world decide.

In February of 2020 Dr Fauci commissioned a study to disprove the LAB LEAK origins of Covid 19. He then edited the findings.

In March of 2020 he stood at the podium next to President Trump and used his own study as evidence that the LAB LEAK theory was not credible. He deliberately omitted the fact that this was his own study.

For 3 years guest after guest after guest interviewed by Maria Bartiromo supported the notion that this was in fact a LAB LEAK.  Bartiromo was mocked  by CNN/MSNB and others and the mainstream media refused to even allow discussions on the origins of COVID. 

Doctors in California were threatened with the loss of their medical licenses if they talked about or promoted the Lab Leak theory.

in February of 2023 the FBI admitted/concluded that the origins for Covid were indeed from a LAB LEAK in Wuhan China.

to all the people that said the new Republican congress should move on from Covid and just let it go , and instead concentrate on the economy, do you think any of this would have come to light anyway ?

is it any wonder the average man is filled with hatred and distrust of all media and government?

i wonder what the ladies on the view are gonna yak about today ?

You are only coming through in waves

Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying  

hey were going to a party, party

 tonight the worlds most famous arena should have an extra bolt of electricity in the air.

The Blueshirts take on the surging Ottawa Senators and the Great Patrick Kane makes his Broadway debut.

I will be on the Chase Bridge, cold beer in hand.......LGR !!!

Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”

Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”

God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?”

God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but

The next time you see me comin’ you better run”

Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?”

God says, “Out on Highway 61”