Saturday

So, here’s the deal. No matter how you libel the Nunes report, no matter how much mentally ill people libel Nunes, no matter how often the left uses the phrase “cherry pick,” certain facts remain:

The Democrats used fake allegations against Trump colleagues to mislead and trick one of the most important federal courts, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, into allowing and even encouraging our most prestigious law enforcement entity, the FBI, into spying on an American Presidential candidate from a major party. It sure looks as if the Russians were involved in this subversion. As far as is known, this misuse of the FBI as a private detective snooping dog for a political party working with a foreign country against another party has not been done before in the USA.

The captive media played along and tried to keep the facts from being known. The media, the shining First Amendment media, did everything in its power to hide this, to obscure what the FBI had become, and thus became the key player for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Alas, this has happened before and regularly since the days of FDR. We no longer have a free press in America. We have a press gang commandeered and commanded by the leftist power brokers.

There are a few splinters and shards of the free press left such as what you are reading now, and most of Fox. But the once free press, divided politically but fairly evenly divided, no longer exists. Whatever freedom of expression is left is despite the media — not a part of the media.

The situation is spectacularly clear cut: the modern media defends the outrageous obstruction of justice and violation of laws about preserving evidence done by Hillary or else ignores it. But the modern day media is relentless in its attacks on those who fight for the rule of law if they are conservatives.

Great, brave men and women died in horrible wars to keep the press free. Now the press has “unfreed” itself and made itself the captive, unfree press.

Dismal days ahead. Thank goodness we have a President who is not afraid of the media. He’s got his hands full.

On another subject, back in 1987 on one horrible day, there was an immense stock market crash. President Reagan was asked why the market crashed. He replied to this simple effect, “It was too high.”

My brilliant economist father, Herbert Stein, told me the same thing.

The market has gone up too far, too fast. Money poured into the stock market because bonds paid virtually nothing and they paid virtually nothing because inflation was low and because the Fed had an ultra-low interest rate/easy money policy.

Now, with the appearance of the super-strong Trump recovery, demand for decent labor is soaring. Wages are rising. Demand for commodities is pulling up resource costs. The Fed is responding with hints of a policy to tighten money. This means higher interest rates, and that makes bonds more competitive with stocks. That pushes stocks down. If inflation ratchets higher, the problem grows more acute. The market has risen amazingly far amazingly fast. There is still plenty of room for it to fall.

On the other hand, corporate profits are excellent. They are the main engine of stock prices. The financial system is strong. The signs of inflation at this point are still tentative. If there is to be tightening from Constitution Avenue, it’s likely to be extremely gradual.

Thus, and this is just for fat old me, I wouldn’t panic about the stock market’s recent tumble. As smart people say, stocks are for the long run.

In the meantime, just to cheer you up, a few more thoughts from The Eyes of Faith —

*I need the power that only comes from a Higher Power.

*We humans are not machines. We are allowed to rest and in fact we are required to rest.

*My goal today is to replace fear with faith.

*I don’t need to wear the same old coat of fear and anger today. I know it doesn’t fit.

*God is sunlight and sunlight is God’s gift.

*I do not know why faith and surrender work. I only know they do work.

*My prayer for today. Dear God, I am here. Use me for thy will.

* “Why me?” But then again, “Why not me?”

*Harboring resentments against someone is like taking poison and expecting someone else to die.

* Constant self-evaluation = constant self-criticism = insanity = distance from God.

*A good relationship with God is like air conditioning for the soul. It cools down the craziness.

*Sometimes the only thing you get out of doing the right thing is doing the right thing. That’s enough.

*If I don’t have God in my life, I might as well be a reptile.

*Speak to God in humble prayer and then wait in silence for his answer.

*If you look with the eyes of faith, there is always much to be thankful for.

Good night from Rancho Mirage.