Orfeu Negro

  

“Black Orpheus” (a 1959 Marcel Camus directed film from Brazil) ... is one of my favorite movies of all time (even though I can’t now read the subtitles.)

Set aside some time to watch this gem.

STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Headlines

‘It’s something we’re looking at’: Pompeo floats ban on TIKTOK

Cuts to basic services loom as coronavirus sends states into fiscal crisis

North Carolina Dem. took $1-2 million from PPP program after publically criticizing it

Virus: Daily deaths plummet despite record cases

Huntsman loses GOP primary in Utah

Coronavirus live updates: Brazil’s Bolsonaro tested after feeling unwell, Novavax gets U.S. funds for vaccine

Georgia governor authorizes National Guard

Chinese media: America ‘helpless underdeveloped country’

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tests positive for COVID-19

Herd immunity strategies called into question after coronavirus antibody studies in Spain

Journos waste entire briefing asking McEnany about Confederate flag

Report: Nearly all NYC June shooting victims were minorities

Headlines

Florina signals she’ll vote for Biden over Trump

Warren demands answers from private equity on coronavirus lobbying

BLM leader Hawk Newsome: If change doesn’t happen, then ‘we will burn down this system’

Weekly jobless claims remain stubbornly high at 1.48 million

New York City reports no protest-related upticks in COVID-19

New York Gov. Cuomo to other states: ‘You played politics with this virus and you lost’

New FBI notes confirm Obama directed anti-Flynn operation

Appeals court orders Flynn case to be dismissed

Polls show Biden climbing past Trump in Wisconsin, Ohio

Total of those receiving unemployment benefits falls below 20 million

SCOTUS sides with Trump in case regarding deportation powers

Brazil: Federal court orders Bolsonaro to wear mask in public

Headlines

National Republicans sue California to block mail-ballot election

Trump threatens to move GOP convention over coronavirus restrictions in North Carolina

Trump accuses MSNBC host of murder ... Mika begs Jack: Make it stop!

Chicago mayor launches police raid to shut down black church’s Sunday service

Federal judge strikes down restrictions on Florida felons voting

Oil on track for its best month ever after rebound, but traders say it’s ‘not out of the woods’

Violence erupts as crowds swarm to reopen beaches ...

EU: End of U.S. leadership, rise of China ‘happening before our eyes’

U.S. is ahead of China in vaccine race, former FDA chief says

Coronavirus updates: Japan seeks to end Tokyo’s state of emergency, Trump bans travel from Brazil

Six shot at Daytona Beach ...

Trump calls on Sessions to drop out of Alabama Senate race

Headlines

Trump adviser compares China’s handling of coronavirus to Chernobyl

Coronavirus live updates: Trump suspends travel from Brazil, Spain eases dining restrictions in major cities

‘Up to a dozen’ COVID-19 variants ...

China: On brink of ‘Cold War’with USA

Rick Scott says Bill of Rights trumps all

Main Street Lending Program to offer loans to mid-size companies, Boston Fed President says

Model predicts USA virus free by late September ...

Soros attacks Salvini, says he wants to get Italy out of the EU

Trump ‘has a point’ on WHO, German health minister says

Coronavirus pandemic will drive major changes to nursing home industry

Trump to conduct first nuclear test in decades?

Beijing now claims ‘open’ to identifying virus source ...

Healines

Colleagues paint a mixed picture of ousted vaccine chief

Coronavirus live updates: Gottlieb sees colleges opening up in fall, EU eager to lift travel restrictions

Fed’s orders 500 million ‘injection devices’ ...

Nancy Pelosi unveils $3 trillion, 1,815-page leftist coronavirus bill

Paul Manafort released from prison due to virus concerns

Bill Miller on airlines: If you don’t own them, ‘you’re making a bet against a vaccine’

U.S. deaths 82,387 ...

Report: Grenell declassifies list of Obama officials ‘unmasking’ Flynn

Fed’s Powell: More spending from Congress ‘costly but worth it’

LabCorp CEO says the US really doesn’t need 2 million coronavirus tests per day to reopen

Talk of military takeover in Brazil grows ...

Poll: Voters ‘who dislike both candidates’ overwhelmingly back Biden

Headlines

White House considers appointing coronavirus czar

Coronavirus  live update: Brazil confirms 1st case in Latin America, Italy cases triple over 2 days

Poll: Biden set for big SC win

Donald Trump blames CNN and ‘MSDNC’ for hyping coronavirus fears

Boston Globe endorses Warren a year after urging her not to tun

Coronavirus cuts Trump’s Dow gains since election to 48% from 61%

Trump campaign sues New York Times for libel ...

Greenwald: CIA election  ‘interference’ worse than Russian

2 Florida Democrats sue to keep Sanders off the primary ballot

Zoom has added more users this year than all of 2019 thanks to coronavirus, Bernstein says

In last days of campaign Netanyahu stops shaking hands

Nancy Pelosi: ‘Too late’ for Trump admin to stem coronavirus

Headlines

Pelosi to climate change conference: ‘We’re still in Paris agreement’

In 2019, almost every investment worked

Factories extend contraction as Index misses forecasts ...

Trump restores steel and aluminum tariffs on Brazil and Argentina

Zelensky airs his grievances with Trump

Supreme Court shows little appetite for expanding gun rights in arguments over repealing New York regulation

Fed’s pumps another $98 billion [into economy] ...

[London mayor] Sadiq Kahn after terrorist attack: ‘Our strength is our diversity’

Pompeo cautions Europe not to trust Chinese firms with 5G

Cyber Monday shoppers on track to hit record $9.4 billion, Adobe says

300+ Trump ads taken down by Google, YouTube ...

Lisa Page speaks out against Trump’s ‘demeaning fake orgasm’

Headlines

Rick Perry dances toward the exits

Black Friday shoppers spend $7.4 billion in second largest online sales day ever

Ginsburg health scare raises prospect of election-year Supreme Court battle ...

Burisma director admits Hunter Biden secured post because of Joe

Leaked papers hint at post-Brexit trade priorities for U.K., U.S

Tesla, GE and Uber make list of most divisive stocks on Wall Street

Poll: Majority of Republicans say Trump better president than Lincoln

Report: London attacker was convicted terrorist, recently released

Super PAC backing Booker will shut down

Brazil’s president accuses DiCaprio of financing Amazon fires, offers no evidence

Biden to blitz Iowa back roads by bus in 800-mile hunt for support ...

Dems doubt Biden’s S.C. lead will hold after early state losses

Headlines

Haley-Pence rivalry heats up as GOP weighs post-Trump future

Trump will raise rates on Chinese goods in response to trade war retaliation

Ruth Bader Ginsburg undergoes more cancer treatments ...

Joni Ernst: Eliminating Electoral College would ‘silence’ Iowa voices

Trump praises Danish PM after calling her ‘nasty’ in Greenland row

EU chief Tusk says will ‘respond in kind’ if US imposes tariffs on France over digital tax

BIDEN: What would have happened if Obama had been assassinated?

Maher on David Koch: ‘I’m glad he’s dead’

Trump offers Brazil help with Amazon [rain forest] fires

Dow plummets more than 600 points after Trump orders manufacturers to leave China

Palestinian President Abbas: Millions of fighters will take over Jerusalem ...

Hong Kong protesters form 28-mile human chain

Headlines

GOP impeachment champion gets a hero’s welcome back home

All signs are pointing to a ‘tough year’ for Chinese businesses

China’s rare earth threat, ‘Don’t say we didn’t warn you’

Troops with ‘Make America Great Again’ patch triggers outrage on Left

Trump’s carrier obsession sets up collusion with Navy and Congress

The next downturn could see a ‘radicalization’ of the policies used diuring the financial crisis

After quiet years, tornadoes erupt in United States ... 500 reported in month!

Comey denies FBI spied on Trump campaign

Don Jr. warns Roy Moore: Stay out of Alabama Senate race

Morgan Stanley sees economy on ‘recession watch’ as bond market flashes warning

Merkel sees succession plan unraveling ...

‘Total chaos’: Brazil prison riots leave 55 dead in two days

Extrapolation

I am friendly with a probable illegal alien from Brazil. She is an honest, hardworking nice person. I would like to extrapolate, like Jeb Bush and most Libs, that she is representative of the many thousands of illegals who are poring across our southern borders daily. But I am pretty sure this is not the case. Nor can I extrapolate from some bad apples that ICE catches, also daily, that these caravans are full of — criminals of all stripes. Illegals represent 20% of our prison population, far ahead of their representation in our general population, so there is some justification here.

And I also do know that over 70% of these “dreamers” are dreaming of living off of the American taxpayer ... and do ... while generally not assimilating into their “adopted” country. In fact, far too many of these interlopers hold the United States in contempt. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you ...

This situation is not sustainable. We must get control of our immigration process. We already legally admit well over a million immigrants into our country a year. We cannot double or triple this number with illegals and still retain our national identity and safety-net sustainability. Time is running out and it seems only Donald Trump and the American voters seem to realize this cold hard fact.

Yes, I am a hypocrite ‘cause I don’t want to extrapolate this remedy to my Brazilian friend.

Headlines

Sanders has early lead over Warren in battle of the left

Morgan Stanley: China’s debt is set to worsen, but there’s less risk from shadow banking

Iran starts Gulf war games; Tests sub-launched missiles ...

Warren: My ‘Ultram-Millionaires Tax’ is down payment on Green New Deal

Trump stays silent on media-hating Coast Guard officer

Venezuela’s Maduro closes border with Brazil, says Columbia crossings could be next

200 ‘peacekeeping’ US troops to stay in Syria after pillout ...

Maxine Waters on Smollett: ‘I would be disappointed’ if it is a hoax

IRS analyst charged with leaking Cohen’s financial data to Avenati

China’s stimulus seems to be ‘finally kicking in’ as new loans hit record high, experts say

India orders ‘staggering’ evictions of indigenous people ...

Global warming: Snow in Los Angeles

True Story

A Brazilian woman (probably illegal) told my wife this true story yesterday. Her son in San Paulo is a minister and, in his flock was a woman strung out on drugs. Like many addicts she owed her dealer money and he was demanding payment ... or else.

The minister told his congregation of this threat and asked for everyone to help save her life. The minister’s eight-year old daughter decided to empty her piggy bank for this woman ... amounting to $8.25 in American. The rest of this church contributed $217. When the minister gave the drug dealer the equivalent of $225.25 ... not all that was owed ... he related the piggy-bank part.

Seeing the little girl’s face, the drug dealer burst into tears ... gave back the money and then some (and I suppose retired from his ill-suited profession.)

Headlines

'Only with Nancy': How Schumer and Pelosi stuck together on the shutdown

Trump offers limited 'Dreamer' deal in exchange for wall -- and Democrats quickly say no

Facing populist assault, global elites regroup in Davos ...

Report: Donald Trump ready to offer DACA amnesty for wall funding

Trump visits air base to meet  families of Americans killed in Syria

China set to post slowest growth for 28 years in 2018, more stimulus seen

Report: Vatican knew bishop close to pope took naked selfies ...

Pence: Trump's immigration proposal 'is not amnesty'

White House issues formal nix on congressional trips after grounding Pelosi flight

Sandburg admits to Facebook stumbles, says 'we need to do better' after rough year

Suspicious deposits made to Brazil president's son: report

Australia signs deal securing trade with post-Brexit Britain

Headlines

House Democrats to push for more diversity in top corporate ranks

Chinese manufacturing had an even worse December than expected, more data show

Brazil's Bolsonaro rakes power amid high hopes, fears ...

John Brennan hopes GOP ditches Trump in 2019

Changes may be ahead for criticized Georgia election system

Why 2019 could be very good for stocks, after worst year in a decade

Courtroom foe resurrects Mueller team's prior botched legal work ... [prosecutorial misconduct]

Poll: Most Democrats pessimistic about 2019

Trade deal unlikely under May's Brexit deal, U.S. enjoy warns U.K.

Romney attacks Trump saying he causes dismay around the world

Netflix bows to Kingdom, corporate censorship intensifies

Kenye West kicks off 2019 by reasserting support for Donald Trump

Headlines

Gillum hits back at Trump after president calls him 'a thirf'

Facebook suddenly banned ads from a start-up that offers users an alternative to a Facebook product

Bezos loses $19 billion ...

Democrats are worried they have no real message ahead of midterms

Lawsuit accuses Trump family of peddling get-rich schemes

This market reminds Jim Cramer of one of the worst declines he's ever seen

Trump may answer Mueller questions post-election, Giuliani says ...

Expert: Libya second Islamic State 'caliphate'

Pentagon to send 5,200 troops to the border

Indonesia searching for clues in crash of Lion Air brand-new Boeing jet with 189 aboard

[Trump] Approval: 50% ...

Bolsonaro supporters tell Brazilian Socialists: 'Go to Cuba'

Soybeans

China has matched the U.S.'s intended $50 billion of tariffs causing a trade-war panic in the financial markets (see the featured posting on the left). The two key products threatened by China are airplanes (Boeing) and soybeans ... see: CNBC Article to understand the hysteria that gripped the stock market early yesterday. So, are China's tariff threats to be taken seriously?

Let's start with Boeing. The purchaser of airplanes in China is the government itself ... so there is little pain for them to take money from one pocket and put it in another. And secondly, "if it ain't Boeing, I ain't going" means that China would be very reluctant to lose its place in line for plane deliveries given the tightness of this marketplace. Conclusion: an empty threat.

Next soybeans ... here are some key soybean send soybeans meal statistics: USDA Soybean Stats. Note three things from this data: 1) over the last five years soybean prices have been falling precipitously, 2) allocated acreage and total production have been growing (the likely cause of falling prices) and  3) China is by far the largest buyer of US soybeans (9x the next biggest). So clearly US soybean farmers have a lot at stake if their Chinese market dries up.  However, so do the Chinese who use the soybean meal to fatten its huge population of pigs ... and much of the soybeans themselves for human consumption. A 25% tariff on U.S. soybeans would be a tax on Chinese consumers.

The 64K yuan  question is: Could the rest of the soybean growing world (primarily Argentina and Brazil ... see: Exports by Countries) ... pick up the slack from any falling U.S. exports.? Possibly, but because of a drought in Argentina, world supplies of soybeans and soybean meal are back in short supply. Resides this is harvest time in South America ... meaning the US. Has most of the high cards, at least for a year, in this poker game.

Overall conclusion: the Trump administration might well call China's bluff in this dueling tariffs contest ... particularly if we are willing to compensate any damaged industries.

Afterward: Many pundits feel that China, because it is central-planned capitalism, would have a natural advantage in a trade war. Maybe so. However, market-driven capitalism like the U.S. iterates to the best solution ... which takes longer and can be more painful than China's. However, if China gets it wrong to start, there is very little market self-correction ... which can be disastrous.

Headlines

Ex-Trump aide [Nunberg] defies Mueller, risks jail

Dreamers walk to DNC, block doors, call Democrats 'fake allies'

Diplomat whose tip started FBI Russia probe has tie to Clintons ...

Collapse: Oscar ratings crash by double digits

Judge declines to halt part of Trump's anti-sanctuary city policy

[Famous pollster] Nate Silver shoots down Dems taking the House in 2018

As yellow fever spreads, Brazil struggles to vaccinate millions ...

Alec Baldwin: Time to rethink Second Amendment

Republicans blitz Trump to head off tariffs

Bruce Orr is the target of another DOJ lawsuit linked to the Trump dossier

Nunberg Trial: Former Trump aide unravels in whirlwind tour ... Meds?

Nortth Korea has expressed a willingness to talk about denuclearization, South Korea says

Headlines

All from Internet news sites. Guess which are from The Daily Caller?

Democrats euphoric after Tuesday election romp

Trump's Pentagon nominee says it's 'insane' civilians can buy assault rifles

VA: Gillespie loses by 8 points (Trump only lost by 6) ...

Kurdish leader: Kurds 'revisiting' ties to U.S. after Trump refuses support

Maine voters approve expanding Medicaid under Obamacare

Texas gunman was in mental hospital in 2012 -- until he escaped

Fog grounds Trump's surprise DMZ visit ...

Experts: Chinese investments flowing into Brazil 'like a tsunami'

Obamacare sign ups surge despite Trump cuts

US is running out of ISIS terrorists to bomb

Menendez juror asks judge: What is a Senator?

House tax bill to impose 2-year holding period for 'carried interest'