BloggeRhythms

The underlying theme in today’s two major items is that while both concern politics, the issues involved are really based on nothing more than common sense.

The opening item regards California Congresswoman Maxine Waters who ordinarily receives little press coverage whereas she doesn't do very much as a rule. However, she apparently hates Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson with such vehemence that she’s gained national attention with threats to harm him physically. 

According to Trent Baker @breitbart.com, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host Tucker Carlson responded to Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) threat to take Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s “ass apart” because she believes he knows nothing about the HUD’s mission.”

And that’s where “common sense” kicks in. Because the result of  Water’s threats is to bring self-inflicted national attention to herself for very little positive gain, while her own huge vulnerabilities become exposed.  

On his show, “Carlson noted that Waters, a politician for 40 years, lives in a 6,000 square-foot mansion worth $4.3 million that is not even in her congressional district, saying that “almost qualifies her to be HUD Secretary herself.”

“[W]aters is a confirmed expert on the question of housing, especially her own housing,” Carlson stated. “Consider where she lives, in a 6,000 square foot, $4.3 million mansion in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Now, how did she afford a place like that after having spent the last 40 years working in government? We hate to speculate. How did she keep getting reelected despite not living in her own Congressional district? No clue there either. The district Waters actually represents in Congress has the second-highest percentage of African-American residents in the state of California.”

He continued, “Now, the neighborhood where Waters actually lives is just six percent black or, as she might put it herself if she didn’t live there, it is segregated — like 1950s level segregated. And as we’ve mentioned, it is really, really rich. So, how did Maxine Waters pull off a housing coup like that, who knows, but it almost qualifies her to be HUD Secretary herself.”

Thus, the most likely result of Water’s threat is that Secretary Carson will continue in office unaffected, while Waters has made a target of herself for Carlson and other Republican TV hosts to pursue in the future. And if that doesn't suggest the absence of common sense, one has to wonder what does.

Along the same lines, but on a grander scale, Jack Montgomery writes @breitbart.com that: “Dire prophecies of an economy in freefall after Brexit have suffered another blow with the publication of a report which indicates that Britain will outperform Germany, France and the entire Eurozone over the coming years.”

The Brexit issue was followed closely here because it's timing coincided with the U.S. presidential election. And both contests defined the difference for voters between open and free societies versus governmental control and stifling bureaucracies.    

In Britain’s case, “Oxford Economics, which employs around 200 professional economists, industry experts and business editors, predict that the British economy will grow by 1.8 per cent between 2017-2021.”

In contrast, “Germany, the European Union’s economic powerhouse, will only grow by 1.3 per cent as it struggles with the consequences of the migrant crisis; behind stagnant France on 1.4 per cent and not too far ahead of crisis-wrecked Italy on 1.1 per cent.

“The situation in the Eurozone may, in fact, turn out significantly worse, with Jim Mellon, the Leave.EU co-founder described as ‘Britain’s Warren Buffet’, predicting that the single currency will finally go into meltdown in the coming years.”

Andrew Neil writes @afneil: “UK manufacturers report strongest order books for 30 years, driven by food, drink, tobacco and chemicals -- CBI industrial trends survey.

“The report, commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN), goes on to suggest that Britain could achieve even better growth – as high as 2.7 per cent per year – if Whitehall delivers sweeping new powers over spending and taxation to local government.

“CCN, which describes the English counties as “sleeping giants” just waiting for their economic potential to be unleashed, believes over a million new jobs could be created over a ten-year period, £26.3 billion added to the national economy in tandem with public sector savings of £11.7 billion over a five-year period.”

In  a separate analysis, Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane described Britain’s strong economic performance “despite Brexit” as a "Michael Fish moment for the economics profession."

Unfamiliarity with Michael Fish led to research that revealed he’s a BBC meteorologist known for an “infamous weather forecast” in 1987. At the time, Fish opened by saying, “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard that there’s a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t.”

“A few hours later, the south-east was hit by the most powerful storm in three centuries, affecting three million homes and uprooting millions of trees. Winds reached 120 miles per hour before measuring devices were overwhelmed, sweeping buses and lorries off roads, and dashing the historic Shanklin Pier into the sea.”

All of which confirms that simply because an individual has, somehow or other, attained a title or particular position for themselves, doesn’t guarantee any infallibility. And in the cases of ones like Waters or Fish, past performance must always be considered when evaluating any information either provides. Because for both, they’ve long since disqualified themselves as reliable resources in their respective occupations.

That’s it for today folks.

Adios