NOSTRADAMUS LIVES

decoultage

 Those who knew the King in his robust and carefree/less youth will remember that he did not partake in locker room talk.In fact I cannot remember any one talking the way Herr Trumpf and offspring do.We obviously inhabited a different locker room eco system.
My father taught me to respect and cherish women.And not to push my luck by talking about it.Sound advice,along the lines of if you say nothing,some may think you dumb or crass.If you preen and boast you remove all doubt.This regal wisdom will be passed on to the princelings in due time.

  So,no talk of boobs and bums for the young Cyclops.I was an  eyes and conversation man.The eyes are truly windows into the soul and a woman's soul is so much more important than boobs and butts--got that Princes Desmond and Lachlan ? Its never too soon to learn. [At 36 and 13 months?--give the kids a break you old despot!]

Anyway in my Saturday post on "the Last Furlong" I was too shy to mention what some found the two most riveting features of the speeches at the dinner.On reading the Sunday op ed columns I was to discover that these had gone viral on the internet.

Kathleen Parker is a politically conservative columnist for The Washington Post.Sensible,pithy and  a very good read.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/10/you_can_dress_him_up_but_trump.html

Her column gives me licence and indeed obliges me to overcome my reticence and inform my readers, both domestic and foreign ,who may not have seen the speeches.

The speeches were shown live from a Manhattan ballroom with presumably limited space for cameras. There seemed to be a single camera feed picked up by all the networks and this seemed to have a limited scanning range, as most of the time the director seemed to just use some zooming in and out.
As you may notice in the two still photographs below; immediately behind the left shoulder of the guest speake at the podium sat a well-known and attractive broadcaster with the Fox business network – Maria Bartiromo. This was a white tie affair and Bartiromo had chosen to wear a red evening dress, heavy earrings and long white gloves.

  The dress had a very definite decoultage and when this year's BOOB of the century was speaking it was impossible for most people to tear their eyes away from the anatomical parts with the same spelling.The related Internet tweeting apparently caused both Facebook and Twitter to break down.

http://www.barstoolsports.com/barstoolu/fox-businesss-maria-bartiromos-aggressive-cleavage-drove-the-internet-nuts-during-the-al-smith-dinner/

 

                                  I have attached  a couple of url  video links to the speeches   

 You should note that Ms. Bartiromo has lovely eyes

                                 

US ELECTIONS : THE LAST FURLONG

Well we're now into the last Furlong of the US presidential race.

Presidential debates are over; Trump was unable control himself in any of them.
Public performances have continued to be narcissistic rants; and as more and more voters have focused his poll ratings have plummeted.

In the last debate in which Trumpf refused to accept the democratic principle of conceding the election if the other candidate wins ;and tripled down on his Bromance with Vlad,the impaler, Putin. This has sent the publican establishments into paroxysms of apoplexy.

   Trumpf of course in the next two days proceeded to dig the hole deeper. He even managed to offend the plutocratic attendees at the Al Smith Catholic charity dinner in New York. This is a traditionally lighthearted opportunity for the candidates to poke fun at themselves and each other,while pandering to a significant part of the Catholic establishment-- there are more Catholics that evangelicals in the USA.

 Trumpf managed to get himself booed, unheard of at such an event, and even visibly shocked  Cardinal Dolan with a boorish "joke"claiming that Hillary was pretending not to be anti-Catholic just for that night.

The event was televised nationwide, albeit to a small audience, and then of course clips shown on every news and comment show in the country.

Hillary of course did the professional sane jokey speech. Although as the clip below shows some jokes did not give great pleasure to Rudy Giuliani.

Donald the imploder,has sent Republicans into renewed panic,terrified of the impact on the "down ballot" races.

The polls are showing Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead nationally.Polls in the battle ground  states are  firmly predicting a Clinton victory. The only outlier seems to be Ohio. King Cyclops believes that, perversely, this is partly due to good standing of the Publican governor John Kasich. Ironically the most consistent and implacable of Trumpf's foes in the Publican party.

National Polls : Hillary    + 11%

Florida                              +  5%
Ohio                                  -  3% before the 3rd debate;now 45/45.

Maine                               +  6%
North Carolina                 +  4%
Nevada                             +  7%
Arizona                             +5%

Virginia                            +12%
With the 36% margin in King Cyclops backyard.

It seems almost everyone living within 5 miles of CIA headquarters is voting for Clinton!
Iowa                                 +/-
 
Even  Georgia is within the margin of error with a trump lead of only 2%

The democrats need 4 turnovers to retake the Senate

Currently Republican
                                                                                                            += Dem; -=Rep

• Florida--                                  Rubio    [r]  vs   Murphy      [d]                  -  2%
• New Hampshire                      Ayotte    [r]  vs   Hassan       [d]                 +  8%
• North Carolina                        Burr       [r]  vs   Ross           [d]                 +  2% 
• Wisconsin                               Johnson  [r]  vs   Feingold    [d]                 +  5%
•  Missouri                                 Blunt     [r]  vs    Kander      [d]                 +  2%
• Pennsylvania                          Toomey  [r]  vs   McGinty    [d]                 -   2%
• Indiana                                   Young     [r]  vs    Bayh         [d]                 +  4%
• Ohio                                       Portman  [r]  vs    Strickland [d]                 -   3%

Can it get worse?

In a previous blog I predicted that Kelly Anne Conway, Trump's third campaign director, would resign sometime after the first debate .Not yet. But his national political director Jim Murphy has "stepped back" from his duties for "personal reasons";and Roger Ailes, ex Fox News  Supremo and the candidates senior political adviser, is apparently no longer on speaking terms with Trumpf.


If you think Republicans are in panic mode now imagine how they will react when Trumpf, continuing to claim that everything is rigged and that the Republican establishment is against him and his supporters, declares that they should no longer go through with the "pretense" of this corrupt election and should boycott the polls.

   This is a very common position taken up by noble outsiders fighting to defend the people against the corrupt, undemocratic and unresponsive system in their country.

                                 Watch this space

SAUDI PALACE COUP

Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman 'buys £452m yacht' but slashes public spending

The maverick royal has slashed the state budget, frozen government contracts and cut civil employees pay at a time of low oil prices

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-yacht-france-new-york-times-a7365261.html

SPA,the official Saudi Press Agency reported that HRH Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud was convalescing in Lausanne Switzerland.He was said to be recuperating from an undisclosed illness and was not expected to return to Riyadh in the foreseeable future.

The news has caused  a flurry  of activity in western capitals,with significant anxiety about the potential geopolitical fallout:both in oil markets and for the balance of power in the Gulf region.

The 31 year old Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is the son of  King Salman 80. Salman is the last surviving son of  King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud the founder of the modern Saudi State.

The new King's appointment,in early 2015, of then 29 year old bin Salman to be effectively Saudi Arabia's second most powerful man, had not been well received within the Royal Family.This elevation of his youngest son over three much more accomplished offspring from earlier marriages led to rumours of dementia and the undue control by one part of the family over access to Salman.

 In what had been a very traditional gerontocracy,King Salman made his son deputy Crown Prince, passing over dozens of older princes to put him second in line to the throne. He swiftly accumulated more power than any Prince has ever held, upending a longstanding system of distributing positions around the royal family to preserve unity.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/middleeast/surprising-saudi-rises-as-a-prince-among-princes.html?_r=1


Prince Mohammed became chief of the Royal Court ,took control  of Aramco,the state oil monopoly, the sovereign wealth fund and public investment company, economic policy and the ministry of defence. He is the most visible and aggressive promulgator of the Saudi war in Yemen .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Riyadh is a buzz with rumour,speculation and counter rumour. His departure follows public unhappiness in Washington with the mishandling  of the war in Yemen and recent spats with President Sissi of Egypt.The US is Saudi's chief arms supplier and maintains its sixth fleet in the Gulf.Egypt has very long and deep collaboration with the Saudi's and has the largest Sunni military in the region.

There have been a number of problems that some lay at the door of the young Crown Prince.

• He removed the long time oil minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimiand [1995-210] who had previously been  head of Aramco [1983-1995].
• It is widely believed that the Saudi's overplayed their hand in the policy of keeping oil prices low at the expense of Iran and the US fracking industry.
• The recent attempt to induce a rise in oil prices has had limited success.
• The perception is that the Kingdom which dominated global oil markets for nearly 40 years,has lost its grip. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/28/opec-deal-shows-saudi-oil-strategy-has-backfired-says-john-kilduff.html
• Most damaging politically is a view that Iran has bested the kingdom in recent OPEC deliberations. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/in-oil-price-battle-with-saudi-arabia-its-advantage-iran/articleshow/54540733.cms
• Low oil prices have severely affected the government budget and led to a deficit of almost 20% of GDP.
• Salaries have been cut as have the payments to many Princes,other Royals and their households.
• Saudi forex reserves may have dropped  by a third from $750 to 500 billion over the last two years,
• Three months ago Prince was responsible for launching a dramatic economic plan to restructure the economy and remove its dependence on oil  within a decade.This was widely derided  as a fantasy even ,privately, within the kingdom.
• He plans to "list" ARAMCO on international stock markets,requiring serious disclosure of its finances,governance , oil reserves base and production capacity..These last two,in particular, have always been a closely guarded state secret.
• While international investment bankers are salivating over the prospect of huge fees,other observers have ridiculed the idea and suggest simply making a major series of bond issues would be more sensible.
• The Prince also announced the creation of a new Sovereign wealth fund to be financed by the ARAMCO IPO.In the meantime he replaced the staff at the existing state investment fund.
• The first investment of the new fund,even before it is fully funded is $3.5bn in Uber.This is largest single investment ever made in a private company;the 5% stake values UBER at $70 billion
• Some may see this as impetuous.

In general ,there has been open grumbling about the Princes High handedness.Offending nearly all segments of Saudi society

• Senior technocrats have been retired and the Prince's loyalists promoted.
• He displaced the long serving oil minister & the central bank chief http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-07/saudis-announce-government-overhaul-as-part-of-post-oil-plan
• Generally disrespecting the old guard
• Reigning in the Religious police
• Slashing subsidies and handouts
• Criticising Saudi youth

A major mark of the discontent was the accusation that he covered up the the tragedy of the "Mina Stampede" in which hundreds of HAJ pilgrims died in September 2015.An  AP analysis of  media reports in Muslim states calculated a death toll of 2,411. Iran was most affected by the tragedy with at least 464 deaths.

It is said that "Sources"claim the crush was due to attempts by the personal convoy of Mohammed bin Salman to force itself through the crowd, and due to several road closures in the area. Bin Salman was then personally put in charge of the Saudi government's investigation of the stampede after Saudi attempts to impose a media blackout.

Whether or not plausible, this is an extraordinary rumour and such muttering would have been unthinkable in the past.

Those of you who have not seen this announcement it may be because it is not true---YET

BRITISH PUSSY

The only PUSSY the British should be worried about.

The LEAVE campaign  struck a major chord by emphasising  reclaiming 

PARLIAMENTARY  SOVEREIGNTY

but Terrible Theresa refuses to give parliament a vote on the process,timimg or details of BREXIT.

We will see how long that resolve holds.

The FAT LADY has still not sung

BREXIT UPDATE

  By promising a Tory Party Conference a referendum on the EU,David Cameron jeopardised  British prosperity and undermined Parliamentary Democracy and ruined his career.  .He pandered to the Conservative Party Base of Little Englanders, Xenophobes and Imperial Fantasists.

Has Theresa May fallen into the same trap?

The Tories now seem committed to an unrealistic and damaging "Hard Brexit" without full access to the single market.

http://www.politico.eu/article/theresa-mays-brexit-revolution-annual-tory-party-conference-birmingham-keynote-speech/

http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21708264-theresa-may-fires-starting-gun-what-looks-likely-be-hard-brexit-taking-britain-out

Complete with xenophobic nonsense "require companies to list their percentage of foreign workers"

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37610126

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/05/news/uk-foreign-workers-brexit/

She gave away her best negotiating cards by signalling the timing of the start of formal exit and
appearing to abandon a determination to stay in the European Single Market.

She seems to expect Australia,Ghana and the Commonwealth to opt for the "Old Country" before their economic interests in EU access. And the rest of the world to swiftly sign new trade treaties with the UK.   DAFT.

All this before the elections in France,Germany and Italy ;forcing their leaders to harden their stance to impress their electorates.
 
A wiser course would await these electoral results and take advantage of any openings they give for changes to "free movement" within the EU and the reining in of the Brussels Bureaucracy. She could haven taken credit for the inevitable defenestration of Herr Juncker.

                                                             FOLLY

TRUMPF FREEFALL

THE KING has been asked for some quick comments before tonights debate.

Not sure there is much point.Very difficult to comment,satirize,parody or rail about TRUMPF's latest meltdown

The PUBLICAN establishment is fleeing in panic. It seems that

                           "Mexican Rapists"
                          Claiming Mexico Was Sending Its Criminals Across the Border
                          Building a Wall that Mexico will pay for.
                          Multiple Mysonigistic attacks on specific women
                          Promising to deport 11 million illegals and their native born children
                          Birther Bigotry
                          Massive Tax Avoidance
                          Anti Black Discrimination in his Rental Projects
                         Multiple Bankruptcies
                         Stiffing Contractors & Employees
                         Milking Public Companies He Controlled,Prior to Liquidation
                         Claiming to see "Thousands of Muslims"dancing in celebration on 9/11
                         Bellitling his opponents in the PUBLICAN Party
                         Impugning and Denigrating a 20 year old Beauty Queen
                         Disrespecting the Muslim Parents of Iraq War Hero
                         Demeaning the service of a PUBLICAN Senator Captured and Tortured in VietNam
                         Banning Muslims entering the US
                         BringING Back Waterboarding and "Worse"

does not prevent,Ryan,McDonnel,Priebus,Pence,Portman,Ayotteand on and on from Endorsing TRUMPf .

But an 11 year old tape showing him talking "dirty",boasting and disrespecting a TV presenter has them all reaching for their smelling salts!   Like this was a surprise!


NOW we get a Cacophony of Calls for TRUMPf to drop out and for the PUBLICANS to replace him.
TRUMPf Endorsements,Events and Rallies cancelled by the bucket load.
Pence "shocked and appalled" is reconsidering his position---give me a break.

They are terrified that he is going to lose them the Senate &, inshallah,The House.

Those calling for his head know full well that it is too late to replace him on the ballot.
Millions of early votes and absentee ballots have already been cast.There is now no mechanism to add a new name to voting procedures whose candidate registration time limits have expired.
                          
Heinous Humbug,Hogwash,Hypocrisy and Hype.
     At least the Evangelicals are standing by their man.
Not a single leading endorser has changed or called for the flock to renounce this wolf.

And 60% of Evangelicals polled since Friday are sticking with TRUMPf.Many threatening to abandon down ticket candidates who abandon Donald.

At least these people understand that their Bigotry TRUMPS their Christianity.

                             ENJOY THE "DEBATE"
                       

                       


                       

Not a Bad Week After All

                        Well the King's week did get better after the Corbyn election tragedy.

  Trumpf's debate fiasco just built and built all week.

 Not because of any substance from the debate--heaven forfend that substance should intrude on the circus.

• Trumpf just kept revealing his craziness day after day.
• You will all be familiar with his continuous rantings against Miss Universe 1996--20 years ago!
• Leading up to his manic tweets in the middle of the night Friday.
• Nobody can find the sex tapes only he has seen--and we know you are looking!
• They must be hidden with the tapes of Muslim's celebrating 9/11.
• Trumpf has labelled her a "terrible" person and a Clinton Dupe.
• If French or Italian she would have been in Sarkozi or Berlusconni Cabinet.
• Over the week end the NY Times revealed copies of just 3 pages of his 1995 tax returns.
• A $ billion loss carry forward --good till 2013.
• He seems to have NEVER paid federal income tax.
• Watching Chris Christie and  Guiliani claim this is genius gives me joy.

You cannot satirise this tosh.

Christie and  Guiliani give lie to King Cyclop's claim that anyone but Trumpf would be beating Hillary.

If you follow the press and media closely you will notice that this  pair are never seen near sane Republicans --or perhaps the other way round.They are apparently no longer welcome in polite Republican society.

Perhaps I am being a little harsh to  Chris "the Bridge" Christie and " a verb ,a noun and 9/11" Guiliani. I forget that each of them were  seriously touted  as Presidential candidates within the last decade and each of them blew it.They have nothing left but to cling to Trumpf's tawdry coattails.

The Trumpf tax stuff is just building steam.Most journos cannot do the arithmetic but there are plenty of nerds out there who will do the math for them.

King Cyclops himself deserves credit for not boring[yet] the court with his own analysis.Watch this space--what he did may have been legal for the federal tax code --I stress may-- but I will wager it violated New Jersey/New York state codes.I would guess that understaffed state agencies left the auditing to the feds and Trumpf''s personal taxes slid between the cracks.We shall see.

Today he again boorishly mocked Hillary's recent illness and raised the issue of Bill's philandering;as did  Guiliani and Ginrich .Nine wives and several accusations of harassment between them.Where is Roger Ailes when Donald needs him.Can't these boys keep all this stuff to themselves?

                        Nine Wives.Now that shows real belief in "traditional marriage"

 Anyone want to bet against Kellyanne Conway quitting as his campaign manger after the next debate?

Needless to say the sanctimonious and the editorial writers are wringing their hands that the pundits,reporters et al are "NOT COVERING THE ISSUES " but focusing on the Trumpf  Circus and Hillary's "honesty".

I have news for you.  TRUMPF  IS the ISSUE.As was Mussolini,Hitler,Huey Long,Franco,Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Berlusconi. Any idea what was Strom Thurmond's or Joe  McCarthy's tax policy ?

 At least Americans have the chance to stop the disaster.

Just a few words on the infuriating moral equivalence that permeates the commentary on this election.

  Last night Pope Francis--that's the one all we non Catholics like -said:

         " I never say  a word about electoral campaigns " --Well that will be welcome new doctrine to the Italians,Spanish,Poles,Catalans,Argentines....

 “The people are sovereign. I will only say: Study the proposals well, pray and choose in conscience.”

 I am not sure the word has got through on those referenda on choice. and same sex marriage.Fair enough the Church is entitled to to stand by its own convictions and doctrines.

But the Reuters reported  indicated that " Pope Francis didn’t mention Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton by name, he did say there were “difficulties” with each,"


Well your haplessness THAT IS MORAL EQUIVALENCE.You are the POPE do you really see these two candidates as MORALLY EQUIVALENT ?

Never mind ,I guess you have your own problems.Nor have we heard much from the other major Christian denominations.

Except of course for Southern Evangelical Leaders.

• Wayne Grudem,Southern Baptist ethicist and theologian: "voting for Trump was a morally good choice".
• James Dobson  founded the conservative Focus on the Family organisation and the Family Research Council,  He is an outspoken campaigner for traditional views of marriage  and for Donald Trumpf.
•  Jerry Falwell Jnr is the president of Liberty University and son of one of the founders of the Moral Majority movement.
• Robert Jeffress, pastor of  mega First Baptist Church, Dallas, serves on Trump's advisory board and has said Republicans who refuse to support him are "fools" motivated by pride. 
• Mark Burns runs a Christian TV network is an active campaigner for Trump and in a prayer at the the Republican National Convention referred to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats as "the enemy".
• Jack Graham, pastor of the Prestonwood Baptist megachurch and son of the revered Billy Graham,said he will "champion Donald Trump" after attending a meeting with more than 900 evangelical pastors . "I know that I feel very convinced that it's not just 'Oh, we got to stop Hillary Clinton,' which we do, but that we can champion Donald Trump," "I am convinced he is going to make a great president of the United States."Well daddy backed Nixon and sympathised with Dicky's problem with the Jews---look it up.
• Tony Perkins is the head of the Family Research Council and offered a full throated endorsement for Trump at the Republican National Convention. 

    There are no evangelical leaders of similar stature endorsing Clinton.

 Not all white evangelicals are Christian Bigots for Trumpf--just 74% of them.


On the football front: Spurs won in Moscow on Tuesday and beat Manchester City on Sunday

All in all not a bad week after all.