Renewed Slide in Oil Prices Sent Energy Prices Tumbling

US stocks closed sharply lower Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 marking their biggest point and percentage declines since October as a renewed slide in oil prices (below $50 per barrel) sent energy prices tumbling. The Dow lost 331 points the S&P 500 down 37.6 points.

US Department of Commerce full report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders was released on Tuesday:

  • New Orders for manufactured durable goods in November, down three of the last four months, decreased 0.9 percent.
  • Shipments of manufactured durable goods in November, down three of the last four months, decreased 0.6 percent.
  • Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in November, up nineteen of the last twenty months, increased 0.4 percent.
  • Inventories of manufactured durable goods in November, up nineteen of the last twenty months, increased 0.4 percent.

Unemployment at Lowest Levels Since June 2008

The US added 252,000 jobs in December, a sign of steady momentum in the labor market. The unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percent to 5.6 percent, its lowest level since June 2008. The problem is there are 93 million people out of work. Good jobs are not being created and the labor participation rate is a joke as so many have simply ceased looking for gainful employment.

House Republicans re-elected John Boehner (R-Ohio) for a third term as House speaker over the objections of a group of frustrated conservatives who had lobbied for a new leader.

US Raw Steel Production

Production rose 6.4 percent last week as mills operated at an average capability utilization rate (ACUR) 77.2 percent. (You may recall that production was down around 5.5 percent the week prior) In the corresponding week last year mills operated at an ACUR of 74.5 percent. From AISI, Washington

The Horrors of Islamist Jihad

On Wednesday three masked gunmen murdered 12 innocent civilians (journalists) at a satirical newspaper in Paris, France, wounded eleven…described as an Islamist terrorist attack ( except from the White House which called it an act of violence). Subsequently, they hijacked a car…the search is on. As of Thursday morning, one man turned himself in, two others, who are brothers, are still at large. The three are French Muslims.

I could go back to the 1970’s when this ugly creature reared its head, but the following is a short timeline of events (Wall Street Journal 01/08/15) perpetrated by Islamist Jihad:

  • July 25, 1995: A bomb at the Saint-Michel subway station in Paris kills eight and injures more than 150 people.
  • September 11, 2001: nearly 3000 people killed in the United States as terrorists crash two passenger jets into the World Trade Center in Manhattan and one into the Pentagon, a fourth crashes into a Pennsylvania field. Al Qaeda
  • March 11, 2004 Spain: Bombs tear through four trains in Madrid killing more than 190 people. Al Qaeda
  • November 2, 2004 The Netherlands: Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh is shot and stabbed by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim outraged by his victim’s criticism of Islam.
  • July 7, 2005 U.K.: Four bombs rip through London subways and a bus, killing 52 commuters. The killers are British Al Qaeda sympathizers.
  • 2005-8 Denmark: the newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in the autumn of 2005 sparking a Jihadist campaign against Denmark. Jyllands and other newspapers reprinted the cartoons in 2008 provoking protests in the Muslim world.
  • November 2, 2011 France: A Molotov cocktail guts the offices of Charlie Hebdo (the newspaper where yesterday’s murders occurred), hours before a special issue that featured a caricature of Mohammad appeared on newsstands. No one is injured. (until yesterday)
  • March 2012 France: Mohamed Merah, a French petty criminal swearing fealty to Al Qaeda, kills three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French soldiers in a shooting spree in and around Toulouse.
  • May 22, 2013 U.K. : British born Muslim converts drive into British soldier Lee Rigby outside a London army barracks, then stab him and try to hack his head off with a meat cleaver.
  • May 24, 2014 Belgium: A gunman kills four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels. A French national with ties to Islamic state is arrested and charged with the killings.
  • October 22, 2014 Canada: Troopers stationed near Parliament come under fire from an ex-convict who weeks earlier had been thwarted in his attempts to fly to Syria and join Islamic state. After killing an army reservist, the attacker is killed by the Sergeant at Arms.
  • December 15, 2014 Australia: A 16 hour assault on a Sydney Café ends with three people dead including lone gunman Man Haron Monis, an Iranian immigrant, who claims to be a recent adherent to the cause of Islamic state. After fruitless negotiations, police storm the scene. In the ensuing raid, Monis and two hostages are killed.

Left out from this are:

  • The recent beheadings of Americans and other innocents by Islamic state and a whole slew of murderous actions taken by Islamic state, Al Qaeda and their affiliates.
  • The murder of American soldiers at Fort Hood…and we are paying this turd to sit in jail. Feeding him, clothing him, keeping him warm when it’s cold, cool when it’s hot.
  • Boko Haram abducting some 270 young women from a school in Nigeria.
  • The murder of 132 children at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.

There are many more events unlisted here but isn’t this enough?

This is bullshit. This is not a reaction to Western policies in the middle east, or against poverty so prevalent there. It is an ideological attack on the western world, on our freedom, on our way of life. Unless free people take a hard line stand together against this crap, to speak out forcefully against it, to call it what it is and band together to defeat this enemy, we are doomed to a constant repetition of these wanton acts of terror. Where does it happen next? Pittsburgh? Des Moines? My town? Your town? My grandchildren’s school? Your son’s or your daughter’s school?

There is NO visible plan for dealing with Islamic extremists.

NONE. The president continues to refuse to call them terrorists or acts of terror. In my view the entire world is at great risk from this explosion of religious extremism. Screw hurting someone’s feelings! Are any Muslims denouncing these acts of violence? Are any Muslims banding together in their own countries-or ours-against these terrorists? The world looked the other way in the late 1930’s as Hitler murdered millions and sought to rule the world with his “super race”. Are we destined to fight another world war to defend ourselves and our freedoms from the machinations of insane people ? How far will our leaders let them go? How long will they let this disease fester?

On Friday the two hostage situations in France ended.

The scumbags who committed the murders of 12 and the wounding of eleven had been at large having also taken a female hostage. Both of these useless rats were shot dead by French police, the woman hostage was rescued. In a related event some 25 miles away, another creep held twenty people hostage in a Jewish deli or market in the area. He was ranting about the other situation and was finally shot dead by the French police but not until he had reportedly killed four of the 20 hostages he had taken. So, we have another 16 innocent people dead this week and eleven wounded. An “outrageous” attack, according to president Obama. Still not terrorism, still not radical Islam. If you are unwilling to identify and define the problem, you will NOT solve the problem. At least one of these guys traveled to Yemen to train with Al Qaeda in 2011. The attack this week is reported to be a response to internet recruitment pleas from Isis to commit murder in France.

Remember:

Fast & Furious-providing weapons to criminals leading to a loss of American life. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
The loss of 4 American lives at our embassy in Benghazi, Libya. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
The IRS targeting conservative political groups for tax-exempt status. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
The National Security Administration eavesdropping on the phone calls of American citizens. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
The software program created for the Affordable Healthcare Act, at a cost of $1 billion (thus far) and 3 ½ years to “perfect”, has been unusable to the American people. No one held accountable. The president was unaware.
Spying on our Allies, specifically Angela Merkel of Germany. No one held accountable. The president was unaware. (Although these things go on knowingly between countries all the time, the fact that our president denies knowledge of this is just another sign of his incompetence as the leader of the most powerful country on the planet).
“If you like your current insurance plan you can keep it. Period” Barack Obama
“If you like your doctor, you can keep him. Period” Barack Obama

Have a great weekend and….

Hug your children and grandchildren, tell them you love them.
Buy American made products whenever you can.
Hire a Veteran: they are patriots, honest, hard working, disciplined, loyal…. and …. They need and deserve our support.

God Bless America