Monday, January 04, 2016

Brazil in serious economic trouble

We just got news that Brazil faces very serious trouble.  

 This is from Bloomberg:
Brazil’s economy will contract more than previously forecast and is heading for the deepest recession since at least 1901 as economic activity and confidence sink amid a political crisis, a survey of analysts showed.
Latin America’s largest economy will shrink 2.95 percent this year, according to the weekly central bank poll of about 100 economists, versus a prior estimate of a 2.81 percent contraction.
Analysts lowered their 2016 growth forecast for 13 straight weeks and estimate the economy contracted 3.71 percent last year.
Add to this the corruption scandal and Brazil's leftist president is in serious problem.
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The PC madness alive and well



According to Glenn Whipp, Hollywood is concerned that the Oscars will be “too white” this year:
The academy found itself on the defensive last year when white actors earned all 20 of the nominations in the lead and supporting categories. The topic came to define the Academy Awards so much that host Neil Patrick Harris opened the ceremony by quipping: “Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest. Sorry, brightest.”
Yet there’s a strong chance this year’s acting awards will once again be heavily, perhaps exclusively, white, despite the efforts of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to diversify the organization.
This is insane!    
Does anyone complain that most NBA players are black? Or that MVP awards in sports go to one skin color or another? Or that there are too many Canadians playing in the NHL? Or Latin Caribbeans in baseball?
In fact, the NBA MVP has gone to a black player for 8 years in a row!   
Does anyone care that LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Derrick Rose, and others are black? I certainly don’t! I do admire their incredible skills on the NBA floor! This is why they win the MVP!
As for Hollywood, let me confess that I don’t follow the industry closely. I am one of those who watches a movie and does not care that much for this actor or that actress.   
Nevertheless, I assume that “talent” or “performance” goes into the selection of an Oscar. Isn’t that what these awards are supposed to be about?
This is what happens when everything is about skin color rather than character or talent in the case of actors.   
You can chalk it up to race hustlers who would rather talk about skin color than the state of black America in year 7 of our first black president.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Tags: PC madness at the Oscars To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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The week in review with Bill Katz, editor of Urgent Agenda



Tags: Iran nuclear deal, Trump vs Clinton, Iowa in 30 days, New Hampshire in 45 days, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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Sunday, January 03, 2016

2015: The national security stories of the year with Barry Jacobsen



Tags: National security stories of 2015 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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2015: The year in politics with Richard Baehr of American Thinker




Tags: Iowa 2016, New Hampshire 2016, GOP 2016 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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Griffey should go in this year plus Raines, Piazza & Bagwell!

It's baseball Hall of Fame talk again.  

 It starts with Ken Griffey, who should go in the first ballot:  630 HR, 1,836 RBI, 2, 781 hits and a .284 career batting average.    His best years were in Seattle but he did play 9 years in Cincinnati.

 My second choice is Tim Raines, one of the best lead off hitters in major league history.   He played 13 years in Montreal.   Overall, he put up some good numbers:  .294 batting average, 808 stolen bases, 2,608 hits and a .385 On Base Average.   

 My third choice is Mike Piazza, a great catcher and hitter:   .308 career batting average & 427 HR.

 My fourth choice is Jeff Bagwell, who had all of those great years in Houston.   Keep in mind that he played at The Astrodome, a very tough place to hit homers.   Bagwell would have easily hit 500 in any other park.    His numbers were great:  449 HR, .297 batting average & 1,529 RBI.

 Griffey goes in for sure.   I hope that the others go in too!
Tags: Griffey should go in this year  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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Health care, California style

The new year opens with another Obama Care story.  It comes from California, as reported by The LA Times:
California officials never anticipated how many people would sign up for state-run health insurance under Obamacare.
The state’s health plan for the poor, known as Medi-Cal, now covers 12.7 million people, 1 of every 3 Californians.
If Medi-Cal were a state of its own, it would be the nation’s seventh-biggest by population; its $91-billion budget would be the country’s fourth-largest, trailing only those of California, New York and Texas.
So 1 of 3 Californians is under a program originally designed to help the poor?  
Is the state that poor?   Medi-Cal was always a last resort insurance policy, or the place where you went to find health coverage if you couldn’t afford a private option or had a preexisting condition or disability.  
Again is the Golden State that poor, or is this what happens when you tell people to sign up because the rich will pay for it.
The article does have an unhappy ending, or a reality check as my late father used to say:
The question California officials now face is how — and on days with a gloomier economic outlook, if — the massive health program can be sustained. 
Already, Medi-Cal is seen by many as underfunded, with patients struggling to find doctors and sometimes receiving low quality of care. 
A group of activists and others recently filed a federal civil rights complaint alleging that Latinos are being denied access to healthcare because the program does not pay doctors enough.
More proof that Obama Care, or its California version, was always about buying votes rather than creating a health care system. 
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Tags: Health care in California To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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Saturday, January 02, 2016

Romney vs Biden plus the Rangers!


Happy New Year to all of my AT friends.   
Here is a question: Who predicted that we’d be talking about Mr. Trump rather than Governor Walker at the end of 2015? Or the disappearance of Governor Bush? On the other side, who saw Senator Sanders coming?
2015 was the craziest pre-election year that I’ve ever seen. After all, how do you mock a war hero like Senator McCain and survive it?
Here are a couple of predictions that some of you may agree with.
First, this is the year of the Rangers. I know that people have said that before but the Rangers will finally win a World Series! I can feel it! We won’t drop a fly ball again. We won’t make 3 errors in one inning. This is the year that we catch the last out of the World Series and turn ground balls into postseason outs.
Second, and more important, the GOP primaries will not produce a candidate with a majority of supporters. Therefore, we will have a brokered convention, a good old fashioned meeting that actually determines something.
Mitt Romney will come back as a unity candidate, as Michael B. Dougherty wrote. He will pick Senator Rubio as VP and the GOP will have another RR ticket. (Remember Romney-Ryan in 2012?) Romney will make an effort to woo Hispanics this time and that will improve his chances.
On the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton will float along until the “emails iceberg” finally hits her. After all, how can someone be this reckless with government information and not pay a price?
Hillary’s troubles will bring VP Biden into the race. He will be selected by super delegates desperately looking for anyone who can run. Biden will add Senator Kean of Virginia to run with him.    
Who wins? Well, I’d give the edge to Mr. Romney but it’s too early for that.
Yes, it’s a bit crazy but again: Did anyone see any of what happened in 2015 coming? 
Memo to the GOP: Don’t forget Hispanics. They are generally conservative and taken for granted by Democrats.
Memo to the Democrats: Connect with white male voters. You can’t be a national party without them!
Happy 2016. I hope that 2016 brings you the candidate that you are supporting. At the same time, don’t be surprised if 2016 proves all of us wrong or brings back the oldies.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Tags: 2016 elections and a few other thoughts To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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Happy New Year 2016 and a few other thoughts about today



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Friday, January 01, 2016

Another year and Raul tells Cubans to get ready for hard times


For those who may not know, it was January 1, 1959 that Batista fled Cuba and Fidel Castro filled the vacuum created. 
It did not happen as depicted in Godfather II, but he did leave in a military plane with Mrs. Batista, a few friends, and lots of personal belongings.   In other words, people were not running for their boats or revolutionaries willing to blow up themselves for the cause. In fact, most Cubans heard the news on radio or TV, as my parents did.
On January 1st, the Cuban government will celebrate another anniversary. Usually, Fidel Castro gave a multi-hour speech that you had to watch on TV unless you had a radio that could pick up a Miami AM music station.   
This year, Raul Castro, who is filling in for sick brother, is telling Cubans to get ready for very hard times ahead. My friend Dr. Carlos Eire brought this speech to my attention today and commented this:
Well…. as unpleasant as it is to say “we told you so,” it’s appropriate to do so after reading today’s article in the Washington Post.
As long as the Castro dynasty and its feudal hierarchy control Cuba, the island’s 11.5 million  serfs and slaves will know nothing but abject misery.
And as long as the U.S. continues to support that regime, the misery will only worsen. Read the last paragraph of the article below to get a glimpse of one of the many reasons for this.
King Raul is taking his  theater of the absurd taken to new levels of absurdity. Call it post-absurdity or neo-absurdity or hyper-absurdity. Unfortunately, the actors in this insane asylum theater have no choice but to play their part or to flee.
And the rest of the world thinks that this theater is absolutely normal, and quite wonderful for the exotic noble savages who are forced to act in it.
This is from the Washington Post:
Castro appeared to be preparing Cubans for harder times ahead, saying that “we must cut any unnecessary spending and make use of the resources that we have with more rationality and with the goal of developing the country.”
He dedicated a lengthy section of his speech to Venezuela, where the opposition to Cuba-backed socialist President Nicolas Maduro recently took control of parliament amid widespread shortages and spiraling violence.
Cheap oil “has affected our relationship of mutual aid with various countries, particularly the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the target of an economic war aimed at undermining popular support for its revolution,” Castro said.
He urged Cubans to avoid what he labeled “defeatism” in the face of a drop in Venezuelan aid, saying “the history of our revolution is full of glorious pages despite difficulties, risks and threats.”
More than 3 million tourists visited in 2015, an increase of nearly 20 percent in the wake of President Barack Obama’s declaration of detente with Cuba. The surge in visitors pumped cash into the state-controlled tourist economy and the growing sector of private bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants, but it also drove up household inflation. In the absence of a wholesale market for private businesses in Cuba’s state-controlled economy, entrepreneurs have been forced to compete with cash-strapped consumers, driving up prices by driving off with cartloads of basic foodstuffs like eggs and flour.
Raul Castro did not blame the embargo or Guantanamo. I guess that will come in the next speech.
Another Castro year starts today and Cuba has gone backward every single year. Of course, I’m not speaking about the Castro family or their Castro Inc. Not at all! Castro Inc. is doing better than ever, especially now that President Obama’s decision is putting more tourists (cash) in the Castro Inc. hotels.
Another year will bring more misery and shortages to people in Cuba.   
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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