Nevermind! Real American Deal---Maybe Not After All---Alejandro Villanueva Stands With Our Anthem By Mistake?

ONLY REAL MAN TODAY ON THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS? It's a rhetorical question. Below is a little more about this solid, good man:

Sunday: John MacArthur On the Biblical Perspective Of Global Warming

UNCOMPROMISING, SCATHING AND WORTH LISTENING TO. Man was designed to be the steward of natural systems.

Mercedes Commercial I Didn't Expect To See---Maybe We're In For A Cultural Revival

ONE WAY TO BREAK FREE FROM OUR CRUSHING CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

THIS ARTICLE BY MARK SAYERS AND VIDEO WAS ON THE GOSPEL COALITION last month, but somehow I missed it. Wow! What a cultural statement Mercedes is making in our degenerate society.  It speaks volumes to the illusion of freedom with unlimited sexual freedom and anything goes living bringing true happiness and maturity. It's not real life. Needless to say,  I would change its poignant message of Grow Up and Start a Family to Grow Up, Get Married, Then Start a Family. Still, this commercial is certainly a start in the right direction.

Sunday, Psalm 1

Psalm 1 King James Version (KJV)

1 BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

King James Version (KJV)

Edward Watson @PJMedia:  The World's Debt To Jesus Christ  (General Grace)

Tamny On Lessons of Amazon's 2nd Headquarters Search

WHILE REPUBLICAN SHOULD BE CHEERED for pursuing tax reductions, the corporate portion of their tax plan is right out of the early part of the 20th century when the top companies were long on plant & equipment.  As Amazon's search for a 2nd headquarters reveals in bright colors, the prominent companies of the 21st century are long people as opposed to machinery.  Worse, the GOP continues to promote the fiction that there's $2.5 trillion "stranded overseas" as though overseas profits are literally stuffed in a vault.  Tax cuts are great, but they'll be discredited if they're about less than nothing.  Subsidization of plant & equipment purchases and repatriation holidays are surely about less than nothing, while the capital subsidy is legitimately anti-growth.  RealClearMarkets. The Important Tax Lesson Inside Amazon's HQ Search By John Tamny In 2006 Warren Buffett invested $4.5 billion in Iscar, an Israel-based machine-tools maker.  Notable is that Iscar was within easy distance of the enemy rockets that exist as a constant threat to the small country, its businesses, and most important of all, its people.  For that reason, the investment puzzled some of Buffett's admiring watchers.  But it turns out the Nebraskan wasn't fazed in the least by the risk of having a substantial asset so close to enemy fire.  As Buffett biographer Alice Schroeder explained it, "if Iscar's facilities are bombed, it can go build another plant. The plant does not represent the value of the company. It is the talent of the employees and management, the international base of customers, and the brand that constitute Iscar's value." Schroeder's reply about what drives Buffett's thinking should be taped on the wall of every member of Congress, regardless of Party.  And as the Republicans are happily writing a tax-cut bill right now, Schroeder's reply should force a rethink of the GOP's tax-cut strategy.  This isn't a call for the Republicans to reverse course on tax reduction (quite the opposition) as much as it's a reminder that their very public focus on immediate expensing of planet and equipment purchases, along with repatriation of profits "stranded" overseas, amounts to a lot of nothingness. Evidence supporting the above claim comes care of Buffett's Iscar investment, but also via Amazon's recent announcement that it's looking for a non-Seattle city in which it will create a second corporate headquarters.  The Seattle giant's requirements reveal in bright colors why the corporate portion of the GOP's planned tax reform will not live up to expectations.  RealClearMarkets contributor Allan Golombek explained well what Amazon is looking for in a second city: Amazon has stated that to even be considered as the home of its second corporate headquarters, a city needs a million-plus metropolitan population, mass transit, a strong higher education system, a large technically fluent workforce, and the ability to attract and retain skilled workers. In other words, they want immediate access to the kind of workforce they need to compete, targeting software development engineers, accountants and administrative personnel, with many of the jobs paying $100,000. Amazon's needs speak to the basic truth that people drive economic progress, not natural resources, buildings, or subsidies.  While Amazon will no doubt seek - and receive - tax inducements from the winning city, the bigger driver of the company's decision about where to put down substantial roots will be the quality of the people in the chosen area.  What's important about Amazon's headquarter search with tax reform in mind is that the promised Republican subsidization of plant and equipment purchases through immediate expensing is revealed as pointless, and arguably anti-growth.  That's because the best and most valuable companies of today don't have major plant and equipment needs.  Uber and its $70 billion valuation is a function of an app that people can download on their phones, along with the long-term ability of the ride-hailing innovator to attract the people capable of extrapolating the app's use to all manner of goods and services.  Google has its GooglePlex, but if California's taxation ever becomes too onerous, the technology company won't miss a beat.  It will simply move its top asset - the people who show up for work every day - to the many cities, states, and countries that would welcome it with open arms.  Apple has its amazing new headquarters, but the headquarters are a happy effect of the genius thinkers who darken its futuristic spaceship's doors each day.  So while many of today's most prominent American companies (Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft presently list as the five most valuable companies in the world) certainly have gleaming headquarters, plant and equipment are well down the list as crucial drivers of their success.  Despite this, Republicans act as though their subsidization of capital spending has stimulative qualities.  Maybe it would have over 100 years ago when the U.S.'s top companies included Ford, GE and GM, but not so much now.  The plant and equipment portion of the GOP's tax plan addresses an early 20th century U.S. economy, and for it subsidizing a return to what mattered long ago, the tax plan has anti-growth qualities to it.  As for repatriation of profits earned overseas and that are "stranded" overseas by onerous taxation stateside, there's nothing to this assertion.  While the corporate tax should be zero since it amounts to a double taxation of individual earnings (individuals own corporations, always and everywhere), and while there should be no tax on the repatriation of earnings realized overseas, simple logic tells us that U.S. companies aren't materially affected by taxes on profits brought back to the U.S.  Lest we forget, the only closed economy is the world economy.  Overseas earnings, like ones achieved domestically, are deposited in banks or with other financial intermediators.  Once they are, they're immediately directed to their highest use, including growth opportunities in the U.S.  And for corporations with substantial overseas earnings and that have domestic designs on their deployment, they can borrow the money while actually deducting from their tax bill (another pointless subsidy, but nonetheless one that exists) the interest paid on monies borrowed.  Translated, there's nothing that reasonably resembles a substantial barrier to repatriation of overseas profits.  While there should once again be neither a corporate tax nor a tax on earnings repatriated, the very notion of "stranded money" presumes that companies literally warehouse their foreign earnings in the proverbial corporate basement.  So while the Republicans should be cheered for pursuing tax cuts and/or reform, the corporate portion of their plan requires more than a shrug for it having the potential to needlessly subsidize the past to the economy's certain detriment.  And as tax cuts are improperly scored on a dollar for dollar basis, wasted tax cuts have the potential to limit the good, very good and wonderful of income, capital gains, and estate tax (repeal, hopefully) cuts.  Amazon's relocation efforts are useful when it comes to understanding what the GOP gets wrong in its pursuit of what has the potential to be very good and very important.  John Tamny is editor of RealClearMarkets, Director of the Center for Economic Freedom at FreedomWorks, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com). He's the author of Who Needs the Fed? (Encounter Books, 2016), along with Popular Economics (Regnery, 2015).

Do You Have Hurricane Anxiety Fatigue After Harvey and Irma? This One's For You

MEET TOM HORNER OF TAMPA, FLORIDA.  He lives in his Chevy Impala for the past year. He was near the gas station when the hurricane blew into town. So what did he do?

 Mark Puente of the Times has the story:

MAN LIVING IN AN IMPALA RODE OUT IRMA INSIDE A CAR WASH 

Tom Horner wanted to make sure he could get gas for his Chevy Impala, his home. In fact, the 60-year-old was sitting in his wheelchair next to a pump at a Thorntons convenience store Monday  though it was still closed.

He had no idea when it would open.

"I only have an eighth of a tank," Horner said. "I can't get anywhere."

Horner, who said he has been living in his car for a year, rode out the storm nestled in the car wash at Thorntons at Starkey and Ulmerton roads.

"It was sturdy and had concrete walls," he said. "It wasn't the brightest idea, but I had nowhere else to go. I was scared to death when all the transformers blew."

He said he doesn't like shelters.

"They have too many rules," he said, rubbing his hip. "I don't like people telling me what to do."

He said he plans to sit at Thorntons until it opens. He said he ran his car all night to keep the air conditioner running.

"I'm stuck without gas," he said.

My kinda guy. Wish I could buy Tom a tank of gas when Thorntons finally reopens.

Please Pray For Each and Every Person, Family and Creature In the Path Of Irma

SPACE CITY WEATHER WEIGHS IN ON IRMA 
DREHER:  ENTER THE DRAGON WITH SOUND
TRUMP PRAYS WITH HIS CABINET AT CAMP DAVID SATURDAY AHEAD OF HURRICANE IRMA IT'S OKAY TO PRAY TO GOD WITH GROANS, RATHER THAN WORDS if that's all you can muster.

Pray, Then Pray Some More---How Hurricane Irma Compares To Andrew

SPACE CITY WEATHER: IRMA'S FLORIDA'S EFFECTS ARE COMING INTO FOCUS
MY SIMPLE MIND SIMPLY CAN'T WRAP AROUND THIS MONSTROUS HURRICANE. May God have mercy on them and us all. This, along with Hurricane Harvey, will have repercussions on our country for years. More from POWERLINE blog.

RIP Don Williams, 78, Today After A Short Illness

THESE ARE MY TWO FAVS BY DON. REAL COUNTRY the way country was meant to be. More at TENNESSEAN.

Amid Prayers for Mercy, The Good I Pray Could Come From the Monstrous Irma... Help Heal Ongoing Environmental Mega-Disaster In the Everglades and S. FL

COULD ONE CATASTROPHIC ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER HELP HEAL ANOTHER? Perhaps. It appears that Irma will make landfall and go straight up the center of the state.

Kimberly Strassel---The Left's War On Free Speech and How It's Happening

  WELL WORTH A LISTEN FOR ALL THOSE INTERESTED IN FREE SPEECH. Dennis Prager interviews Kimberly Strassel on her book The Intimation Game, How the Left is Silencing Free Speech. It's happening on the state level. It's happening with state campaign finance laws, the IRS and many other federal agencies. This is so important to know and understand. It bears repeating.   Long but worth listening to. This focus on free speech in our country is Strassel's speciality and should be our deep concern.

Sunday---Psalm 46

1 GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH
    a very present^[b] help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.
⁶ The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord,
    how he has brought desolations on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the chariots with fire.
¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”
¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

NOTE from Mike at One Year Bible Blog :

Psalm 46 represents a song of hope celebrating the certain triumph of God’s kingdom – even in the midst of times of severe trouble. This Psalm served as the inspiration for Martin Luther’s famous Hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” 

I would encourage you to keep this Psalm in your “back-pocket” as a Psalm to meditate upon whenever you personally might be going through times of severe trouble – or whenever our world might be going through times of severe trouble. 

Near the end of this Psalm in verse 10 we will read a tiny little verse that I think is the key to this Psalm – “Be still, and know that I am God.” If you are going through a time of trouble in your life right now, will you take some time to meditate upon Psalm 46 and in particular verse 10? What does it mean to you to “Be still, and know that I am God?” Do you believe that being still during times of trouble can draw you closer to God? Will you be still today before God? In this stillness will you seek to know that He is indeed God? Even in the midst of whatever might be troubling you, will you seek to know that I AM is your God?

Flash Flooding, In-the-Country Edition

WHY HOUSTON'S PROSPECTS FOR RECOVERY LOOK BETTER THAN OTHER STRICKEN PLACES
FLOODS AND STORMS ARE NATURAL, FLOOD AND STORM DISASTERS ARE MAN-MADE

SINCE THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO TODAY WE'VE BEEN POUNDED WITH SHEETS OF RAIN AND FLASH FLOODING FROM WHAT'S LEFT OF HARVEY. It seems to be petering out now and moving on north, though not without some residual damage.  Here in the country where I live flash floods can come on powerfully, crest and go back down quickly because there's so much porous soil to absorb the extra water.

Here's a great scene at the end of my road this morning.  Rain flooded the field of freshly mowed and baled hay, then carried it downstream before depositing under the STOP sign.

While this soggy mess is undoubtedly a pain to the farmer who recently worked the field, it's surely better to have hay moved or destroyed in the flood plain than a home and everything you own get destroyed.  A reminder that flood plains are designed for high water flooding, even if it only happens every 500 or a 1,000 years.

All this power from a little creek that was only a trickle yesterday. The stream is doing exactly what it was designed to do. And it'll be back to its normal trickle in 4-5 days.