Category: zerohedge

This is not how it's supposed to work…

"Buy low, Sell high" they say. But in the new normal of risk-parity strategies, momentum igniters, and trend-following CTA flows, its "Buy high, buy more higher… and never sell until you're forced to liquidate"

Amid the longest period of low volatility complacency in US stock market history, which saw realized volatility and VIX (expectations for future volatility) collapse to near-record lows…

 

Speculators decided that this was the perfect time to add to speculative short VIX positions…

Having twice surged to new record highs (in September 2016 and Jan 2017), VIX speculators have now pushed their net short position (implicitly bullish for stocks) to its largest in contract history.

What is even more intriguing is speculators added to net dollar longs (as the dollar dumped)…

And dumped Eurodollar shorts (folding on rate-hike bets)…

via http://ift.tt/2rFXrX4 Tyler Durden

Submitted by Daniel Ruiz via Blinders Off blog,

The Perfect Storm

The following topics all have their part in fueling the storm to come:

1) Trade Cycles and How They Affect New Vehicle Sales Velocity

Used car values determine in large the velocity of new car sales. Most new car transactions involve a trade. The level of equity in the trade oftentimes determines whether a new vehicle transaction will be successful or not. Inclining used car values lead to faster trade cycles while declining used car values lead to slower trade cycles. Dismal new car sales volume during our last recession created a shortage of used cars. This created a large supply and demand imbalance that made used car values soar from 2009 till 2014 as seen on this chart.

This time period was extremely favorable for new car sales because consumers found themselves in an equitable position on their vehicles in a very short period of time. To illustrate this, consider this chart of a 60-month loan.

The black line represents the principal balance owed. An optimal trade cycle occurs when the principal balance owed on a loan intersects with the market value of the vehicle. The bullish used car cycle for passenger cars ended in 2014 as a result of extreme pricing pressure from new car leases. Since 2014, used passenger car values have corrected and continue to underperform. This underperformance is largely due to the effects that falling used car values have had on new car sales velocity. A longer trade cycle results in a slower velocity of new car sales. Today, we’ve seen data suggesting that used car values can drop as much as 50% from current levels. Refer to the above loan chart and consider what a drop that large would mean for new car sales velocity in terms of trade cycles.

2) Increased Dependency on Leasing

Used car values also determine the effectiveness of leasing. The most significant component of a lease is the gap between the residual value and the sale price of the vehicle. A residual value is little more than a guess at the future value of a vehicle. Manufacturers and third party companies like ALG use current and historic used car value data to establish residuals. Because of this process, residual values tend to lag used car values. As residuals rise, the gap between the residual value and the sales price gets smaller leading to lower payments. As residuals fall, the gap becomes larger leading to higher payments.

There are many benefits to leasing, but the most important is affordability. Affordability is most often measured in terms of monthly payments. As leases become more affordable, they become more appealing to consumers and penetrate at a higher percentage of total sales. The bullish cycle in used car values from 2009 till 2014 led to some of the lowest lease payments I’ve seen in my career. Consumers noticed and took advantage of the savings.

Residual values lag used car values. When used car values outperform residual values, lessees can trade early and utilize the equity in their lease as a down payment towards a new purchase or lease expanding the new car business. When used car values underperform residual values, new car business contracts as lessees are forced to go the full term of the lease and are left without equity in the end. As I mentioned earlier, used car values for passenger vehicles have been falling significantly since 2014. Aside from the negative effects that used car values underperforming residual values have on new car sales velocity, the lagging effect discussed earlier leaves captive banks open to a considerable amount of residual risk. Please use this link and read through the entire thread for a number of examples using BMW leases.

As used car values continue to decline, residual values will continue to adjust downward. Lower residuals will lead to higher payments, and leasing will produce fewer sales.

Leasing is responsible for a significant portion of total light vehicle retail sales. Here’s a look at the penetration rates by manufacturer.

The average new vehicle price has inflated by 20% since 2008. Leasing has become the best and/or only way for consumers to afford new vehicles while prices continue to rise. This is evident when you see manufacturers relying on leasing for most of their sales volume.  What happens to the sales volume for individual car companies and for the auto industry as a whole when residuals are adjusted lower and the affordability that leases provide is lost?

3) Credit Risk

While conventional auto loans only carry default risk, leasing adds residual risk. Leases do not have to default to become a problem; they can become a problem at maturity. Most of the outstanding leases have been securitized bringing us back to 2007 levels. The appetite for auto related ABS makes perfect sense since leases haven’t produced negative equity for years. This adds a layer of complexity that needs to be considered.

The gap between residuals, principle balanced owed for all auto loans and the recovery value for vehicles will grow as used car prices continue to fall. The larger the gap between balances owed and used car vales, the larger the risk and potential losses for the banks holding these loans.

4) What’s Holding It All Up?

The light truck and SUV segment is at a different stage in its’ cycle compared to passenger cars. The majority of US consumers prefer light trucks and SUVs instead of passenger cars. However, the performance of the light truck and SUV segment is very dependent on the price of fuel. Years of low fuel prices have kept the demand for light trucks and SUV very high. So what do you do when one segment (Light Pickups and SUVs) is outperforming the other (Passenger Cars)? Well, you build less of what’s underperforming (Passenger Cars) and more of what’s outperforming (Pickup Trucks and SUVs). Much like a stock market index where money can flow into big names like FANG while market breadth is lost and still move up, manufacturers have shifted their focus toward the more profitable light pickup truck and SUV market. This has experts very focused on oil to gauge the overall health of the automotive sector.

5) Think Fuel Prices Are Your Leading Indicator? Guess Again…

The same thing that caused the correction in used passenger car values is now affecting light pickup trucks and SUVs – ultra low lease payments. Note how lease volume is now favoring SUVs instead of passenger cars. (Residuals are correcting in passenger cars, which translates into higher payments.) 

Consumers purchase used cars because they are typically more affordable than new vehicles. Affordability is most often measured in terms of monthly payments. What happens to used car values when a new vehicle becomes more affordable than its’ 1, 2 or 3-year-old version?

6) Supply and Demand

Rate of sale calculations from a record setting year followed by 4 months of year-over-year misses, has left us with a high-day supply of new vehicles.

When sales velocity slows down, the expected reaction from manufacturers is more incentives, and increased incentives are exactly what we received. To illustrate this, let’s take a look at General Motors. GM had a 98-day supply of vehicles at the end March (2017). Ninety-Eight days is very high, but GM stated that it’s part of a strategic build in their inventory. Even if that is the case, the Malibu had a 124-day supply and the Silverado had a 115-day supply.  The response to the day-supply problem in Silverado and Malibu was a very aggressive lease and 20% off MSRP respectively.

This scenario triggers a series of events that places a lot of negative pressure on used car values.

This new car problem precedes a supply glut of lease returns. Supply will soon overwhelm demand as the record setting leases of the last 3 years mature. Here is a look at a maturity chart for Ford.

Lease maturities don’t necessarily turn into inventory problems. When used car values are outperforming residual values, most clients elect to buy the vehicle from the captive banks or utilize the equity as a down payment toward a new purchase or lease. A smaller amount of vehicles reaching wholesale auctions limits supply and supports higher used car values. However, when used car values underperform residual values, clients will exercise their right to return the keys to the vehicle and use the protection that the residual value provides. A growing return rate shown here on this slide from Ford’s Q1 earnings call is proof that this is happening today.

Dealers will also reject maturing leases at the residual value thus leaving the transfer of ownership from captive banks to the new owner at wholesale auctions. This will lead to higher auction volumes resulting in lower used car values.

7) The Competition Does Not Wait

Competitors will not sacrifice market share while another manufacturer manages a day-supply problem. As I expected, competitors responded quickly to the aggressive lease on Silverado:

These aggressive leases are exactly what triggered the correction in used passenger cars. Will it be different this time?

8) Manufacturers Start The Problem And Dealers Supercharge It

New car dealerships are being built in vast quantities. With demand slowing, more dealers have to fight for fewer sales. This supercharges the already large discounting effect created by the manufacturers. The unintended collateral damage becomes used car values. What market is left for used cars when new cars are less expensive?

9) 2016 Leftovers in May of 2017

A quick scan using your favorite auto search engine will reveal a staggering amount of new 2016 leftovers. On May 10, 2017, a simple internet search returned 145,763 leftover units nationally.

This is concerning for many reasons. Dealers place very heavy emphasis on getting rid of prior model year vehicles before the end of each year. At a certain time of the year (already past), manufacturers will give dealers a lump-sum payment per unit of unsold prior model year vehicles and remove incentive support in terms of special leases, incentivized rates and rebates. Dealers do not want to have any leftover vehicles when this happens, as those vehicles are extremely difficult to sell against the newest models that have manufacturer incentive support.

The amount of leftover new car inventory is also a sign of slowing demand. These vehicles represent the heaviest discounted portion of new car inventory at dealerships. The 2016 leftover models have not sold yet and we already have 2018 models at a showroom floor near you.

10) How Important is the Health of the Rental Car Market?

The problems facing rental car companies today are very serious. It’s important to understand how their monthly per-unit expense relates to profitability.

There is a direct correlation between used car values and the car rental company’s monthly per-unit fleet cost. The rise in per-unit cost has a direct effect on profit margins. You can see this very clearly if you overlay the NADA used car value index over a stock chart during the same time period.

The monthly per-unit cost at Hertz is currently $348.  Consider what happened to sales into rental  (below chart) in 2009 with a similar per-unit cost.

11) Expected Results Versus Reality

Many respected sources are projecting flat retail sales for 2017 and a modest 1% decline in 2018. I respectfully disagree. We are simply too far along in a used vehicle value correction that currently includes light pickup trucks and SUVs. Leases will become less affordable as residuals rise. Without leases, we simply will not have the volume needed to meet those projections. I also believe that sales to rental car agencies will significantly decline moving forward. At this pace, the possibility of a major rental car agency going out of business in the next year is not out of the question.

via http://ift.tt/2pZPXRw Tyler Durden

One can call Saudi Arabia – the world leader in weapons imports and decapitations per capita – many things, but a bastion of “democracy and moderation” is not one of them.

One could, for example, call the Saudi Kingdom the biggest financial sponsor of terrorism – not only Al Qaeda (recall who funded and organized the Sept 11 attack), but also ISIS, as was confirmed on many separate occasions, but most notably in a leaked email from Hillary Clinton in which the former secretary of state said that “we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.”

And yet, none of this was mentioned in today’s Trump speech, who instead deliberately diverted away from the real culprits behind the global rising wave of terrorism, and focused exclusively on Iran (with a  little dose of Syria throw in for good measure) which only yesterday held a democratic presidential election (in which the hard-liner lost), as the biggest source of instability and terrorism in the world. This is what Trump said:

But no discussion of stamping out [the threat of terrorism] would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three—safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment. It is a regime that is responsible for so much instability in the region. I am speaking of course of Iran.

 

From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.

 

It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this room.

 

Responsible nations must work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS, and restore stability to the region. The Iranian regime’s longest-suffering victims are its own people. Iran has a rich history and culture, but the people of Iran have endured hardship and despair under their leaders’ reckless pursuit of conflict and terror.

 

Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran, deny it funding for terrorism, and pray for the day when the Iranian people have the just and righteous government they deserve. 

And this is how Iran’s foreign minister responded on Twitter, shortly after Trump’s speech, when in just 23 words Iran’s Javad Zarif exposed the hypocrisy in Trump’s 3,400-word laudation of Saudi Arabia, which just became one of America’s biggest friends, after it promised to buy over half a trillion in weapons from the US over the next decade.

This is what Zarif said: “Iran—fresh from real elections—attacked by @POTUS in that bastion of democracy & moderation. Foreign Policy or simply milking KSA of $480B?”

Iran—fresh from real elections—attacked by @POTUS in that bastion of democracy & moderation. Foreign Policy or simply milking KSA of $480B? http://pic.twitter.com/ahfvRxK3HV

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 21, 2017

Zarif does have a point: Trump’s words – hollow as they may be – are just that, meanwhile he is set to return to the US with over $300 billion in funding commitments which are sure to make shareholders of the US Military-Industrial complex richer than ever.

As for the upcoming even greater and more violent middle-eastern wars, as Saudi Arabia puts all of its newly purchased US “toys” to use, that’s a topic for a different post although the following “simplified” chart of the ongoing Syrian civil war is a good place to start…

via http://ift.tt/2rFGdco Tyler Durden

Authored by Chris Campbell via LFB.org,

“Progressive” is often a word we hear bandied about to describe very destructive things.

It’s “progressive,” for example, to believe taking responsibility for your individual thoughts, words and actions is a fool’s errand. When taken to its extreme, as it often is, many self-described progressives believe you are responsible for the actions, past and present, of your “group” — and such group, whether you like it or not, is decided for you without your input.

And based on what group you are in, you are more responsible for some things and less responsible for others.

So, says the uber-progressive, your individual actions don’t matter. The core of your being is morally relative. You are defined not by your peers, principles and actions — but by the things you can’t possibly choose. You are judged, rather, by those things outside of your control and those judgments are based on the whims of trendsetters, glitterati and pseudo-experts.

Filmmaker Neel Kolhatkar did a brilliant video about this strange paradigm called Modern Educayshun. Check it out if you haven’t seen it.

It’s also “progressive” to believe only elite academics or politicians — those people, as it happens, with the least skin in the game — are capable of saving the environment, the poor, the abused and the downtrodden from themselves.

If only they had more money. If only they could go deeper and deeper and deeper into debt. If only the masses would just get on their knees like good little docile sheep and wisely accept their theories as unvarnished truth. If only they would get “educated.” (Another word that’s been corrupted beyond belief.)

If only. Then, we could make real progress.

Which is why, naturally, the progressive movement is responsible for not just the centralized power structures we behold today — but also for the biggest “vampire squid” (hat tip to Matt Taibbi) of them all… the Federal Reserve.

To explain, we pull a chapter from Murray Rothbard’s enlightening book, The Origins of the Federal Reserve.

Read on.

The Progressive Movement

Murray Rothbard, The Origins of the Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913, was part and parcel of the wave of Progressive legislation, on local, state, and federal levels of government, that began about 1900. Progressivism was a bipartisan movement which, in the course of the fi rst two decades of the twentieth century, transformed the American economy and society from one of roughly laissez-faire to one of centralized statism.

Until the 1960s, historians had established the myth that Progressivism was a virtual uprising of workers and farmers who, guided by a new generation of altruistic experts and intellectuals, surmounted fierce big business opposition in order to curb, regulate, and control what had been a system of accelerating monopoly in the late nineteenth century. A generation of research and scholarship, however, has now exploded that myth for all parts of the American polity, and it has become all too clear that the truth is the reverse of this well-worn fable.

In contrast, what actually happened was that business became increasingly competitive during the late nineteenth century, and that various big-business interests, led by the powerful financial house of J.P. Morgan and Company, had tried desperately to establish successful cartels on the free market.

The first wave of such cartels was in the first large-scale business, railroads, and in every case, the attempt to increase profits, by cutting sales with a quota system and thereby to raise prices or rates, collapsed quickly from internal competition within the cartel and from external competition by new competitors eager to undercut the cartel.

During the 1890s, in the new field of large-scale industrial corporations, big-business interests tried to establish high prices and reduced production via mergers, and again, in every case, the mergers collapsed from the winds of new competition.

In both sets of cartel attempts, J.P. Morgan and Company had taken the lead, and in both sets of cases, the market, hampered though it was by high protective tariff walls, managed to nullify these attempts at voluntary cartelization. It then became clear to these big-business interests that the only way to establish a cartelized economy, an economy that would ensure their continued economic dominance and high profits, would be to use the powers of government to establish and maintain cartels by coercion. In other words, to transform the economy from roughly laissez-faire to centralized and coordinated statism.

But how could the American people, steeped in a long tradition of fierce opposition to government imposed monopoly, go along with this program? How could the public’s consent to the New Order be engineered?

Fortunately for the cartelists, a solution to this vexing problem lay at hand. Monopoly could be put over in the name of opposition to monopoly! In that way, using the rhetoric beloved by Americans, the form of the political economy could be maintained, while the content could be totally reversed.

Monopoly had always been defined, in the popular parlance and among economists, as “grants of exclusive privilege” by the government. It was now simply redefined as “big business” or business competitive practices, such as price-cutting, so that regulatory commissions, from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the Federal Trade Commission to state insurance commissions, were lobbied for and staffed by big-business men from the regulated industry, all done in the name of curbing “big business monopoly” on the free market.

In that way, the regulatory commissions could subsidize, restrict, and cartelize in the name of “opposing monopoly,” as well as promoting the general welfare and national security. Once again, it was railroad monopoly that paved the way.

For this intellectual shell game, the cartelists needed the support of the nation’s intellectuals, the class of professional opinion molders in society. The Morgans needed a smoke screen of ideology, setting forth the rationale and the apologetics for the New Order. Again, fortunately for them, the intellectuals were ready and eager for the new alliance.

The enormous growth of intellectuals, academics, social scientists, technocrats, engineers, social workers, physicians, and occupational “guilds” of all types in the late nineteenth century led most of these groups to organize for a far greater share of the pie than they could possibly achieve on the free market.

These intellectuals needed the State to license, restrict, and cartelize their occupations, so as to raise the incomes for the fortunate people already in these fields. In return for their serving as apologists for the new statism, the State was prepared to offer not only cartelized occupations, but also ever increasing and cushier jobs in the bureaucracy to plan and propagandize for the newly statized society.

And the intellectuals were ready for it, having learned in graduate schools in Germany the glories of statism and organicist socialism, of a harmonious “middle way” between dog-eat-dog laissez-faire on the one hand and proletarian Marxism on the other.

Instead, big government, staffed by intellectuals and technocrats, steered by big business and aided by unions organizing a subservient labor force, would impose a cooperative commonwealth for the alleged benefit of all.

via http://ift.tt/2qIEjK1 Tyler Durden

Not satisfied with sourcing anonymous people familiar with the matter of Comey's feelings about Trump's "influence" over investigations, CNN is now asking fired former FBI Director Comey's 86-year-old dad how he feels…

In a phone interview with CNN on Saturday, J. Brien Comey claims that President Trump was "scared to death" of Comey, and that is what led to his firing…

"I think the man should be in a home quite honestly, he's crazy as a hoot."

 

"…Trump changes every day. He had three reasons three days in a row."

 

"Jim tells the truth, (while) Trump runs around lying most of the day."

 

"Oh my God, I think he should be impeached immediately — yesterday. He's a very incompetent guy. He's out of his league."

 

"[Comey] didn't give him 100% loyalty, and he demands that of people who work with him, "[Comey] said he would give 100% honesty, but not loyalty."

The elder Comey, who first spoke to New Jersey's The Record about his son's firing, said he preferred Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich during the 2016 Republican presidential primary because he "seemed like a very honest guy. He made a good impression on me. I thought he would make a good president."

Comey's father concluded by insisting that his son is doing ok even after his ouster.

"He's doing fine. He's a solid citizen, he has lots of opportunity,… It was a dumb thing to get rid of him. A loss for the FBI."

So to summarize – Dad defends son (which reminds us – how many times have we seen the parents of some murderer proclaim on TV, "he's just not that kind of person"? remaining in denial despite the social media streamed, blood-soaked killings?… just saying).

via http://ift.tt/2qELPF6 Tyler Durden

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

A recent article out this past week by Russ Koesterich via BlackRock noted that bond yields had not melted-up as “everyone expected.”

Sorry, Rick.

It’s not everyone, just you guys on Wall Street.

Since 2013, I have been laying out the case, repeatedly, as to why interest rates will not rise. Here are a few of the most recent links for your review:

• April 20, 2017 – Why Bonds Aren’t Overvalued 
• March 23, 2017 – The Long View – Rates, GDP & Challenges
• October 24, 2016 – End Of The Bond Bull, Better Hope Not
• August 30, 2016 – Why Interest Rates Are Going To Zero
• August 27, 2016 – Let’s Be Like Japan

As I said, I have been fighting this battle for a long-time while “everyone else” has remained focused on the wrong reasons for higher interest rates. As I stated in “Let’s Be Like Japan:”

“Yellen has become caught in the same liquidity trap as Japan. With the current economic recovery already pushing the long end of the economic cycle, the risk is rising that the next economic downturn is closer than not. The danger is that the Federal Reserve is now potentially trapped with an inability to use monetary policy tools to offset the next economic decline when it occurs.

 

This is the same problem that Japan has wrestled with for the last 20 years. While Japan has entered into an unprecedented stimulus program (on a relative basis twice as large as the U.S. on an economy 1/3 the size) there is no guarantee that such a program will result in the desired effect of pulling the Japanese economy out of its 30-year deflationary cycle. The problems that face Japan are similar to what we are currently witnessing in the U.S.:

 

• A decline in savings rates to extremely low levels which depletes productive investments
• An aging demographic that is top heavy and drawing on social benefits at an advancing rate.
• A heavily indebted economy with debt/GDP ratios above 100%.
• A decline in exports due to a weak global economic environment.
• Slowing domestic economic growth rates.
• An underemployed younger demographic.
• An inelastic supply-demand curve
• Weak industrial production
• Dependence on productivity increases to offset reduced employment

 

The lynchpin to Japan, and the U.S., remains interest rates. If interest rates rise sharply it is effectively “game over” as borrowing costs surge, deficits balloon, housing falls, revenues weaken and consumer demand wanes. It is the worst thing that can happen to an economy that is currently remaining on life support.”

While Central Banks continue to intervene where possible to support asset prices, the recent decoupling of the market from the underlying rate structure, in hopes of “Trumponomics,” is likely transient. The only question is simply how long it will be before “reality” and “hope” reconnect.

The last time the stock/bond ratio (purple line) was this elevated, it didn’t work out well for investors as volatility spiked, equity prices plunged and the “sprint for safety” send bond prices surging.

Unfortunately, the Fed is still misdiagnosing what ails the economy and monetary policy is unlikely to change the outcome in the U.S., just as it failed in Japan. The reason is monetary interventions, and government spending, don’t create organic, and sustainable, economic growth. Simply pulling forward future consumption through monetary policy continues to leave an ever growing void in the future that must be filled. Eventually, the void will be too great to fill.

But hey, let’s just keep doing the same thing over and over again, which hasn’t worked for anyone as of yet, hoping for a different result. 

What’s the worst that could happen? 

via http://ift.tt/2rr8eqw Tyler Durden

Dozens of graduating students walked out during Vice President Mike Pence’s commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame on Sunday, according to video reports posted on social networks. When Pence was called to the stage Saturday morning, over 50 of the new alumni walked out in protest. The students cited the Vice President’s history of anti-LGBTQ actions including the passage of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in 2015, which some say legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people and families.

A small crowd of protesters also gathered at the university’s main entrance.

MSM never turned cameras to show Trump rally crowds – yet no issue doing it for walkout during Pence’s commencement speech at Notre Dame. http://pic.twitter.com/W0X0ODHOOJ

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) May 21, 2017

We Stand For, a coalition of students at Notre Dame, Holy Cross and Saint Mary’s College, posted videos of the protest on Facebook and Twitter. The group says it stands up “for human dignity, respect and justice.”

Notre Dame Grads walkout on #VPEnabler
3min video for those of you want to refute crowd size!
Go Irish! http://pic.twitter.com/AK6aTTS9w8

— Michele (@Mia_2u) May 21, 2017

GLAAD, a group representing those in the LGBTQ community, applauded the men and woman who protested.

“Graduates around the country deserve commencement speakers who inspire them to propel our diverse country forward, and these Notre Dame students bravely told the world that Vice President Pence’s anti-LGBTQ actions fly in the face of unity and inspiration,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “These Notre Dame graduates should be applauded for demonstrating true leadership and standing up for freedom and acceptance.”

Meanwhile, Notre Dame spokesman Paul Browne said school officials would only intervene if the protest “seriously disrupted” the commencement or put anyone’s safety at risk.

Notre Dame graduates walk out when Mike Pence starts to give his commencement speech @CNN @FoxNews http://pic.twitter.com/wTb4magbIA

— Will Felts (@JWFTheThird) May 21, 2017

“It’s deeply humbling for me to participate in the 172nd commencement in Notre Dame’s 175th year,” Pence said to applause and boos, according to WNDU. Even prior to his speech, many students had announced plans to walk out in opposition to Trump administration’s policies.

In his address, the VP touted President Trump’s recent executive order on religious freedom in his address to the Catholic university, as well as Trump’s remarks on religion in Saudi Arabia. Ironically, Pence also took aim at political correctness on college campuses, saying it was “wholly outside of the American tradition.” It was just the signal dozens of graduating seniors needed to demonstrative walk out of their own graduation.

Prior to Pence’s address, valedictorian C.J. Pine gave a politically charged address in which he called for equal rights and religious freedom for Muslims and all faiths The Hill reported. “Our generation must stand against the scapegoating of Muslims,” he said.  Pine also appeared to take aim at Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“If we are going to build walls between American students and international students, then I am skewered on the fence,” Pine said. 

Taking a more conciliatory tone, Father John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, called for peace and dialogue.  “Too often the love that fires our passion is twisted into a hatred in which we disagree,” Jenkins said.

via http://ift.tt/2q9e2k2 Tyler Durden

Seeing…and Being Seen

By

Cognitive Dissonance

 

While I suspect western culture has always been afflicted with the desperate need to be seen, affirmed and acknowledged, we appear to be nearing the climax of self destructive behavior in our mindless pursuit to escape our true self by having our madness verified as normal and natural by other mad men and women.

Misery, and madness, loves company.

Last week Mrs. Cog and I traveled to our daughter’s capital city university to retrieve her for several days of rest and relaxation before she returns to begin a grueling summer study session at college. Basically Sarah will stuff a full semester (15 credit hours) into a few months of intense work before beginning the fall semester in late August.

We decided to grab something to eat before heading back and drove over to a popular eatery for a quick bite. Naturally it was packed and parking (this being the inner city) was at a premium. In fact, so precious was the ability to park our four wheeled steel cage that the small parking lot was overseen by a man whose sole purpose was to manage vehicle traffic in order to maximize lunch hour meal service.

While I admit seeing a parking lot attendant is a bit of a novelty since we moved to a sparsely populated area of the state possessing very few parking lots, let alone attendants, I was immediately struck by the ‘presence’ of this man. There was something about him that was arresting and my curiosity was peaked. So while we waited for a parking space to clear I settled in and began one of my favorite pastimes……people watching.

We are strange and wondrous animals and fascinating to watch when prowling our natural habitat, regardless of whether it is a busy city street corner or the wide open rolling hills of rural Southwestern Virginia. Go sit for an hour in a busy shopping mall, Wal-Mart or downtown park for a first hand education in human nature.

But I digress.

The attendant, middle aged, reasonably trim and wearing a bright reflective vest, displayed a body language that spoke volumes to anyone who cared to listen. I first noticed him when his back was turned towards me. But even then it was immediately obvious he was alert and engaged, yet somehow calm, relaxed even.

Or maybe the better phrase might be comfortable in his skin. He was at ease with himself and his surroundings, in his element, finely tuned and ticking like an exquisite Swiss watch. When he finally turned and faced me, for I was now next in line to be parked, I saw intensity, focus, professionalism and pleasure. He liked what he was doing and he was good at what he did.

He studied each face he interacted with and remembered who they were and where they were parked when they came back out. He had command over the small lot and was expert in directing waiting cars around to allow those wishing to leave to quickly vacate so those waiting could quickly fill the empty space.

Our daughter and her friend, who were waiting to park ahead of us, decided to leave and park at a nearby garage to expedite the parking process for Mrs. Cog and I, then walk back to the eatery for lunch with us. Even though the attendant never ‘parked’ them, he remembered them and commented that they had made their way back to the restaurant, then warned them not to park across the street, a place notorious for towing unauthorized parked cars.

While he accepted tips and had placed a sign at the exit informing those leaving that tips were welcome and appreciated, I did not sense he was hustling just for money, but rather for the joy of being in the groove and at his best.

I tipped him on the way in to be seated and once again on the way out, telling him I found his personality engaging and a joy to behold. He expressed gratitude upon hearing my comment and said it had made his day. I heard honesty and sincerity in his voice and saw it’s reflection in his demeanor.

He had been seen by someone else and it meant a great deal to him. And upon reflection, it meant a great deal to me as well for he acknowledged my acknowledgment of him. Two ships, passing in the night, signaling to each other Hello and Goodbye.

What I saw was someone who was being the best he could be at what he was presently doing. While I have no way of knowing if this is true, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find he approaches many, if not all, of his daily tasks with the same vigorous perspective. He wasn’t being obsessive/compulsive; there wasn’t this intense need to complete certain tasks before moving on to the next, just him being thorough and precise in a relaxed but alert manner.

I suspect the vast majority of others, myself included, who might be pressed into service as a parking lot attendant, willingly or not, would not invest anywhere near the time, energy or thought into his or her task as this man clearly does. I felt, sensed really, he was at ease and in command of himself, and therefore at ease and in command with everything and everyone he interfaced with.

 

Western 'civilization' sucks us dry, offering no nourishment. Only we can fill the void left behind.

 

There is a powerful scene in the movie “Last Samurai” where the captured soldier (played by Tom Cruise) is free to wander within the village and interact with the natives, thought always shadowed by an armed guard. He observes how all whom he encounters are disciplined and focused as they complete each task, no matter how small or trivial, to the highest perfection without being wasteful of time, energy or material. They are being the best they can be for no other purpose than to be true to themselves.

Rather than seek meaning in life from external sources, they infuse life with meaning and purpose, thereby creating a virtuous circle where they both give everything they have and gain everything they can from giving of themselves. In order to truly receive, to be capable of receiving, they must first give it away by infusing themselves into whatever it is they are creating.

They live a life based upon a simple concept; only when they are all they can be, thus are, will they see their self fully and honestly. And only then can anyone else see them, and therefore their self, for whom and what they really are. Otherwise all they see, and are seen as, is the false façade they project to others, eventually believing through endless repetition this is what they truly are when in fact the exact opposite is true.

Either we are the truth we seek by living it on a daily basis, or we practice the life of a lie and are easily distracted and manipulated. The difference is being a rock, barely embedded in the soil, easily dislodged and carried away, or one deeply buried but for the top, rooted to the Earth, impervious to surface disruptions yet fully cognizant of all.

Of course, the inner knowing we all possess, the true non egoic self, recognizes the fundamental lie for what it is, thereby setting up and inflaming a terribly disruptive cognitive dissonance within. This inner conflict sets upon us a terrible emptiness and craving to be affirmed in our lie, less we be forced to face the truth of our own self deception. The vast majority of us are at war with our selves. And it shows in the increasingly dysfunctional and neurotic lives we lead and live.

The insane asylum is becoming increasingly insane, the natives progressively more manic and the lies more deeply intertwined and nonsensical. In a paternal hierarchy, the authority declares what is truth and lie, the mindless minion helpless to do much more than to submit to the tyranny of the hive mind. This is why insanity is contagious when contracted in groups, while sanity returns, even thrives, one individual at a time.

This brings me back to the ‘presence’ observation I made when describing the parking lot attendant at the beginning of this piece. While everyone has experienced presence at one time or another, most don’t recognize it for what it really is because it quickly blends into the prevailing fog of our lives. Or we mistake presence for celebrity, be it actor, politician or athlete.

But true presence is sensed before it is seen, felt before touched, perceived by our inner knowing as real, genuine, sincere and authentic. True and unabashed sanity glows, lighting the way forward by action and deed rather than empty rhetoric and proffered falsehoods.

Animals, babies and young children instantly recognize presence while we adults, severely degraded by decades of decadent cognitive conditioning supplemented by a poisonous diet, barely notice the ripple in space and time as another opportunity to experience sanity passes by.

I claim no special powers other than the desire to declare I have seen the depths of my insanity and wish never to go there again. The one and only endowment bestowed upon me when I visited my madness was the gift of desperation, of knowing that sanity does not just happen but must be vigorously and endlessly pursued. Insanity seeps in when the mind and spirit are lazy and infused with an entitlement mentality.

Madness cannot be escaped when one is surrounded by insanity unless one is willing to actively seek the one flower of sanity always in bloom, the one found deeply within our self.

The only question remaining is, how desperate are we to unearth the sanity and set our self free?

 

05/21/2017

Cognitive Dissonance

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via http://ift.tt/2qEI5Ua Cognitive Dissonance

From the latest Weekend Notes by One River Asset Management’s Eric Peters

Beep Beep

 

The market finally woke up,” said Roadrunner, the market’s top volatility trader.“The volatility of the VIX index jumped 40% on Wednesday, that’s the 2nd biggest daily move in the VVIX we’ve ever seen.” The S&P fell just 1.8% on Trump/Comey jitters.

 

“We’ve been short vol all year, and sold more into that spike. When the vol of vol jumps violently, and people are panic-buying, it’s pretty easy to do.” In the background, volatility resumed its collapse. “Feels like this will be a really busy summer.”

 

“On Thursday we got a glimpse of what a big political crisis looks like,” continued Roadrunner, relaxed. Brazilian stocks had fallen 10%, the currency fell 6%. The 3x leveraged Brazilian ETF fell 40%.

 

“That’s what a crisis would look like here too. But the market is telling us this isn’t what’s happening.”

 

The S&P 500 closed the week -0.4%. The VIX finished the week +1.6 points at 12.04. “This drama won’t play out the way the media suggests. They’ve been wrong the whole way. The Trump agenda hasn’t been permanently derailed.”

 

“Apple vol is only bid on the upside,” continued Roadrunner, glancing left, right. “There’s no fear in the option market when Apple falls.”

 

He looked up. “That vol market is telling us there’s still a very large move to the upside.” And surrounded by hysteria, Roadrunner relaxed.

 

“It’s hard but you need to still be long the overall market. Prices are high, but people aren’t really bullish.” Cash levels have yet to collapse.

 

“These markets don’t end without a rip roaring rally. These things end with volatility to the upside. And then there’s no one left to buy.”

* * *

And a bonus anecdote about pachyderms:

“Investors are eating like birds and crapping like elephants,” said the zookeeper. “They’re pecking at tiny seeds, crumbs. Picking up the odd basis point here and there.”

 

Feathered friends darted about the dusty floor, elephants lumbering overhead, the slightest misstep instant death.

 

“Birds always find ways to convince themselves that through good risk management, they can make poor risk reward decisions and fly away just in time.”

 

Brazilian stocks gapped lower, without warning. A discontinuous move. Every stop-loss irrelevant.

via http://ift.tt/2qIsiUy Tyler Durden

Some analyst, such as Beacon Advsiros, expected a diplomatic scandal as a worst case scenario outcome from Trump’s keynote speech at the Arab Islamic American Summit in Saudi Arabia. That did not happen, and instead Trump delivered a speech that many pundits on both sides of the aisle said was better than expected, even if in a very strict sense.

Clocking in at just over 3,400 words, here is a full transcript of what Trump told Saudi Arabia and the world on Sunday afternoon.

Speech transcript at Arab Islamic American Summit ??https://t.co/eUWxJXJxbe

Replay ??https://t.co/VtmlSqciXx#RiyadhSummit #POTUSAbroad

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2017

 

I want to thank King Salman for his extraordinary words, and the magnificent Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting today’s summit. I am honored to be received by such gracious hosts. I have always heard about the splendor of your country and the kindness of your citizens, but words do not do justice to the grandeur of this remarkable place and the incredible hospitality you have shown us from the moment we arrived.

You also hosted me in the treasured home of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the Kingdom who united your great people. Working alongside another beloved leader—American President Franklin Roosevelt—King Abdulaziz began the enduring partnership between our two countries. King Salman: your father would be so proud to see that you are continuing his legacy—and just as he opened the first chapter in our partnership, today we begin a new chapter that will bring lasting benefits to our citizens.

Let me now also extend my deep and heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of the distinguished heads of state who made this journey here today. You greatly honor us with your presence, and I send the warmest regards from my country to yours. I know that our time together will bring many blessings to both your people and mine.

I stand before you as a representative of the American People, to deliver a message of friendship and hope. That is why I chose to make my first foreign visit a trip to the heart of the Muslim world, to the nation that serves as custodian of the two holiest sites in the Islamic Faith.

In my inaugural address to the American People, I pledged to strengthen America’s oldest friendships, and to build new partnerships in pursuit of peace. I also promised that America will not seek to impose our way of life on others, but to outstretch our hands in the spirit of cooperation and trust.

Our vision is one of peace, security, and prosperity—in this region, and in the world.

Our goal is a coalition of nations who share the aim of stamping out extremism and providing our children a hopeful future that does honor to God.

And so this historic and unprecedented gathering of leaders—unique in the history of nations—is a symbol to the world of our shared resolve and our mutual respect. To the leaders and citizens of every country assembled here today, I want you to know that the United States is eager to form closer bonds of friendship, security, culture and commerce.

For Americans, this is an exciting time. A new spirit of optimism is sweeping our country: in just a few months, we have created almost a million new jobs, added over 3 trillion dollars of new value, lifted the burdens on American industry, and made record investments in our military that will protect the safety of our people and enhance the security of our wonderful friends and allies—many of whom are here today.

Now, there is even more blessed news I am pleased to share with you. My meetings with King Salman, the Crown Prince, and the Deputy Crown Prince, have been filled with great warmth, good will, and tremendous cooperation. Yesterday, we signed historic agreements with the Kingdom that will invest almost $400 billion in our two countries and create many thousands of jobs in America and Saudi Arabia.

This landmark agreement includes the announcement of a $110 billion Saudi-funded defense purchase—and we will be sure to help our Saudi friends to get a good deal from our great American defense companies. This agreement will help the Saudi military to take a greater role in security operations.

We have also started discussions with many of the countries present today on strengthening partnerships, and forming new ones, to advance security and stability across the Middle East and beyond.

Later today, we will make history again with the opening of a new Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology—located right here, in this central part of the Islamic World.

This groundbreaking new center represents a clear declaration that Muslim-majority countries must take the lead in combatting radicalization, and I want to express our gratitude to King Salman for this strong demonstration of leadership.

I have had the pleasure of welcoming several of the leaders present today to the White House, and I look forward to working with all of you.

America is a sovereign nation and our first priority is always the safety and security of our citizens. We are not here to lecture—we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership—based on shared interests and values—to pursue a better future for us all.

Here at this summit we will discuss many interests we share together. But above all we must be united in pursuing the one goal that transcends every other consideration. That goal is to meet history’s great test—to conquer extremism and vanquish the forces of terrorism.

Young Muslim boys and girls should be able to grow up free from fear, safe from violence, and innocent of hatred. And young Muslim men and women should have the chance to build a new era of prosperity for themselves and their peoples.

With God’s help, this summit will mark the beginning of the end for those who practice terror and spread its vile creed. At the same time, we pray this special gathering may someday be remembered as the beginning of peace in the Middle East—and maybe, even all over the world.

But this future can only be achieved through defeating terrorism and the ideology that drives it.

Few nations have been spared its violent reach.

America has suffered repeated barbaric attacks—from the atrocities of September 11th to the devastation of the Boston Bombing, to the horrible killings in San Bernardino and Orlando.

The nations of Europe have also endured unspeakable horror. So too have the nations of Africa and even South America. India, Russia, China and Australia have been victims.

But, in sheer numbers, the deadliest toll has been exacted on the innocent people of Arab, Muslim and Middle Eastern nations. They have borne the brunt of the killings and the worst of the destruction in this wave of fanatical violence.

Some estimates hold that more than 95 percent of the victims of terrorism are themselves Muslim.

We now face a humanitarian and security disaster in this region that is spreading across the planet. It is a tragedy of epic proportions. No description of the suffering and depravity can begin to capture its full measure.

The true toll of ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and so many others, must be counted not only in the number of dead. It must also be counted in generations of vanished dreams.

The Middle East is rich with natural beauty, vibrant cultures, and massive amounts of historic treasures. It should increasingly become one of the great global centers of commerce and opportunity.

This region should not be a place from which refugees flee, but to which newcomers flock. 

Saudi Arabia is home to the holiest sites in one of the world’s great faiths. Each year millions of Muslims come from around the world to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Hajj. In addition to ancient wonders, this country is also home to modern ones—including soaring achievements in architecture.

Egypt was a thriving center of learning and achievement thousands of years before other parts of the world. The wonders of Giza, Luxor and Alexandria are proud monuments to that ancient heritage.

All over the world, people dream of walking through the ruins of Petra in Jordan. Iraq was the cradle of civilization and is a land of natural beauty. And the United Arab Emirates has reached incredible heights with glass and steel, and turned earth and water into spectacular works of art.

The entire region is at the center of the key shipping lanes of the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Straits of Hormuz. The potential of this region has never been greater. 65 percent of its population is under the age of 30. Like all young men and women, they seek great futures to build, great national projects to join, and a place for their families to call home.

But this untapped potential, this tremendous cause for optimism, is held at bay by bloodshed and terror. There can be no coexistence with this violence. There can be no tolerating it, no accepting it, no excusing it, and no ignoring it.

Every time a terrorist murders an innocent person, and falsely invokes the name of God, it should be an insult to every person of faith.

Terrorists do not worship God, they worship death.

If we do not act against this organized terror, then we know what will happen. Terrorism’s devastation of life will continue to spread. Peaceful societies will become engulfed by violence. And the futures of many generations will be sadly squandered.

If we do not stand in uniform condemnation of this killing—then not only will we be judged by our people, not only will we be judged by history, but we will be judged by God.

This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations.

This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it.

This is a battle between Good and Evil.

When we see the scenes of destruction in the wake of terror, we see no signs that those murdered were Jewish or Christian, Shia or Sunni. When we look upon the streams of innocent blood soaked into the ancient ground, we cannot see the faith or sect or tribe of the victims—we see only that they were Children of God whose deaths are an insult to all that is holy.

But we can only overcome this evil if the forces of good are united and strong—and if everyone in this room does their fair share and fulfills their part of the burden.

Terrorism has spread across the world. But the path to peace begins right here, on this ancient soil, in this sacred land.

America is prepared to stand with you—in pursuit of shared interests and common security.

But the nations of the Middle East cannot wait for American power to crush this enemy for them. The nations of the Middle East will have to decide what kind of future they want for themselves, for their countries, and for their children.

It is a choice between two futures—and it is a choice America CANNOT make for you.

A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive. Them. Out.

DRIVE THEM OUT of your places of worship. 

DRIVE THEM OUT of your communities. 

DRIVE THEM OUT of your holy land, and

DRIVE THEM OUT OF THIS EARTH.

For our part, America is committed to adjusting our strategies to meet evolving threats and new facts. We will discard those strategies that have not worked—and will apply new approaches informed by experience and judgment. We are adopting a Principled Realism, rooted in common values and shared interests.

Our friends will never question our support, and our enemies will never doubt our determination. Our partnerships will advance security through stability, not through radical disruption. We will make decisions based on real-world outcomes – not inflexible ideology. We will be guided by the lessons of experience, not the confines of rigid thinking. And, wherever possible, we will seek gradual reforms – not sudden intervention.

We must seek partners, not perfection—and to make allies of all who share our goals.

Above all, America seeks peace—not war.

Muslim nations must be willing to take on the burden, if we are going to defeat terrorism and send its wicked ideology into oblivion.

The first task in this joint effort is for your nations to deny all territory to the foot soldiers of evil. Every country in the region has an absolute duty to ensure that terrorists find no sanctuary on their soil.

Many are already making significant contributions to regional security: Jordanian pilots are crucial partners against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia and a regional coalition have taken strong action against Houthi militants in Yemen. The Lebanese Army is hunting ISIS operatives who try to infiltrate their territory. Emirati troops are supporting our Afghan partners. In Mosul, American troops are supporting Kurds, Sunnis and Shias fighting together for their homeland. Qatar, which hosts the U.S. Central Command, is a crucial strategic partner. Our longstanding partnership with Kuwait and Bahrain continue to enhance security in the region. And courageous Afghan soldiers are making tremendous sacrifices in the fight against the Taliban, and others, in the fight for their country.

As we deny terrorist organizations control of territory and populations, we must also strip them of their access to funds. We must cut off the financial channels that let ISIS sell oil, let extremists pay their fighters, and help terrorists smuggle their reinforcements.

I am proud to announce that the nations here today will be signing an agreement to prevent the financing of terrorism, called the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center – co-chaired by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and joined by every member of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It is another historic step in a day that will be long remembered.

I also applaud the Gulf Cooperation Council for blocking funders from using their countries as a financial base for terror, and designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization last year. Saudi Arabia also joined us this week in placing sanctions on one of the most senior leaders of Hezbollah.

Of course, there is still much work to do.

That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires. And it means standing together against the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians.

Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory – piety to evil will bring you no dignity. If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and YOUR SOUL WILL BE CONDEMNED.

And political leaders must speak out to affirm the same idea: heroes don’t kill innocents; they save them. Many nations here today have taken important steps to raise up that message. Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030 is an important and encouraging statement of tolerance, respect, empowering women, and economic development.

The United Arab Emirates has also engaged in the battle for hearts and souls—and with the U.S., launched a center to counter the online spread of hate. Bahrain too is working to undermine recruitment and radicalism.

I also applaud Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon for their role in hosting refugees. The surge of migrants and refugees leaving the Middle East depletes the human capital needed to build stable societies and economies. Instead of depriving this region of so much human potential, Middle Eastern countries can give young people hope for a brighter future in their home nations and regions.

That means promoting the aspirations and dreams of all citizens who seek a better life—including women, children, and followers of all faiths. Numerous Arab and Islamic scholars have eloquently argued that protecting equality strengthens Arab and Muslim communities.

For many centuries the Middle East has been home to Christians, Muslims and Jews living side-by-side. We must practice tolerance and respect for each other once again—and make this region a place where every man and woman, no matter their faith or ethnicity, can enjoy a life of dignity and hope.

In that spirit, after concluding my visit in Riyadh, I will travel to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and then to the Vatican—visiting many of the holiest places in the three Abrahamic Faiths. If these three faiths can join together in cooperation, then peace in this world is possible – including peace between Israelis and Palestinians. I will be meeting with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Starving terrorists of their territory, their funding, and the false allure of their craven ideology, will be the basis for defeating them.

But no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three—safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment. It is a regime that is responsible for so much instability in the region. I am speaking of course of Iran.

From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.

It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this room.

Among Iran’s most tragic and destabilizing interventions have been in Syria. Bolstered by Iran, Assad has committed unspeakable crimes, and the United States has taken firm action in response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Assad Regime—launching 59 tomahawk missiles at the Syrian air base from where that murderous attack originated.

Responsible nations must work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS, and restore stability to the region. The Iranian regime’s longest-suffering victims are its own people. Iran has a rich history and culture, but the people of Iran have endured hardship and despair under their leaders’ reckless pursuit of conflict and terror.

Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran, deny it funding for terrorism, and pray for the day when the Iranian people have the just and righteous government they deserve. 

The decisions we make will affect countless lives.

King Salman, I thank you for the creation of this great moment in history, and for your massive investment in America, its industry and its jobs. I also thank you for investing in the future of this part of the world.

This fertile region has all the ingredients for extraordinary success – a rich history and culture, a young and vibrant people, a thriving spirit of enterprise. But you can only unlock this future if the citizens of the Middle East are freed from extremism, terror and violence.

We in this room are the leaders of our peoples. They look to us for answers, and for action. And when we look back at their faces, behind every pair of eyes is a soul that yearns for justice.

Today, billions of faces are now looking at us, waiting for us to act on the great question of our time.

Will we be indifferent in the presence of evil? Will we protect our citizens from its violent ideology? Will we let its venom spread through our societies? Will we let it destroy the most holy sites on earth? If we do not confront this deadly terror, we know what the future will bring—more suffering and despair. But if we act—if we leave this magnificent room unified and determined to do what it takes to destroy the terror that threatens the world—then there is no limit to the great future our citizens will have.

The birthplace of civilization is waiting to begin a new renaissance. Just imagine what tomorrow could bring.

Glorious wonders of science, art, medicine and commerce to inspire humankind. Great cities built on the ruins of shattered towns. New jobs and industries that will lift up millions of people. Parents who no longer worry for their children, families who no longer mourn for their loved ones, and the faithful who finally worship without fear.

These are the blessings of prosperity and peace. These are the desires that burn with a righteous flame in every human heart. And these are the just demands of our beloved peoples.

I ask you to join me, to join together, to work together, and to FIGHT together—BECAUSE UNITED, WE WILL NOT FAIL.

Thank you. God Bless You. God Bless Your Countries. And God Bless the United States of America.

via http://ift.tt/2rGOsUN Tyler Durden