Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) issued a sharp rebuke to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who described the ongoing spat between the Democratic Socialist and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as a “catfight.”
According to the New York Post, Conway called the dispute over border spending between Pelosi and four female freshman Democrats as a “major meow moment” and a “huge catfight.”
AOC was incensed, resorting to semantics in order to ‘womansplain’ the sexist history of the phrase.
“‘Catfight’ is the sexist term Republicans use when two adult women happen to disagree with each other,” tweeted AOC, adding “The reason they find it so novel &exciting is bc the GOP haven’t elected enough women themselves to see that it can, in fact, be a normal occurrence in a functioning democracy.”
“Catfight” is the sexist term Republicans use when two adult women happen to disagree with each other.
The reason they find it so novel &exciting is bc the GOP haven’t elected enough women themselves to see that it can, in fact, be a normal occurrence in a functioning democracy. https://t.co/s6eMMmvzrd
Looks like Sex and the City‘s Sarah Jessica Parker is a sexist Republican. Same with the Washington Times, The Telegraph, everyone involved in the production of the 2017 film Catfight – and anyone who watched it or thought about watching it.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/30r57wY Tyler Durden
While the topic of Joe Biden’s financial assets is hardly as controversial as that of Donald Trump, on Tuesday it was revealed that the Democratic presidential front-runner and his wife Jill earned more than $15 million during the past two years – when they left the White House, – with the bulk of their income coming from payments for the memoirs they’ve each written since the former vice president left office in January 2017. The couple’s total income in 2017 was $11 million and nearly $4.6 million in 2018, according to filed tax returns.
Biden’s campaign said that the vast majority of that income ($10,048,739 in 2017 and $3,236,764 in 2018) was derived from payments for the writing of two books: Joe’s “Promise Me, Dad” and Jill’s “Where the Light Enters,” as well as paid speaking engagements. Biden’s first book, an account of his son Beau’s death from cancer, topped bestseller lists in 2017.
Additionally, Joe Biden’s income in both years included about $400,000 from the University of Pennsylvania for his role as Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor, while Jill Biden took in a far lower $90,000 each year for her professorship at Northern Virginia Community College.
Biden’s financial disclosure also lists 47 speaking appearances; 30 were for his 2017 book “Promise Me, Dad.“
The couple’s earnings from the books and speaking engagements were paid through so-called S-Corporations, which the campaign described as “a common method for taxpayers who have outside sources of income to consolidate their earnings and expenses.” The campaign also said Joe and Jill Biden employed staff and engaged contractors to support their work through their S-Corporations, known as “CelticCapri” and “Giacoppa”, according to Fox News.
Biden, who was never one of the wealthier members of Congress during his decades as a senator, has seen his fortunes turn considerably since the end of Obama administration. During a four-decade political career, Biden brought home little more than his government salary.
Yet despite the turn in his fortune and his generous income in the past two years, the couple’s assets are materially smaller, and excluding retirement plans, the Bidens hold between $500,000 and $1.2 million in cash and have S-corpoprations with between $1 million and $5 million, and $500,000 and $1 million.
The leading Democrat in the 2020 presidential race, who has now made public the last 21 years of tax returns, has moved into a $5 million mansion outside Washington since he left the White House.
“Middle-Class Joe” more recently has resided in a 12,000-square-foot home in McLean, Va., that came complete with “five bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, marble fireplaces, a gym and a sauna,” The Washington Post reported last month. The home was rented from multi-millionaire Mark Ein.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/30sqVrI Tyler Durden
The pullback suggests that the UAE is preparing for the possibility of a US military confrontation with Iran in which the UAE and Saudi Arabia could emerge as prime battlegrounds.
Image: Christopher Pike for the Crown Prince Court-Abu Dhabi
It also reflects long-standing subtle differences in the approaches of Saudi Arabia and the UAE towards Yemen. It further highlights the UAE’s long-standing concern for its international standing amid mounting criticism of the civilian toll of the war as well as a recognition that the Trump administration’s unquestioning support may not be enough to shield its allies from significant reputational damage.
The withdrawal constitutes a fine-tuning rather than a reversal of the UAE’s determination to contain Iran and thwart political Islam witness the Emirates’ involvement in the Libyan civil war and support for renegade field marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar as well as its support for the embattled Sudanese military and autocrats like Egyptian general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
While the UAE may have withdrawn the bulk of its troops from key regions of Yemen, it leaves behind Emirati-trained local forces that will continue to do its bidding. The withdrawal, moreover, is not 100 percent with the UAE maintaining its Al-Mukalla base for counterterrorism operations.
As part of its regional and international projection, the UAE is keen to maintain its status as a model for Arab youth and preferred country of residence. The UAE’s image contrasts starkly with that of Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities.
Wittingly or unwittingly, the withdrawal leaves Saudi Arabia and Prince Mohammed, the instigator of the more than four-year long war that has sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, exposed.
Nonetheless, despite differing objectives in Yemen, the UAE too suffered from the reputational fallout of bombings of civilian targets that were largely carried out by the Saudi rather than the Emirati air force.
Operating primarily in the north, Saudi Arabia focused on countering Iranian-backed Houthi rebels whose stronghold borders on the kingdom while the UAE backed South Yemeni separatists and targeted Muslim-Brotherhood related groups.
With the withdrawal, the UAE may allow differences with Saudi Arabia to become more visible but will not put its alliance with the kingdom at risk.
Similarly, differences in the two countries’ concept of Islam failed to rock their alliance despite the effective excommunication in 2016 of Saudi-backed ultra-conservatism at a UAE-sponsored conference in the Chechen capital of Grozny.
The alliance is key to the two countries’ counterrevolution aimed at maintaining the region’s autocratic status quo in the face of almost a decade of popular revolts, public protests and civil wars.
The UAE-Saudi-led counterrevolution is driven by Prince Mohammed and his UAE counterpart, crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed’s desire to shape the Middle East in their mold.
Four years later Saudi Arabia, is unlikely to radically shift gears but could prove less intransigent towards the group than the UAE.
While preparing for possible conflict with Iran may be the main driver for the withdrawal, it is unlikely to protect the UAE from damage to its reputation as a result of its involvement in Libya and Sudan as well as its draconian clampdown on dissent at home.
The UAE’s withdrawal from Yemen will likely help it evade calls for Yemen-related arms embargoes. Libya, however, could prove to be the UAE’s Achilles heel.
Said Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “You are surely aware that if these allegations prove true you may be obligated by law to terminate all arms sales to the UAE.”
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2NH52na Tyler Durden
A popular southern country-rock banned named Confederate Railroad has been kicked off the roster at the Du Quoin State Fair in Illinois due to “racial sensitivity concerns” over their name, according to The Mental Recession‘s Rusty Weiss.
“The Illinois Department of Agriculture has removed Confederate Railroad from our 2019 Du Quoin State Fair Grandstand lineup,” said State Fair Manager Josh Gross, adding “While every artist has a right to expression, we believe this decision is in the best interest of serving all the people in our state.”
Oak Ridge Boys singer Joe Bonsall tweeted “I have played the @DuQuoinFair many times over the decades … however, I must say that canceling @ConfederateRR JUST because their name is CONFEDERATE RAILROAD is a crock of crap!!!
I have played the @DuQuoinFair many times over the decades … however, I must say that canceling @ConfederateRR JUST because their name is CONFEDERATE RAILROAD is a crock of crap!!! These are good men singing good songs… God please help us all … pic.twitter.com/EG32tCPbMC
Confederate Railroad has seen over 20 of their singles enter the Billboard Hot Country Songscharts since becoming active in 1987.
Reports suggest the move was made due to an inquiry made by a local political blogger named Rich Miller who asked a ‘Question of the Day‘ for Capitol Fax on June 17th.
“A band named Confederate Railroad. In Illinois. The Land of Lincoln. Playing at a state-owned facility,” Miller said aghast. “I’ve never heard anyone claim that the group has Confederacy-loving song lyrics or anything … It’s just… well… Allow me to turn this one over to you…”
Miller also notes the band has a song called “I Hate Rap” (which clearly means they’re racist) and that the group’s latest album features Confederate flags on the cover. –The Mental Recession
According to Saving Country Music, however, “Confederate Railroad has no songs that could be considered or construed as racist.”
“Being disallowed to play a government-organized event and venue simply because of their name and after being approved opens up a slippery slope of concerns for the future of free speech in musical performance and beyond.”
Country music legend Charlie Daniels criticized the ban, tweeting “When a fair cancels the Confederate Railroad band because of their name its giving in to facism, plain and simple and our freedom disappears piece by piece.”
This political correctness thing is totally out of control
When a fair cancels the Confederate Railroad band because of their name its giving in to facism, plain and simple and our freedom disappears piece by piece.
Sick of it.
As the world edges closer to the next crisis, today the man who has become legendary for his predictions on QE and historic moves in currencies spoke with King World News about $18,160 gold and the wisdom of Jesse Livermore.
The Wisdom Of Jesse Livermore
Authored by Egon von Greyerz,
Lemmings have a herd mentality. But following the crowd, can have grave consequences like falling off a cliff and drowning in the ocean. Many investors have the same instinct. They follow the crowd and buy or sell when other people do. This probably won’t end in the same disaster as for the lemmings, but following the crowd virtually never leads to a successful long term investment performance.
The biggest investment profits are normally made by investing long term. But the key is to buy when an investment is undervalued and unloved. That reduces the risk substantially and thus the potential return.
Extremely important when investing is to be patient and wait for the right opportunity. As Jesse Livermore said:
“It was never my thinking that made the big money for me, it was my sitting.”
I have probably been following the gold market for longer than most people still being active today. When gold went from $35 in 1971, to $850 in 1980, I owned only a little physical gold. I also owned some Australian mining stocks since the bank where I worked in Geneva was advised at the time by Adolf Lundin. Adolf was a legendary Swedish resource investor who lived in Geneva. Sadly, he died too early in 2006, but his sons have continued to expand the Lundin Group to one of the most successful businesses in the resource sector in the world.
So back in 1969 I made my first investment in mining stocks based on Adolf Lundin’s recommendations. I remember Adolf phoning in the middle of the night in Europe from Australia with the latest hot tip. At the time there was a boom in mining stocks. The most infamous company was nickel miner called Poseidon which rose dramatically and later collapsed. Then, when Nixon closed the gold window in August 1971, a spectacular bull market in precious metals started and a bear market in paper money which lasted until January 1980…
I Believed The World Economy Would Have Very Serious Problems
After the 1980 peak, as gold and the gold mining stocks started falling, I was involved in corporate life and stopped following the resource sector. But then in the 1990s, I started analyzing global financial and economic risk and came to the conclusion that the world economy at some point would have very serious problems. At the time I considered that the two most likely areas that would cause this were derivatives and debt.
We Then Aggressively Moved Into Gold
I was looking at how best to protect against these risks and gold was the obvious solution. But gold at the time was totally out of fashion and central banks around the world had been reducing their holdings. From the January 1980 high of $850, gold crashed to just over $300 in 1982. Thereafter gold traded between $300 and $500. Central bank selling pushed gold down to a bottom in 1999 at $250. Finally, at the end of 2001 gold seemed to have stabilized around the $300 pivot point. We then decided that risk seemed right with gold totally unloved and undervalued. So we decided to make physical gold our primary investment in early 2002 when the price was around $300, or in pounds, £200 per ounce. At the time we were based in the UK.
So when we entered our physical gold investment in 2002, I had certainly been “sitting” for a very long time. Gold started the current bull market in 1971 at $35, made a temporary top in 1980 at $850 and then spent 20 years correcting. But the gold bull certainly hadn’t finished, central banks saw to that. They continued their irresponsible monetary policy, leading to a chronic credit expansion, debasement of currencies and thereby permanently underwriting the gold price.
Inflation-Adjusted Gold Price
Looking at gold on an inflation adjusted basis, 2000 was the lowest point since 1971 when the price was $35 per ounce (based on Shadow Government Statistics inflation calculation).
The gold chart below, adjusted for real inflation, shows this amazing insurance can be bought today at an all-time historical low. Gold priced currently at $1,400 is cheaper than in 2000 at $280, cheaper than in 1970 when gold was $35 or in 1780 when gold was traded in London at £4 per ounce.
Gold’s 1980 High Today Equals A Staggering $18,160 Inflation-Adjusted
What the above chart also shows is that the peak price for gold in 1980 at $850, today would be $18,160 adjusted for inflation. There is no reason why gold wouldn’t reach that level in the next few years, especially as the gold paper market implodes.
Since we bought gold in 2002 we have been “sitting.” We didn’t buy gold for speculation and we didn’t buy gold for participating in a price move. Instead, we bought gold for long term capital appreciation in real terms and most importantly for wealth preservation purposes against an extremely precarious world economy and financial system.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
“the desire of gold is not for gold…
…it is for the means of freedom and benefit”
Once we owned the best insurance you can buy, our intention was to keep this cover indefinitely.
It is the best kept secret in the world that you can buy an investment with the following attributes:
The best insurance against financial and economic risk
The ultimate wealth preservation asset
Holds its value in real terms through the ages
Has a stable intrinsic value
Is totally liquid
Is a medium of exchange and the only money that has survived in history,
Has no liability or debt attached to it,
Has a high potential of substantial capital appreciation
It is the opportunity of a lifetime to acquire insurance that is also a superb investment, or an investment which is also the ultimate insurance, and all this at the lowest price ever in real terms.
We have been sitting with our gold position since 2002, and virtually all the investors we advise have also kept their gold since they acquired it. So when would we dispose of all or part of our gold and advise our investors to do the same? First, I doubt we would ever dispose of all our gold. Because gold is generational wealth and an asset that should always form the foundation of your wealth pyramid.
Today, most of the clients we advise hold at least 25% of their financial assets in gold. Some hold a much bigger percentage. It must of course be pointed out that our clients believe strongly that wealth preservation is extremely important at a time when risk is greater than ever in the global financial system. But even if we will always hold some gold, there will be a time when gold becomes over-loved and overvalued. I don’t expect this to happen for quite a few years, whether it is in 5 or 10 years or even longer. At that time we will analyze the state of the world economy and financial system and decide if we should reduce our gold holdings and what we should do with the proceeds.
If the financial system still has major unresolved problems like massive debts and derivatives, then it will still not be the place to put your money. Only when debt and derivatives have imploded and the system is restructured will it be safe to put your money or assets there. Until then, if you can swap your gold for real assets like land, income producing property or sound businesses at bargain prices, this would be a serious opportunity. History is full of examples of people who used their gold to pick up absolute bargains in periods of economic distress and hyperinflation.
When the time is right, investors with bigger gold holdings will be able to buy valuable assets with their gold for a fraction of what they cost before the crisis. Price reductions of 90-95% are not uncommon in these periods, especially if measured in gold grams or kilos. For people with smaller gold holdings, this will guarantee them the ability to continue to lead a decent life, as opposed to, for example, the Venezuelans who are now living in total misery.
But we must also remember that if you hold gold, it is extremely important to keep a low profile from a social and personal safety point of view. It will be essential not to flaunt your wealth like many people are doing today. You will also be able to help family and close friends. Remember that with bankrupt governments, there will be virtually no social security or pensions, so there will be many people who will need your assistance.
The inflation adjusted gold chart above is one method of illustrating the real value of gold. Another way is to adjust the gold price for the increase in US money supply. As the chart below shows, on that basis gold is as cheap today as it was in 2000 at $280 or in 1970 at $35. So whatever method we apply, it comes back to the fact that gold today is an absolute bargain.
We Devised The Best And Safest Way To Acquire And Store Gold
As I explained at the beginning of the article, we bought gold in 2002 for ourselves and the people we advised at the time. For that purpose, we devised the best and safest way to acquire and hold physical gold. A few years later, in 2005, we opened it up for outside investors.
Some of these investors bought early and some bought at higher prices as gold was rising quickly to the $1,920 top in 2011. The good thing is that it doesn’t matter at what level you bought your gold in the last 17 years since gold will go to multiples of the current price. As I have already stated, it will be the ultimate form of wealth preservation and a superb investment over the next 5-10 years.
So some of us took our positions in gold 17 years ago and many others later. But since we are all holding gold for wealth protection reasons, we will be “sitting” for many years to come without any concern about the value of our gold holding. We know with absolute certainty that governments will continue to oblige by destroying the economy, spending money their countries can’t afford to spend, increasing deficits and debts, and totally debasing currencies until they are worthless. For those reasons we are holding gold and sleeping well at night
For those who would like to read more of Egon von Greyerz’s fantastic articles CLICK HERE.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2xCcxB7 Tyler Durden
In a report that is intended either as a warning to President Trump or as gloating over the state of the Iranian regime, Israeli TV station i24 reports that over the past week, a delegation from the US has been holding talks with a group of senior Iranian officials in Erbil, the de facto capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iranian officials
The meetings are a sign of “nascent upheaval” in the Iranian government, the report said, as the country’s economic crisis worsens. Another sign is the arrest of 125 Iraqi government officials, many of which have been charged with espionage. Others have been removed from their posts, while some have simply disappeared.
As the Israelis tell it, Iran made the first overtures about holding talks with the US – though President Trump has repeatedly insisted that he’d be open to talking. Tehran reportedly contacted the Kurdish opposition parties based in Iraq, hence the location of the meeting. Unfortunately, an Iranian source said the talks proved ‘useless’. One State Department official effectively denied the report, saying rumors about a US-Iran meeting were “highly doubtful.”
However, the Israelis’ Iranian sources warned that the leadership is worried about a possible soft coup brewing in the IRGC.
Sources suggest that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, especially its Basij forces – one of the five forces of the IRGC – have experienced division, suggesting Iran’s leadership is working to counter a budding soft coup.
The Iranian delegation was led by the grandson of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, Hassan Khomeini. Two officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were also involved, as was Iraj Masjedi, Iran’s special envoy to Iraq. Publicly, Tehran has refused Trump’s overtures and insisted that it wouldn’t negotiate with the Trump administration.
Gen. Ali Nasiri, who has likely been detained, according to sources, while others were killed in assassination plots that include fatal medical injections and car “accidents”.
Over the past week, two tankers carrying Iranian crude have been seized, and – more ominously – Tehan breached limits on the enrichment threshold for its uranium, which it has also been stockpiling again. Now, Iran is threatening to enrich its uranium past 20%. The level as of early this week was 4.5%.
The US and Iran also haven’t quite resolved tensions that flared following a series of tanker attacks in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, and the downing of an American spy drone.
Though, notably, Washington seems to have toned down its anti-Iranian rhetoric this week.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2LcfGQM Tyler Durden
Economists who say that there is no such thing as a free lunch are forgetting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
SNAP, formerly called the food stamp program, is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), but is operated by the 50 states. Although it began as a temporary program in 1939, it was made a permanent one as part of Lyndon Johnson’s vision of a “Great Society.”
SNAP “offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities” and is “the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net.” Benefits differ by state. There is no limit as to how long one can receive benefits as long as there are children in the household, subject to renewal every six months. According to the FNS, in fiscal year 2018, the average monthly benefit was $126.32 per person and $252.55 per household. In fiscal year 2018, the program cost American taxpayers $65.055 billion.
[ZH: Food Stamp participation is at 10 year lows]
Recipients of SNAP benefits receive a deposit on an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card each month that can be used only for prepackaged food items. To receive benefits, a family’s gross monthly income must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. Net monthly income must generally be less than or equal to the poverty line. Government payments from other welfare programs are not counted when determining income. Able-bodied adults have minimal work requirements.
The NSLP is a federally assisted meal program that operates in more than 100,000 public and nonprofit private schools and residential child-care institutions. Although it began in 1946, it was expanded in 1966, also as part of Johnson’s Great Society. In fiscal year 2018, the program cost American taxpayers $13.8 billion.
The NSLP provides free or low-cost lunches to more than 31 million children each school day. It is administered on the federal level by the FNS of the USDA. On the state level, the NSLP is administered by state education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with school food authorities. Participating school districts receive cash subsidies and USDA Foods for each reimbursable meal they serve.
Children may be determined “categorically eligible” for free meals through participation in certain federal assistance programs, such as SNAP or Head Start. Children can also qualify for certain programs on the basis of household income and family size. The children in a family having an income at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are also eligible for free meals. An income between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level means that schools may not charge students more than 40 cents for a reduced price lunch.
SNAP and the NSLP were recently reauthorized, with overwhelming Republican support, as part of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (H.R.2).
Conservatives have recently criticized both programs. But their critiques ring hollow. They are worth looking at, however, because they show that conservatives are utterly devoid of any firm philosophical base on which to ground their criticisms of these or any other government programs. Only libertarians are able to properly analyze these programs.
Conservatives want to eliminate the “broad-based categorical eligibility” that allows food stamp applicants to bypass asset tests. Bypassing asset tests means that a food stamp recipient may have millions of dollars in assets, but still receive benefits if his income is low enough. The USDA is considering a regulation that would eliminate the broad-based policy. At a recent hearing of the House Agriculture Committee’s nutrition, oversight, and department operations panel, the subcommittee’s ranking member, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) termed the loophole “egregious and unnecessary.” Johnson referenced a USDA report that estimated that “most food stamp income-eligible homes have financial resources that exceed the federal limit of $20,000 in assets,” “one in five had more than $100,000 in assets,” and “tens of thousands had more than $1 million in assets.” Conservatives also regularly talk about the need to expand the food stamp work requirements.
Conservatives are pointing out the waste and fraud in the NSLP. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the NSLP “lost nearly $800 million owing to improper payments in fiscal year 2018.” Conservatives want to eliminate the “Community Eligibility Provision” that “allows schools, districts, and even groups of schools located in the same area where 40% of student enrollment is eligible for federal assistance (such as food stamps) to offer free meals to all students.” It turns out that middle- and upper-income students are receiving free meals that they normally are not entitled to. “Congress and the White House should eliminate this provision and focus resources on helping children in need, as recommended in Heritage’s ‘Blueprint for Balance,’” says Jonathan Butcher, a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. (The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank.)
Conservatives generally focus on the waste, fraud, loopholes, and inefficiencies in these and other federal programs and rarely, if ever, make the case that it is not the proper role of government to feed anyone. They have no philosophical objection to any government program as long as it is run efficiently, doesn’t waste taxpayer dollars, or furthers some agenda of theirs.
But conservatism is actually worse than it seems. Even if a conservative personally supports the federal government’s efforts to provide a hunger safety net, make sure that low-income families have enough food to eat for dinner every night, and feed children lunch at school, he should still oppose the federal government’s food stamp and school lunch programs.
Conservatives claim to revere and follow the Constitution. Yet, SNAP and the NSLP are blatantly unconstitutional.
The Constitution nowhere authorizes the federal government to have anything to do with food, nutrition, breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, hunger, or food safety nets.
The Constitution nowhere authorizes the federal government to have SNAP, the NSLP, the Agriculture Improvement Act, the FNS, or the USDA.
At the very least, conservatives should be calling for the total and complete elimination of those actions, programs, and agencies on the federal level and their continuance on the state level. But, apparently, federalism means no more to conservatives than the Constitution does.
When it comes to SNAP, the NSLP, or any other food program of the U.S. government, libertarianism says three things:
It is not the proper role of government to feed the hungry or subsidize the purchase of food by low-income families.
Transferring wealth from one American to another — whether it takes the form of a deposit on an EBT card or a hot lunch at school, and even if the recipient is hungry — is immoral.
Charity should be private and voluntary, not public and forced.
There is such a thing as a free lunch. And you can count on conservatives to make sure of it.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2XwnWl8 Tyler Durden
Oil prices gained modestly on the day, with WTI rallying up to $58 ahead of tonight’s API inventory data, despite another tanker being seized (by Egypt this time).
“Given the continued presence of sanctions and tensions between the U.S. and Iran, the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, and the potential for an economic slowdown, oil prices are likely to remain volatile in the short term,” said Michael Laitkep, an analyst at Alerian, which tracks energy infrastructure companies.
But for tonight, and tomorrow morning, all eyes are on the fundamental side…
API
Crude -8.129mm (-2.5mm exp)
Cushing -754k
Gasoline -257k
Distillates +3.690mm
Crude inventories were expected to drop in the last week (after 3 previous weeks of draws) but the huge 8.1mm crude draw was a big surprise (everyone is ignoring the distillates build for now)…
WTI hovered around $58.00 ahead of the print, and exploded higher (above $59) on the huge draw…
The initial spike has faded a little after running the $59 stops…
“There is a strong case to paint a bullish as well as a bearish picture depending on one’s view on the general state of the world economy and politics,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London.
Powell’s testimony will be watched closely for an indication of whether the Fed is likely to cut U.S. interest rates at its next meeting on July 31, with energy market hope for growth gains.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Jy0rhP Tyler Durden
We are about to open up a can of worms that could turn our entire country completely upside down by the time it is all said and done.
Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific crimes have been well known for a very long time, and I have been writing about them for many years. In fact, there were some people that really, really didn’t like it when I wrote about Bill Clinton’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein and “the Lolita Express” during the 2016 presidential election. Flight records show that Bill Clinton took 26 trips on board Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous private plane, and Clinton also spent an enormous amount of time on Epstein’s secluded private “sex island” where underage girls were routinely abused. Of course Jeffrey Epstein had lots of other very famous friends as well, and it has been documented that his “black book” was absolutely filled with marquee names from Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington.
But despite everything that we knew about what was going on, for a very long time it looked like justice would never be served. Epstein got an absolutely ridiculous sweetheart deal from prosecutors in 2008, and none of his famous friends were ever charged with anything. They all probably thought that they had escaped the grasp of law enforcement forever, but this month everything has suddenly changed.
In recent days, authorities apprehended Epstein after his plane returned from an overseas trip, they raided his home, and they formally charged him with sex trafficking and conspiracy…
Fund manager Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth and power to sexually abuse dozens of young girls for years at one of the biggest mansions in Manhattan, paying them hundreds of dollars in cash for each encounter and hundreds more if they brought in more victims, U.S. prosecutors said.
Now, federal prosecutors are charging him with sex trafficking and conspiracy. They’re seeking to send him prison for years and seize that Manhattan home.
The indictment unsealed on Monday against the well-connected financier came days after his arrest upon returning from overseas and just hours after federal agents used a crowbar to enter the townhouse.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is prosecuting Epstein, and they don’t mess around. They win more than 90 percent of the cases that actually go to trial, and Epstein has good reason to be shaking in his boots at this point.
Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, is reportedly a prosecutor in the new criminal case against convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. This details comes out of a new CNN report. The source is described as a person “with knowledge of the case.”
Will that turn out to be significant?
We shall see as this drama plays out.
In the legal community, everyone has an agenda, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York certainly has an agenda in this case.
But what is their goal?
Why have they decided to pursue this specific case at this specific time?
Perhaps the primary goal is to nail Epstein to the wall once and for all. If Epstein is convicted of all the charges against him, he will spend the rest of his life in prison. And if that is all there is to this story, it won’t be an enormous national scandal.
However, it could also be possible that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York wants to use Epstein to get to one or more of his famous friends, and that is where things could get very “interesting”.
Second, what should we make of reporting that Epstein’s prosecution is being overseen by the Public Corruption Unit of the SDNY? Short answer: It’s too soon to say. It could mean that a public official is being investigated or will be charged with Epstein. That could be a minor public figure or a major one. It could mean that SDNY is investigating misconduct in the plea that Epstein was given in 2008. Or it could mean none of those things.
After everything that Epstein went through in 2008, you would think that he would clean up his life and get rid of all the stuff that got him into so much trouble in the first place.
But when authorities raided his home, they discovered a “vast trove” of photographic evidence…
Prosecutors said a search of Epstein’s Manhattan mansion after his arrest turned up a ”vast trove” of nude photos of what appeared to be underage girls. Officials said in court papers that the pictures included some on CDs with handwritten labels, including “Misc nudes 1,” “Girl pics nude” and the names of specific young women.
It has also previously been reported that in the old days Epstein would actually record “the sordid orgies he threw for VIPs at his luxury homes using cameras hidden in the walls of guest bedrooms”, but it is not known if those recordings still exist or if authorities were able to find any such recordings when they raided Epstein’s home.
In any event, there is clearly an enormous amount of evidence against Epstein already, and that means his only hope of avoiding prison for the rest of his life is to cooperate with authorities.
And as former federal prosecutor Elie Honig has pointed out, Epstein’s former friends from Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington should be quite scared right now…
We do not know if Epstein will cooperate, but even if he does not, others will very likely be implicated. It seems clear from the indictment that others helped Epstein run his alleged sex trafficking operation and otherwise participated in it. At least some of those names will come out in court proceedings, public filings, potentially trial and perhaps additional indictments. And it’s worth noting that the Epstein case is being handled by the SDNY’s Public Corruption Unit — in my experience, human trafficking cases usually are handled elsewhere in the office — which strongly suggests that public officials could be under a microscope here. Anybody who helped Epstein in any way needs to get a lawyer and get scared.
Of course Epstein could choose to sacrifice himself and protect his friends by not talking, but that isn’t likely to happen. In fact, Jack Posobiec is reporting that Epstein’s lawyers have already made it clear to the SDNY that their client will cooperate as long as he can get a reduced sentence…
SCOOP: Epstein’s lawyer has already made a proffer to SDNY. Epstein will agree to cooperate with the investigation, including giving up the names of individuals that paid for activities with underage girls in exchange for a maximum sentence not to exceed 5 years
This news comes just days after a judge ordered the unsealing of nearly 2,000 pages of records related to a civil case that could reveal how he and his accused accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly trafficked underage girls
The documents that will be unsealed are from a defamation case that was settled after Epstein entered a guilty plea guilty to a single charge of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.
Records in the defamation case contained descriptions of sexual abuse by Epstein along with new allegations of sexual abuse by ‘numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister and other world leaders.’
We will talk about who some of those individuals might be in the second part of this series which I will post later tonight on The Most Important News.
I have been writing about corruption in the political world for a long time, but this could be the scandal of all scandals.
So stay tuned, because I believe that things are about to get extremely interesting.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2XBwpn3 Tyler Durden
US Stocks briefly popped (S&P into the green) on China trade talk headlines (around 1400ET) but that did not last but – as usual – a buying panic arrived at around 1530ET lifting everything on no news, desperate to get the Dow green, but failed…
For a sense of that late-day idiocy in context…
What a fucking joke!
This is the Dow’s 3rd down day in a row – its worst streak of losses since March…
Defensives once again dominated the price action…
Boeing swings intraday prompted the Dow’s volatility as Qatar headlines spiked (on Trump hope) and then dumped (on reality) shares…
The analog remains…
Treasury yields were higher across the curve with the short-end continuing to underperform (but 30Y remains lower on the week)…
10Y Yields could not break above Friday’s spike highs…
The Dollar extended its recent gains, erasing all losses since the FOMC statement…
The peso plunged today as the mexican finmin unexpectedly quit…
Cable tumbled back below 1.25, its lowest since April 2017…
Bitcoin pushed back above $12500…
Cryptos did get hit late on however…
Silver outperformed gold for the second day in a row, copper was crushed…
Spot gold tested back up to $1400 once again…but was unable to hold it…
Finally, anyone who “can’t see the recession” coming to the U.S. isn’t looking at a key indicator, according to David Rosenberg, Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc.’s chief economist and strategist. As Bloomberg reports, Rosenberg featured a gauge compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in a Twitter post Monday.
The monthly indicator is based on the gap between yields on three-month Treasury bills and 10-year notes, and shows recession probabilities over 12 months. The latest reading was 32.9%, a 12-year high. Adding insult to injury was the OECD leading indicator is now the lowest since the global economy was trying its utmost to climb out of the Great Recession in late summer 2009.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2S4w723 Tyler Durden
