Month: July 2016

Extending Friday's gains, Silver futures just broke above $20 for the first time since August 2014…

Following silver's best week since August 2013, dramatically catching up to gold's recent performance, it appears, despite the volumeless meltup in stocks, that Brexit has sparked huge demand for the safety of precious metals.

For a second straight week, funds boosted their net-long futures and options positions in the two metals to the highest since the data begins in 2006.

Money managers have been piling in on demand for havens and speculation that interest rates will stay low as central bankers around the world struggle to contain the economic fallout from the U.K.’s vote to quit the European Union.

But what happens next?

Source: Bloomberg

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In the aftermath of the Brexit fiasco, the biggest fissure that emerged was not between the economies of the UK and Europe, nor between the stock markets of the UK and Europe, both of which have spiked on the back of another round of central bank liquidity promises, but between Angela Merkel, and the alcohol-afficionado who erroneously believes is the head of Europe, Jean-Claude Juncker. Unfortunately for the latter, he is now on his way out because as the Telegraph reports, citing a Sunday Times interview with a German government minister, Merkel has finally decided to oust Europe’s federalist chief Jean-Claude Juncker “within the next year.”

The catalyst for those who have been following the Brexit fallout should not come as a surprise: as we first reported a week ago in ‘More Confusion: EU Tells Cameron To Hurry Up With Article 50 As Merkel Says No Need To Rush“, the German chancellor’s frustration with the European Commission chief came as Europe split over whether to use the Brexit negotiations as a trigger to deepen European integration or take a more pragmatic approach to Britain as it heads for the exit door.

“The pressure on him [Juncker] to resign will only become greater and Chancellor Merkel will eventually have to deal with this next year,” an unnamed German minister told The Sunday Times, adding that Berlin had been furious with Mr Juncker “gloating” over the UK referendum result. Look no further than “Juncker Lashes Out At British Lawmakers: “Why Are You Here?”” for an example of just that.

Furthermore, Juncker’s constant and unabashed calls for “more Europe” – many of which have come in an intoxicated or outright drugged state – has led to several of Europe other dissenting members – including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – to lay some of the blame for Brexit at his door.

Even before he was appointed President of the European Commission – against the wishes of David Cameron – concerns were raised about Mr Juncker’s alchohol consumption which were dismissed as a “smear campaign” by his officials. It was, however, all true: at the time The Telegraph and several other newspapers reported officials worrying about Mr Juncker having “cognac for breakfast” and rolling through long negotiations fortified with large quantities of claret and brandy. 

Some have had enough of Europe’s most humiliating alcoholic, and since the June 23 vote both the Czech and Polish foreign ministers have called publicly for Mr Juncker to resign, moves that one senior EU official dismissed last week as “predictable”. However, the rumblings from Berlin now represent a much more serious threat to Mr Juncker’s tenure. The split also offers a glimmer of hope for British negotiators who are preparing for fractious EU-UK divorce talks and are desperate to avoid a repeat of February’s failed negotiations which – controlled as they were by Mr Juncker and the Commission – left David Cameron without enough ‘wins’ to avoid Brexit.

Meanwhile, Juncker’s European Commission is being shut down by members:

“Everyone is determined that this negotiation is handled in the European Council – i.e. between the 27 heads of government – and not by the Commission, the eurocrats and the EU ‘theologians’ in Brussels,” a senior UK source told The Telegraph.

In a signal that battle has partly already been won, Mrs Merkel pointedly met with French and Italian leaders in Berlin last week, excluding Mr Juncker from the conversation. As the Telegraph adds, British strategists hope that creating a much broader negotiation that includes the UK’s role in keeping Europe geopolitically relevant through its deep Nato ties, defence contributions and links to Washington, they can avoid a narrow tit-for-tat negotiation on trade where the UK has only very limited leverage.

At its core, Merkel’s anger reflects a growing schism in Europe between the likes of Juncker and the French and Belgian leaders, who want to see “more Europe” after Brexit, and those, like Merkel and her powerful finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble who believe that would be “crazy”, according to the Times. Prior to the Brexit vote senior European Commission officials were privately jubilant about the opportunity that a British ‘leave’ vote would present to complete the European project, sucking reluctant countries like Poland into the Euro “within five years”.

Since the Brexit vote, French ministers have been far less conciliatory to the UK than German, openly salivating at the prospect of UK-based financial businesses relocating to Paris. If so, the French will be disappointed as we hinted in “Is This Where All Those Companies “Leaving England” Will Go.” After all, few companies are so insane to leave the stability London for the socialist purgatory of Paris.

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Submitted by Kristin Campbell via ConservativeTribune.com,

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and his supporters have been accused of being “racist,” which isn’t exactly an uncommon label given to Republicans by liberals.

However, one black Trump supporter recently dropped an epic truth bomb about what black voters really want out of the American dream, and if true, it should have them lining up to vote Republican in massive numbers.

Podcaster and blogger Sonnie Johnson told Breitbart that many black voters fully understand and support Trump’s message of wealth over poverty.

“This message is very simple,” Johnson said. “It is wealth over poverty. If you do not think that blacks understand that message, you have lost your entire mind.”

The outspoken conservative explained that black Americans were “tired of living in poverty.”

“We want greatness. We do not want to be dependent. We do not want free s***,” she said. “We want to be able to operate in the American system, just the way every other American operates, and that takes wealth.”

Johnson said she believed that Republicans had an opportunity this year to “crack this progressive shell,” which has already sustained some cracks from Trump’s campaign.

In fact, she insisted that black people have already begun to realize that the presumptive GOP nominee’s message was one for all Americans, not just white voters – even if the media doesn’t portray his growing support in the black community.

“If you go back, if you look on Twitter right now, to see all of the blacks that are in support of Donald Trump, every stat they show, shows that that support doesn’t exist. Every person they put on says that black people will not support Trump,” Johnson explained.

The blogger considered this election this “chance of a lifetime” when it comes to recruiting black voters to the GOP, but said Republicans must put forth the right message in order to do so.

“If we can … start talking about the American Dream — what it has to offer, what we as the right wing have to offer!” she said. “Freedom, liberty, financial independence, those are things that we can sell.”

Many polls have reported that the black vote comprised a mere 1 percent of Trump’s overall support — something Johnson strongly rejected.

“No way,” she said. “They poll Democrats. They poll people that are used to voting for Democrats and just put their name down. They did not poll average black people.”

These “average black people” are listening to the Republican message of conservative values through Trump, she argued.

You can listen to the entire interview here:

Johnson is right — the Republican Party has more to offer anyone searching for “freedom” or “financial independence.” While Democrat policies have sought to keep black people dependent and on the government dole, conservatism offers the proven concept that smaller government equals more freedom.

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The US isn't the only country to can crank up its sales of weapons around the world. As we have pointed out previously, Germany is also a relatively large exporter in the global arms trade.

It turns out that Germany had a booming arms export business in 2015, because as Reuters reports, German arms exports almost doubled last year to their highest level since the beginning of this century. The value of individual approvals granted for exporting arms was €7.86 billion last year compared to €3.97 billion in 2014. Exports were boosted by a the approval of four tanker aircraft for Britain worth €1.1 billion, and a controversial approval of battle tanks and howitzers along with munitions to be sent to Qatar.

From Reuters

Newspaper Welt am Sonntag said the value of individual approvals granted for exporting arms was 7.86 billion euros ($8.75 billion) last year compared with 3.97 billion euros worth of arms exports in 2014.

 

It said the Economy Ministry had pointed to special factors that boosted arms exports such as the approval of four tanker aircraft for Britain worth 1.1 billion euros.

 

It also pointed to the approval of battle tanks and tank howitzers along with munitions and accompanying vehicles worth 1.6 billion euros for Qatar – a controversial deal that the report said was approved in 2013 by the previous government.

 

The Economy Ministry declined to comment on the report.

 

In February German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said preliminary figures showed that Germany had given approval for around 7.5 billion euros worth of arms shipments in 2015.

 

The Federal Office for Economics and Export Control (Bafa), a subsidiary of the economy ministry, is responsible for licensing arms export deals and Gabriel had promised to take a much more cautious approach to licensing arms exports, especially with regard to the Middle East.

 

Germany is one of the world's main arms exporters to EU and NATO countries and has been cutting its sales of light weapons outside those states.

 

Last year the government rejected 100 applications for arms export approvals – the same number as in the previous year, Welt am Sonntag reported. It said Berlin had given 12,687 applications the green light in 2015 – 597 more than in the previous year.

According to Deutsche Welle, Qatar, a Gulf Arab state has been labeled by German opposition parties as an alleged source of funding for ISIS, which is why the receipt of tanks and heavy artillery, as well as ammunition and accompanying vehicles makes it a controversial sale.

From DW

Qatar, a Gulf Arab state panned by German opposition parties as an alleged source of funding for the "Islamic State" (IS) terror militia, received combat tanks and heavy artillery, as well as ammunition and accompanying vehicles worth 1.6 billion euros.

 

Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who heads the Social Democrats, had tried to stop the delivery to Qatar but was outvoted by other ministers on Germany's Federal Security Council.

 

That deal had already been cleared in 2013 by Chancellor Angela Merkel's previous coalition, which then comprised her conservatives and the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP).

 

Disclosure in February of that sale prompted renewed outcries from church-based lobby groups and charities such as Pax Christi and Misereor.

* * *

Exporting weapons and war appears to be something that the western world is still quite strong in, despite the rest of the world seeing global trade slumping. Also, when it comes to the €1.6 billion sale to Qatar, is it really a surprise to anyone – €1.6 billion is a lot of cash to pass up, and money talks as we have all come to learn.

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With all eyes distratcted by the post-Brexit euphoria, the last week has seen a far more existential crisis accelerating in Europe. Italy's banking system is in tatters (from a EUR40bn bailout 6 days ago, to EUR150 emergency support 3 days ago, to chatter of further support from pension funds Friday) but, in what seems like a clear admission that things are really bad, The FT reports that Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi is prepared to defy the EU and unilaterally pump billions of euros into its troubled banking system if it comes under severe systemic distress, a last-resort move that would smash through the bloc’s nascent regime for handling ailing banks.

As we noted previously, Brexit will be just the scapegoat used by Renzi and Italy to circumvent any specific eurozone prohibitions. And if it fails, all Renzi has to do is hint at a referendum of his own. Then watch as Merkel scrambles to allow Italy to do whatever it wants, just to avoid the humiliation of a potential "Italeave."

And sure enough, as The FT reports, Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, is determined to intervene with public funds if necessary despite warnings from Brussels and Berlin over the need to respect rules that make creditors rather than taxpayers fund bank rescues, according to several officials and bankers familiar with their plans.

The threat has raised alarm among Europe’s regulators, who fear such a brazen intervention would devastate the credibility of the union’s newly implemented banking rule book during its first real test. In the race to find workable solutions, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, has laid out options for Rome to address its banking problems without breaking the bail-in principles of Europe’s banking union.  

 

Italy is the eurozone’s biggest vulnerability following the shock outcome of the UK vote to leave the EU, with bank stocks plunging by a third. Concerns are building before the outcome of bank stress test results due this month and a constitutional referendum in Italy in early October, on which Mr Renzi has wagered his job. Citi has described the referendum as “probably the single biggest risk on the European political landscape this year outside the UK”.

 

After several of its ideas on intervention were rebuffed, Rome is considering whether to act alone. “We are willing to do whatever is necessary [to defend the banks], and do not rule out acting unilaterally, although that would only be as a last resort,” said one person familiar with the government’s thinking. European officials fear any Italian intervention would carry high risks, opening a battle over illegal state support that would put off private investors.

 

Angela Merkel, German chancellor , last week rebuffed Italy’s request for a suspension of state aid and bail-in rules in order to recapitalise its banks. Benoit Coeure, a senior European Central Bank official, has said any suspension of bail-in rules would spell the end of the banking union “as we know it”.

 

Mr Renzi has bristled at suggestions he is ignoring rules, saying he will not be “lectured by the school teacher”.

 

…

 

Italy’s business lobby, Confindustria, on Friday warned of “political chaos” should Mr Renzi lose October’s referendum. Under such a scenario, Italy would re-enter recession, spreads on Italian debt would widen and there would be capital flight from Italy, Confindustria argued. Italian gross domestic product would fall 0.7 per cent in 2017 and drop a further 1.2 per cent in 2018, it added.

So to summarize, The EU's "bail-in" banking system failure regime has been entirely dismissed (as Italy proves that when it gets serious, it's about national rescue, not 'union' rules). However, as we warned previously, the real threat is if the local population wakes up to the risk of holding their savings in a financial system that is now teetering on the edge, something Renzi himself admitted when he said that he "hoped to use a liquidity backstop to contain investor panic, which could result in a run on deposits and affect banks’ liquidity." Because even if it buys up every bond, loan and stock in the world, the ECB will not be able to fix the public's loss of trust in fractional reserve banking.

Finally, if you haven't already had enough enough of European bullshit, here is the massive divergence between Italy's banking system (red) and its sovereign bonds (green) which are remarkably – due to Mario Draghi's plans – as interconnected as they have ever been in history as banks bought bonds to front-run ECB bazookas…

What happens next?

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Submitted Vincent Lanci, as posted originally on Marketslant

The Mechanics of Silver Manipulation

JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday won the dismissal of three private antitrust lawsuits, including from hedge fund manager Daniel Shak, accusing the largest U.S. bank of rigging a market for silver futures contracts traded on COMEX. The lawsuits accused JPMorgan of having in late 2010 and early 2011 placed artificial bids (i.e., spoofing) onto the trading floor, harassed employees at metals market COMEX to obtain prices it wanted (i.e., intimidation) and made misrepresentations to a committee that set settlement prices. (i.e., manipulating settlements).

What follows is how JPM manipulated the silver markets by selling the Silver contango during illiquid hours, then used their deep pockets to push settlements, then waited until margin calls made the large locals puke their positions. JPM in effect stretched the relationship between forward rates and futures spreads until they made no sense anymore. Not unlike a company trading at 50x earnings. It cannot last long. But it only has to last long enough until the guy with the position opposite you has to liquidate. That guy does not have access to cheap money, political influence or the most physical silver in the world in a single vault at his disposal to create a squeeze.

From Reuters:

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, however, said the plaintiffs, who also included traders Mark Grumet and Thomas Wacker, did not show that JPMorgan made “uneconomic” bids, or intended to rig the market at counterparties’ expense. He also questioned the plaintiffs’ use of Silver Indicative Forward Mid Rates (“SIFO”) as a benchmark for determining proper levels for the spreads in their lawsuits.

Analysis: The demand was fabricated

The market was only partially backwardated. Spot was below the next 6 expirations. Translation: there was no massive demand for immediate delivery. There was only demand in months where the last remaining MEN who took risk trading their own money had positions. JPM’s own book was likely short and had to get liquidity to cover their positions. We knew Shak from our floor days, and were trading spreads off-floor when this happened. They should not have lost this case. Comex traders do not trade physical spot. Spot was under the backwardation. Smoking gun? No, but damning circumstantial evidence in the least.

Reuters Again:

Given the (lawsuits’) failure both to explain why SIFO should track silver futures spreads, and to concretely plead that it did so consistently, a mere general correlation between these two is not sufficient to make SIFO a reliable benchmark such that deviations from it support a claim of irrational pricing animated by anticompetitive aims,” Engelmayer wrote.

Analysis:  a poor job was done explaining the role of SIFO in spread pricing.

SIFO represents the spread between expirations of FORWARD physical contracts in silver. The futures spread markets are derivative of the SIFO spreads. SIFO represents the cost-of-carry for physical silver and is used in determining lease/borrow rates over periods of time. These are in-turn extrapolated and the dominant factor in determining futures spreads on COMEX. Comex spreads are a direct function of SIFO. Without SIFO there are no spreads. And since SIFO was a much bigger market than the Comex spread market. The pricing mechanism was not fully transparent. It was in the hands of a few dominant cartel-like players, as it had been for 30 years.and every time JPM sold 1 year silver and bt 4 month silver it was using their deeper pockets to push the locals to liquidate. Add that they probably asked clients with silver in storage to pull it off the lease market, and you have a “tail wags dog short squeeze.”

If Shak and the other traders had ability to take delivery: warehouse, cash&carry liquidity, etc., they wouldn’t have had a problem. They would have taken delivery in spot and then made delivery on the short contracts in the next months they were short. But due to inability to play in the spot market, they could not “butterfly” their positions. Another reason they could not do this: FCMs only give 50% cash value for physical silver as hedge vs. futures shorts. Think about that next time you hear EU banks guaranteed 100% face on their Greek bonds. The physical is worth only 50% collateral to the futures. Banks like JPM have no issue with that. They borrow from the Fed window at 1%. Guys like Shak would have had to use their credit cards and sell their homes to carry that position.

Various sources:

Silver was being taken delivery from the warehouse.

Rebuttal: Define “Take Delivery”

During the time Phibro cornered the silver market in 1995[1] (likely for Soros), and in 1997 for Warren Buffet they employed “taking Delivery” as a catalyst to get the market moving. How does one take delivery?

1. You physically remove silver from the warehouse and say you took more than you did- because of the physical work involved a receiver can take ayt most 6MM oz of Silver daily. Why? Because it’s just not that easy to move silver out of the vault and onto a receiver’s vehicles. So when you see “30MM oz removed” it’s not physically possible. That is 375,000 lbs.
2. You take delivery, store it nearby and bring it back when you are out of your long futures position
   • Be long 30MM oz of silver in futures.
   • Take delivery of 20 MM in physical using borrowed money
   • Store the metal in a warehouse in RedHook Brooklyn and wait for the news to spook the market.
   • Tell your pals with long positions to make their own silver unavailable for delivery. as prices will go up soon
3. You throw a sheet over the silver still in the warehouse and say, “this is mine, it is no longer here. I’ll pick it up tomorrow- – Phibro was to have employed all 3 methods in 1997 after filling Warren on his buys.- Andy Hall was a genius when he had order flow to front run
4. Buy the last 1,000 contracts for the customer as sloppily as you can.
5. Tell the customer you beat the VWAP, i.e. last price on the board is higher than the average price you bought for client.

There is a word for that. It is called Racketeering

Final Word:

In 1994, Phibro played this game except for the spreads. They exercised out of the money calls on a 4 day weekend. But that squeeze was short lived. Warren Buffet just rescued Solly and didn’t want any more DOJ problems.

But in 1997 Warren was the instigator.In 1997 Warren Buffet, actually stood for delivery. Yet the market did not rally until AFTER the spreads backwardated all the way to spot.

This trader also remembers that in 1997, Buffet was then asked by the Gov’t to defer his request for delivery a year. . They pleaded with him, “The integrity of the market was at stake (Hunt Brother’s anyone?); and The whole Silver mining industry was in jeopardy. (TBTF).” Buffet happily complied by selling spot at approx. $7.40 and buying a 1 year future at around $4.50. He netted an ROR of 40% due to negative carry without selling. Effectively, he lent the producers their silver back to them 40% higher than his cost.

In 2011Blythe Master did a mini-Buffet.

The difference being, the market had ALREADY rallied without backwardation, and all of a sudden spreads (literally overnight during Asian and London hours) went into backwardation.

In a real market, the spread activity predicts the physical demand before the flat price does. You see the spot price start to act squirrelly to the front month future in the EFP.  Immediate demand drives deferred month pricing.There are exceptions to this. But it is rare.

I’m sure each one of my arguments for manipulation can be taken apart by some lawyer or “expert”. But that is what lawyers do.

• Facts against them? Argue the Law.
• Law against them? Argue the facts.
• Both against them? Use ad hominum attacks to shoot the messenger. So for the sake of transparency, here is the messenger.

Author’s Background and Caveat:

For the record- I was suspended from NYMEX 12+ years ago for manipulating a settlement without a client complaint. I learned that behavior from watching the pros do it and get away with it. I was arrogant enough to think I could. I was a street kid form Philly who had to drop out of college and learn to survive. Got lucky and had 15 Ivy league kids working for me at one time. But I lay down with dogs too long and got a bad case of fleas. A big price was paid for that. And to save an incompetent compliance officer’s job I was punished harshly.

Post suspension, most firms wouldn’t touch me even as they burned themselves time and time again on derivatives risk in Energy and Metals. I then witnessed the FC Stone downfall fittingly from them cooking their own books ( Jeff Soman?) years after  they threw me under the bus as their client ( Jeff Soman!).  But you have to move forward. 

Market Structure and Greedy Pols

As time passed I grew to despise manipulators but did not blame them per se. The market structures are the major culprit. Which in turn means the politicians who are lobbied by the corporations to alter market structure to protect Corporate interests are the culprits. In the end it is all about greed.  Dodd-Frank was passed essentially blank. The “bankers will help fill it out. they are the experts” SMFH.

Then, I got my break. I was on other side of arguably, the biggest Commodity trade of 2007. My firm saw an arbitrage, borrowed money and took on the banks. Not only was Echobay right, but our counterparty, BMO was (ironically) cooking their own books. Their trader was David Lee and I feel bad for him as he was a victim of a greed cult and lost his ethics as I had in 2003.

Full Circle

In the end I was a material witness in BMO’s 2007 Nat Gas EOO scandal where they tried to blame the counterparties to their rogue trader. BMO settled the case within days of my deposition involving manipulated settlements. I havethe transcript of a 9 hour deposition to prove it.

So bring it, if you think my observations are flawed. I’m all about learning. A million facts do not add up to a single truth, especially where corporate lawyers are involved.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written on this and won’t be the last. During my career, I’ve been victim, observer, perpetrator and now despiser of market manipulators and the market structure that rewards corporate greed at the expense of free markets. The little guy can no longer compete. Watch, homogeneous counterparties will be the death of the markets. TBTF means too big to exist IMHO

Judge Engelmeyer, you got it wrong. Daniel Shak, you deserved better than you got.

– Vincent Lanci,  Vlanci@echobay.com

* * *

Mr. Lanci is owner of Echobay Partners, LLC, Private Equity and consulting firm in the commodity space. He is a derivatives trader with 25 years’ experience in Precious Metals, Energy, and Agricultural Commodities. He is quoted by Kitco, Reuters, Bloomberg, and has written on background for major blogs on  Market Manipulation. He currently has status as a MarketMaker in the CME WTI CSO product. But would not be surprised if it were pulled after this article.

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As The Burning Platform's Jim Quinn so eloquently explains, The stupid – it burns.

The Swedish asshole police chief actually believes DON’T GROPE WRISTBANDS worn by white Swedish girls will deter ignorant hate driven feral Muslim hordes from molesting them.

 

You know what would deter the Muslim hordes? A bullet right between their eyes. Sweden might be the most fucked up country on earth.

20+ girls ‘molested’ in Cologne-style attacks at Swedish rock fest

Police are investigating “a score of cases in which young girls have been molested,” Swedish Aftonbladet daily reported.

It said that the alleged attacks occurred during the “Putte i Parken” rock festival in Karlstad in Varmland County, despite enhanced police presence.

The women told police they were kissed against their will by a group of young men who groped their breasts and buttocks, SVT reported.

The attacks reportedly took place in front of an overcrowded stage during the artists’ performances.

“It’s awfully crowded in there in the audience, and then the young guys came up and groped the girls,” Per-Arne Eriksson, duty officer at the police in Varmland, told SVT.

According to Per-Arne Eriksson, between seven and eight young men approached the women. Two assailants, aged 16 and 17, were later identified by the girls and were immediately arrested by police.

Migrants have been increasingly blamed for sexual crimes in Sweden, where migrant sex gangs have allegedly attacked girls from 12 to 17 years old over the past two summers at the Stockholm music festival. In a leaked police memo, security forces noted that “unaccompanied youth” from the Middle East were behind the crimes, Breitbart reported.

Similar attacks have happened elsewhere in Europe. In May, 18 women filed complaints with police in Germany, saying they were sexually assaulted at a musical festival in Darmstadt. Police arrested three refugees from Pakistan at the scene after three of the women immediately reported the assaults. Those attacks came just over two weeks after two female teenagers, aged 17 and 18, were sexually harassed by a group of 10 men during a street festival in Berlin.

‘Don’t touch me’: Swedish police offer anti-sexual assault wristband

Europe is currently facing its worst refugee crisis since World War II. Last year alone, some 1.8 million asylum-seekers entered the European Union fleeing war and poverty in Middle Eastern countries, according to data from the EU border agency Frontex.

Swedish police revealed on Friday that they will offer young women wristbands with the slogan “POLICEAVSPÄRRAT #tafsainte” [Police cordon, don’t grope] printed on them in Swedish, to prevent sexual assaults.

“By wearing these wristbands, young women will be able to make a stand. No one should have to accept sexual molestation. So do not grope. And if you are groped, report it to the police,” Police Chief Dan Eliasson said, according to the press release.

A Swedish police report released last month said that, according to a survey carried out by the EU’s rights agency, the country has the worst rates of sexual violence against women in all of Europe.

“Sweden tops the new EU Statistics on physical and sexual violence against women, sexual harassment and stalking. The conclusion is that the results are a consequence of Nordic alcohol culture, but also of non-traditional gender roles,” the report said.

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If the Democrats plan to defeat Donald Trump in the general election, Hillary Clinton needs to win over all of those voters who supported Bernie Sanders throughout the Democratic campaign. As we noted just weeks ago, the Vermont Senator – and by extension his supporters – wasn't sold on Hillary's ability to move in the direction that was necessary.

Recall, below is what Sanders had to say about wanting his 12 million supporters to be heard:

"Look we got 12 million votes during our campaign. We received the lion's share of young people who are prepared to stand up and fight for real change in this country, that's what we are bringing in to the Democratic convention. What do we want in return, we want our 12 million supporters to be heard."

The Democratic National Committee unveiled a draft of its party platform on Friday, it is evident that the DNC is focused on convincing those millions of Sanders supporters that it is serious about addressing their concerns. As Politico reports, the draft, which was approved by 13 of the 15 members on the drafting committee, calls for a $15 minimum wage, free community college and abolition of the death penalty.

From Politico

The Democratic National Committee unveiled a draft of its party platform Friday, calling for – among other progressive causes – a $15 minimum wage, free community college and abolition of the death penalty.

 

The draft was approved last weekend in St. Louis by 13 of the 15 members on the drafting committee, with one abstention and one who missed the vote.

 

Supporters of Bernie Sanders have expressed displeasure with the way the platform draft handles Medicare expansion, a carbon tax, a fracking ban and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Sanders policy director Warren Gunnels told POLITICO that the trade deal is "the most significant issue for us."

 

On minimum wage, Bernie Sanders contended throughout his primary with Hillary Clinton that the federal minimum wage should be raised to $15, while the former secretary of state supported a $12 minimum federally and higher wages as decided on the local and state levels, both principles reflected in the draft.

The draft language says that the current minimum wage is a starvation wage, and that the Democratic National Committee applauds the approach of states such as New York and California, who both raised the minimum wage to $15 recently.

"Democrats believe that the current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be increased to a living wage. No one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty. We believe that Americans should earn at least $15 an hour and have the right to form or join a union –  We applaud the approaches taken by states like New York and California. We should raise and index the minimum wage, give all Americans the ability to join a union regardless of where they work, and create new ways for workers to have power in the economy."

* * *

It is unclear if any mention was made of the fact that even as California Governor Jerry Brown signed the minimum wage increase into law, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, Brown admitted "economically, minimum wages may not make sense."

Just a quick reminder as to how this ends, companies that initiate higher wages will find a way to maintain the bottom line by either firing workers or cutting down their hours, as was the case with Starbucks. Other than that, it should work out nicely.

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Just a month after Trump called out the Vince Foster "suicide" as "very fishy" to say the least, the documentary "Foster's Ghost" has resurfaced from the archives, detailing the unusual situation surrounding the death of Bill Clinton's best friend and personal lawyer…

According to the WaPo, "Trump said another topic of potential concern is the suicide of former White House aide Vincent Foster, which remains the focus of intense and far-fetched conspiracy theories on the Internet."

Conspiracy theory or not, the issue of Foster's death may just hit a live nerve in the Clinton campaign, something that is the ultimate goal of Trump. 

One issue on Trump’s radar is the 1993 death of Foster, which has been ruled a suicide by law enforcement officials and a subsequent federal investigation. But some voices on the far right have long argued that the Clintons may have been involved in a conspiracy that led to Foster’s death.

 

He called theories of possible foul play “very serious” and the circumstances of Foster’s death “very fishy.”

 

"He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said, speaking of Foster’s relationship with the Clintons at the time. "He knew everything that was going on, and then all of a sudden he committed suicide."

 

He added, "I don’t bring [Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it. I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair."

As Martin Armstrong explains, it has long been talked about behind the curtain that Vince Foster was murdered in the White House and his body was then moved to a park to ensure the non-controllable police would not have jurisdiction.

The murder was neatly called a suicide claiming Foster was prescribed the anti-depressant medication Trazodone over the phone by his Arkansas doctor, but a small dose that would not have helped. The next day, Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park, a federal park in Virginia where jurisdiction could be controlled.

 

Vince Foster was from the Rose Law firm and knew everything about the Clintons. He was very upset about the investigation into them and was deeply afraid of having to testify. He appears to have been murdered in the White House and his body was then moved to the federal park. Foster was found with a gun in his hand and gunshot residue on that hand. An autopsy determined that he was shot in the mouth and no other wounds were found on his body. But that was just the start of the cover-up. What was withheld, according to investigators I personally know on Capitol Hill, was the fact that a piece of his head where the bullet came out the back was not there. This suggested his body had been removed. But that was just for starters.

 

Patrick Knowlton is the man who found Foster’s body who disagreed with the “official” facts of Kenneth Starr, special government prosecutor investigating the Clintons.  Starr actually objected to allowing Knowlton’s comments being made as part of any report trying to suppress anything that disagreed with the “official” version.  Judge John D. Butzner wrote to Judges Peter Fay and David Sentelle after Knowlton submitted a motion that his comments be included as part of an appendix to the final report.

 

Judge Butzer wrote: “I suspect that if we deny this motion we will be charged as conspirators in the cover-up,” and concluded “I suggest we let the motion and attachments speak for themselves.” Judge Peter Fay argued that Knowlton’ comments completely  contradicted “specific factual matters and takes issue with the very basics of the report” filed by Ken Starr who was trying to suppress any evidence that disagreed with his position. Knowlton’s comments were ordered to be included as part of the official report on September 26, 1997. Two days later, Ken Starr filed a motion to appeal that the comments by Knowlton should be stricken. This demonstrated the cover-up and calls into question everything Ken Star really did as a claimed independent counsel besides getting rich on the deal. The very next day, Starr’s motion was denied and Knowlton’s comments were included as part of the final “official” Report on the Death of Vincent W. Foster.

 

FBI Agent Lawrence Monroe had interviewed Patrick Knowlton and falsified the report changing what he told him. Much of the controversy was the fact that Vince Foster’s car was not parked in the lot until after Foster was found dead. Knowlton was there and had not interest in the matter. Starr attempted to cover-up the entire affair because the very man who found the body disagreed with the sloppy clean up of Ken Starr to pretend it was a suicide rather than a murder to prevent Foster from spilling the beans.

 

There were strangely no photos of the crime scene. I seriously doubt there is any case in history where a dead body is discovered after World War II without photographs of the crime scene. Recent discovery of further suppressed documents show there was a second wound on Foster’s neck. Then there are questions that the FBI altered the statement of also Lisa Foster claiming she recognized the gun as that belonged to Vince, yet no record of him buying the gun. Then there were reports that Hillary’s aids ransacked Foster’s office telling the FBI to stand down. Within hours of the death of Vince Foster in July 1993, chief White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum removed documents, some of them concerning the Whitewater Development Corporation under investigation that Foster was to testify about. These critical documents were removed from Foster’s office and Nussbaum admits he then gave them to Maggie Williams, Chief of Staff to the First Lady Hillary. According to the New York Times, Williams placed the documents in a safe in the White House for five days before turning them over to Hillary’s personal lawyer. Hillary was even subpoenaed over that one.

 

Some tried to spin a conspiracy that Foster was killed merely because he had an affair with Hillary. That is highly questionable and part of the cover-up sex motive rather than corruption. I suppose its better to pretend Hillary murders her lovers than kills people who are about to testify against her. Hillary’s fingerprints were all over this mess, not Bill’s. Assistant Attorney General Webster Hubbell said on July 20th, 1993 as cited by Esquire Magazine in November 1993: “Don’t believe a word you hear. It was not suicide. It couldn’t have been.”

 

Then just like Hillary’s emails she hid from the State Department, when subpoenaed for billing records from the Rose Law Firm she was at before the White House where Foster also worked, she reported that such records were missing. However, almost two years later, the subpoenaed billing records of the Rose Law Firm were discovered in the Clintons’ private residence in the White House by a staffer. Oops! Mn. Obstruction of justice?

You decide: "Vince Foster's Ghost"…

Armstrong concludes, this and so many other things have tagged along with Hillary like going to the bathroom and walking out with toilet paper stuck to your shoe. Between the cattle futures scandal to being caught in bed with another woman, emails she deletes claiming they were personal when Bill says he may have sent one email in his life, the list is just endless. If she becomes president, everything is for sale based upon her deals as Secretary of State.

The interesting question is why would anyone ever vote for her with so many highly questionable incidents that she never explains? Even when asked for her speeches at Goldman Sachs, she simply says she does not think the people are interested in such things. The email scandal should land her in prison. But she also knows being the presidential candidate gives her the privilege to violate anything for the Democrats are too stupid to see the handwriting on the wall. It is not that the Republican elites are now suddenly agreeing to back Trump, it is Trump is remaking the Republican party and it is out with the old and in with the new. It’s all about corruption and cronyism who get jobs for the twice removed cousin and former mistresses. Hillary represents political corruption simply gone wild. Then we have mainstream media willing to betray their own country for favors.
 

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Presented with no racist, cynical, divisive, unpatriotic, skeptical, fiction-peddling comments…

Source: TheReligionOfPeace.com

In order to better grasp the reality above, compared to the propaganda provided on a daily basis, we re-present, "By the Numbers" – an honest and open discussion about Muslim opinions and demographics. Narrated by Raheel Raza, president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, this short film is about the acceptance that radical Islam is a bigger problem than most politically correct governments and individuals are ready to admit. Is ISIS, the Islamic State, trying to penetrate the U.S. with the refugee influx? Are Muslims radicalized on U.S. soil? Are organizations such as CAIR, who purport to represent American Muslims accepting and liberal or radicalized with links to terror organizations?

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