What have you done for me, lately?

“In a condition of war, civil liberties tend to get overridden. The current war on terror, now over 11 years old, shows this. For any number of reasons, this war shows no signs of ending. It is actually spreading to more lands. The connection to an “organization” or “persons” that are in any way linked to 9/11 is now exceedingly remote, but the use of military force continues. This is not logical. It is not legal. It’s happening nonetheless because the pro-war forces are driving it. There is no apparent political force that is stopping it. Under these conditions, the prognosis for civil liberties is anything but good.”

 

Michael S. Rozeff 
May 15, 2013

 

We are constantly bombarded with the demand to, “Support our troops!”  I see it on bumper stickers, I hear it in church, I read it on military discount offers at stores, I experience it at public events when our troops are ordered to stand and everyone present is strongly compelled to applaud their service.  

 

“…we learn that these spectacles are often even more phony than originally suspected. NFL teams are being paid millions of dollars to host them.”

I suspect that the term, service, is merely a remnant of a time when troops were drafted, known in the USA as Selective Service, and paid very little to risk their lives, ostensibly in defense of the nation, but quite often merely to expand The Empire.  

Since January 27, 1973, as the Vietnam War drew to a close, the Selective Service announced that there would be no further draft calls.  So, for more than 43 years, every person entering the military has done so voluntarily.  At some level, these volunteers all know that the military is not in the business of peace, the military is in the business of killing people.  “And cousin, business is a-booming.”

Google Chart: Lockheed-Martin vs SP 500

As I have written in a previous article regarding the current state of our elections, media, government, and nation, “Nobody is ready, willing, or able to ask and/or answer questions of substance.”   So, I wanted to post this article, today, to ask a hard question, and as an opportunity for veterans of voluntary military service since 1973, active duty military, their families, and really anyone to respond to the question and to make the case for why, exactly, Americans should support our troops in 2016.  

Here are a few excerpts with hyperlinks to items that I feel might be useful in fueling this discussion. 

 

The Soldiers’ Honor Fallacy. The ancient fallacy that all who wore a uniform, fought hard and followed orders are worthy of some special honor or glory or are even “heroes,” whether they fought for freedom or fought to defend slavery, marched under Grant or Lee, Hitler, Stalin or McArthur, fought to defend their homes, fought for oil or to spread empire, or even fought against and killed U.S. soldiers!. A corrupt argument from ethos (that of a soldier), closely related to the “Finish the Job” fallacy (“Sure, he died for a lie, but he deserves honor because he followed orders and did his job to the end!”). See also “Heroes All.” This fallacy was recognized and decisively refuted at the Nuremburg Trials after World War II but remains powerful to this day nonetheless. See also “Blind Loyalty.” Related is the State Actor Fallacy, that those who fight and die for a country (America, Russia, Iran, the Third Reich, etc.) are worthy of honor or at least pardonable while those who fight for a non-state actor (abolitionists, guerrillas, freedom-fighters, jihadis) are not and remain “terrorists” no matter how noble or vile their cause, until or unless they are adopted by a state after the fact.

 

http://ift.tt/KnceiQ

 

Standing armies are controlled by the governments, which are now so obviously controlled by the elite, and are very much a force of tyranny.  You see, local militias are controlled by The People, not the government, and are indeed, “necessary to the security of a free State.”  I understand that many of our nation’s founders agree with me on these points.

 

http://ift.tt/2f4Z4bg…

 

A two-star general who was found dead at an Army base this summer died by suicide…

 

A total of 265 active-duty troops died by suicide in 2015, according to a Defense Department report from May. The Army had a suicide rate of nearly 30 suicides per 100,000. By comparison, the national rate in 2014 was about 13 per 100,000 citizens, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

 

Rossi was scheduled to take over as commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command, the Associated Press reported.

 

http://ift.tt/2f4Zw9B…

 

Special forces operations in Iraq and Syria are reportedly hamstrung by fears over war crimes prosecutions being brought against them retrospectively.

The elite soldiers are fearful of legal reprisals in what critics of full legal oversight are framing as a climate of litigation.

 

The UK is currently embroiled in a row over attempts to hold troops to account in relation to allegations of abuse and even murder from recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  

http://ift.tt/2eecgLH

 

In fact, the dozens of Vietnam vets I have spoken to ALL strongly support America’s war against Muslims.

 

http://ift.tt/2f4W6Dv…

 

I also want to reiterate five of the steps in my Revolutionary Call to Arms that I strongly believe are highly relevant to this discussion, and further contemplation of this topic.  I have successfully encouraged my sons, and many of their teenage friends, to take these steps during high school, when they are being exposed to intensive military recruiting.  I hope many readers are able to do the same.

8.  Read, 1984, by George Orwell.

15.  Research your two senators and one congressman at http://ift.tt/UqgJ9B Make a list of their 10 biggest donors, and send the list to your “representative” in an email or letter.

16.  Read, War is a Racket, by Smedley D. Butler.

17.  Read, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, by Dave Grossman.

18.  Watch the online video of the TED Talk, A radical experiment in empathy, by Sam Richards.

Peace!

h_h

 

 

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German Streets Descend Into Lawlessness

Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

  • During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office. This is equivalent to 780 crimes committed by migrants every day, an increase of nearly 40% over 2015. The data includes only those crimes in which a suspect has been caught.
  • Thousands of migrants who entered the country as "asylum seekers" or "refugees" have gone missing. They are, presumably, economic migrants who entered Germany on false pretenses. Many are thought to be engaging in robbery and criminal violence.
  • Local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit and are unable to maintain law and order.
  • "Drug trafficking takes place right before our eyes. If we intervene, we are threatened, spat on, insulted. Sometimes someone whips out a knife. They are always the same people. They are ruthless, fearless and have no problems with robbing even the elderly." — Private security guard.
  • According to Freddi Lohse of the German Police Union in Hamburg, many migrant offenders view the leniency of the German justice system as a green light to continue delinquent behavior. "They are used to tougher consequences in their home countries," he said. "They have no respect for us."
  • "It cannot be that offenders continue to fill the police files, hurt us physically, insult us, whatever, and there are no consequences. Many cases are closed or offenders are released on probation or whatever. Yes, what is happening in the courts today is a joke." — Tania Kambouri, German police officer.

The rape of a ten-year-old girl in Leipzig, the largest city in Saxony, has drawn renewed attention to the spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants in cities and towns across Germany — and the lengths to which German officials and the media go to censor information about the perpetrators of those crimes.

The girl was riding her bicycle to school at seven o'clock in the morning on October 27 when a man ambushed her, threw her to the ground and raped her. The suspect is described as being in his mid-thirties with short brown hair and a stubble beard.

Leipzig police have explicitly refused to say whether the suspect is a migrant, but have implicitly admitted that he is. They published a facial composite of the suspect with the politically correct warning:

"This image is to be published only in print media in the greater Leipzig area. Publishing this image on the internet, including on social media such as Facebook, is not covered by the court's manhunt order (Beschluss zur Öffentlichkeitsfahndung) and is therefore prohibited."

The effort to censor information about the rape, in which German officials show themselves to be more concerned about protecting the identity of the rapist than the welfare of the victim or other girls he might attack, is almost unprecedented in Germany.

To its credit, the Berlin-based newspaper, Bild, responded: "BILD is ignoring this request. We want to ensure that the suspect is arrested as quickly as possible." Indeed, Bild has been one of the only newspapers in Germany even to publish not only the image but also report the story of this rape.

Violent crime — including rapes, sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking — has skyrocketed in Germany since Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed into the country more than one million mostly male migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Few, if any, of the migrants were vetted before being allowed to enter Germany.

Migrants committed 208,344 crimes in 2015, according to a confidential police report leaked to Bild. This figure represents an 80% increase since 2014 and is equivalent to 570 crimes committed by migrants every day, or 23 crimes each hour, in 2015 alone.

The actual number of migrant crimes is far higher, however: the report, produced by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA), includes only crimes that have been solved (aufgeklärten Straftaten). According to police statistics, on average only around half of all crimes committed in Germany in any given year are solved (Aufklärungsquote). This implies that the actual number of crimes committed by migrants in Germany in 2015 may have exceeded 400,000.

During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to a BKA report released on September 6. This is equivalent to 780 crimes committed by migrants every day, or 32.5 crimes each hour, an increase of nearly 40% over 2015. Again, the 2016 data includes only those crimes in which a migrant suspect has been caught. Crimes similar to the rape in Leipzig would not appear in the statistics because the suspects remain at large.

Migrant crime statistics for all of 2016, when they become available, are likely to show a significant increase over the 2015 numbers. One reason for this is that thousands of migrants who entered the country as "asylum seekers" or "refugees" have gone missing. They are, presumably, economic migrants who entered Germany on false pretenses. Many are thought to be engaging in robbery and criminal violence to sustain themselves.

Most of the crimes committed by migrants are being downplayed by German authorities, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments. For example, the BKA report states that most of the migrant crimes involve fare evasion — using public transportation without a ticket. As for other crimes, almost invariably they are said to be isolated incidents (Einzelfälle), not part of a nationwide problem.

Gatestone Institute has reviewed hundreds of reports of migrant crime in local police reports and local or regional newspapers. The evidence points to a nationwide surge in migrant crime: cities and towns in all 16 of Germany's federal states are affected. In fact, local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit and are unable to maintain law and order.

The growing sense of lawlessness is substantiated by an October 24 YouGov poll which found that 68% of Germans believe that security in the country has deteriorated during the past several years. Nearly 70% of respondents said they fear for their lives and property in German train stations and subways, while 63% feel unsafe at large public events.

German police are shown deployed to break up a mass brawl between migrants (Image source: SAT1 video screenshot)

In Hamburg, statistics show that migrants committed nearly half of the 38,000 crimes reported in Hamburg during the first six months of 2016, although migrants make up only a fraction of the city's 1.7 million inhabitants. Police say that many of the crimes were committed by "migrant gangs" (ausländischen Banden).

City police say they are helpless to confront a spike in crimes committed by young North African migrants. Hamburg is now home to more than 1,800 so-called unaccompanied minor migrants (minderjährige unbegleitete Flüchtlinge, MUFL), most of whom live on the streets and apparently engage in all manner of criminal acts, including purse snatching.

More than 20,000 purses are snatched in Hamburg every year. Most of those are stolen by males between the ages of 20 and 30 who come from the Balkans or North Africa, according to Norman Großmann, the director of the federal police inspector's office in Hamburg. In recent months, police have carried out operations (here and here) to confront the problem, but the actions have yielded few arrests.

Local media report that gangs of migrant youth have effectively taken over parts of the Jungfernstieg, one of the most prestigious boulevards in Hamburg. Many citizens are avoiding the area, which recently underwent a multi-million euro rehabilitation, because it has become too dangerous.

More than 50 people have been physically assaulted along the Jungfernstieg since the beginning of 2016, and police are being called in almost daily to respond to complaints of aggressive begging, public drunkenness, drug dealing and sexual assault. Restaurant owners are complaining about a spike in robbery and vandalism, and taxi drivers say they are avoiding the area, where Arabic and Farsi are commonplace.

The newspaper, Die Welt, reported that unaccompanied minor migrants at a refugee shelter in the Hammerbrook district are "working" at the Jungfernstieg. Stashes of mobile phones, laptops and other stolen goods were recently found hidden in their rooms. Police also arrested a 20-year-old Egyptian named Hassan who repeatedly attacked passersby with a knife. He was filmed groping a girl's breasts and genitals. When she resisted, he punched her in the face.

Residents of the Alsterdorf district in Northern Hamburg have asked their mayor to do something about a group of 40 highly aggressive unaccompanied minor migrants who are terrorizing the neighborhood. Residents complain about burglaries, robberies and even extortion. A 65-year-old resident said she was attacked by a ten-year-old who was trying to break into a car. A 45-year-old business owner said he is afraid to confront the youths because they might smash his windows. A 75-year-old pensioner said he no longer dares to step outside of his house after dark.

Thomas Jungfer, the deputy director of the German Police Union (DPolG) in Hamburg, warns that the city does not have enough police officers to maintain law and order. He says that private security companies are needed to fill in the gaps. "Dissatisfaction among our colleagues is growing," he said.

In nearby Bremen, police have effectively surrendered the fight against organized crime run by clans from the Balkans and Kurdistan because of the need to pour limited personnel resources into the fight against spiraling street crime by unaccompanied migrant youths.

Rainer Wendt, head of the German Police Union (DPolG) has criticized city officials for their lack of resolve. "Bremen has capitulated to extremely dangerous clans. The state's monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force [Gewaltmonopol des Staates] is now becoming the law of the jungle. Security continues to go down the drain."

In Berlin, criminal migrant clans "with strong group loyalties" are operating with impunity in the districts of Neukölln, Wedding, Moabit, Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg. The newsmagazine, Focus, reported that the Kottbusser Tor area in Kreuzberg, an area with many migrants, has become a "legal vacuum" because of a reduced police presence. The place has been overrun with drug trafficking, crime and violence, and residents and shopkeepers report crimes every hour, every day on public streets. A shopkeeper said: "In the past, children could run around here freely. Also, no one paid attention to whether the bag or backpack are secure. Today all this is no longer possible."

According to Focus, "During the day the area is full of heroin corpses, and at night pickpockets are on the go." A private security guard said:

"Drug trafficking takes place right before our eyes. If we intervene, we are threatened, spat on, insulted. Sometimes someone whips out his knife. They are always the same people. They are ruthless, fearless and have no problems with robbing even the elderly."

His colleague added: "Of course, we always call the police. The last time, however, they took two hours to get here."

In the Rhine-Ruhr region, the largest metropolitan region in Germany, police statistics show that Algerians committed more than 13,000 crimes in 2015, more than twice as many as in 2014. Moroccans committed 14,700 crimes, and Tunisians more than 2,000 crimes.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, a report by the interior ministry revealed that Moroccans committed 6,208 crimes in 2015. Algerians committed 4,995 crimes and Tunisians 1,084. These are significant increases compared to previous years.

According to the NRW Interior Ministry, "Immigrants from North African are increasingly disproportionate as offenders — mainly in large cities. The suspects are most often single young men. Their criminal specialties are robbery and assault."

In Düsseldorf, local politicians have been accused of ignoring the growing threat posed by violent gangs of migrants from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The city is home to a total of 2,244 criminal suspects from North Africa, the majority of them (1,256) from Morocco. On average, they commit an offense every 3.5 hours. A police inspector said: "The group as a whole is disrespectful and absolutely without shame."

In Stuttgart, police are fighting a losing battle against migrant gangs from North Africa who are dedicated to pickpocketing. In the Rems-Murr district near Stuttgart, rival gangs of migrant youth from the Balkans are "stealing anything that is not nailed down." Roma and Kosovar youth skip school to go on daily forays systematically to break into cars to steal cell phones and other valuables. They also enter doctor's offices, residences for the elderly, kindergartens and schools to ransack handbags and jackets.

In Aalen, a 14-year-old Kosovar has a police file with more than 100 entries. A local newspaper reports: "All attempts by the police, judiciary and youth welfare office to instill in him a sense of right and wrong and to re-socialize him have so far failed. On Facebook he brags about his undertakings and his love for gangster rap."

In Leipzig, the public transportation system has become a magnet for criminals. The number of reported cases of theft on public transport jumped 152% between 2012 and 2015. The number of physical and sexual assaults on public transportation are also up. Overall, the number of reported crimes in buses and trams jumped 111% between 2012 and 2015, and the number of reported crimes at bus stops during that period were up by 40%.

Leipzig police attribute the spike in crime to the rapid increase in the city's population. They could not confirm the nationality of the perpetrators, however, because that would require a review of each of the crimes, a task that would "exceed the personnel-time capacity."

In Dresden, migrants from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia have effectively taken control over the iconic Wiener Platz, a large public square in front of the central train station. There they sell drugs and pickpocket passersby, often with impunity. Police raids on the square have become a game of "whack-a-mole," with a never-ending number of migrants replacing those who have been arrested.

In Schwerin, roving bands of migrant youths armed with knives have made the city center increasingly dangerous day and night. City officials have drawn up an action plan to regain control of the streets. A centerpiece of the plan calls for the deployment of more social workers (Straßensozialarbeit) to promote integration.

In Bavaria, Sigrid Meierhofer, the mayor of the resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen complained that local police have responded to more migrant-related crimes during the past six weeks than in all of the previous 12 months combined. In a letter to the Bavarian government, she threatened to close a shelter in the town that houses 250 mostly male migrants from Africa if public safety and order cannot be restored. She has also warned female residents of the town to avoid being outside after dark.

In a bestselling book, Tania Kambouri, a German police officer, describes the deteriorating security situation in Germany due to migrants who she says have no respect for law and order. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, she said:

"For weeks, months and years I have noticed that Muslims, mostly young men, do not have even a minimum level of respect for the police. When we are out patrolling the streets, we are verbally abused by young Muslims. There is the body language, and insults like 'sh** cop' when passing by. If we make a traffic stop, the aggression increases ever further, this is overwhelmingly the case with migrants.

 

"I wish these problems were recognized and clearly addressed. If necessary, laws need to be strengthened. It is also very important that the judiciary, that the judges issue effective rulings. It cannot be that offenders continue to fill the police files, hurt us physically, insult us, whatever, and there are no consequences. Many cases are closed or offenders are released on probation or whatever. Yes, what is happening in the courts today is a joke.

 

"The growing disrespect, the increasing violence against police…. We are losing control of the streets."

According to Freddi Lohse, Vice Chairman of the DPolG German Police Union in Hamburg, many migrant offenders view the leniency of the German justice system as a green light to continue delinquent behavior. "They are used to tougher consequences in their home countries," he said. "They have no respect for us."

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“Silicon Valley Pariah” Peter Thiel Defends His Support For Trump – Live Feed

Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel plans to defend his support for Donald Trump in a speech and then a question-and-answer session with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington. Since ‘coming out’ in support of the Republican nominee, NY Times reports, Thiel has been accused of promoting racism and intolerance, faced demands that Facebook drop him from its board of directors and that Silicon Valley’s leading start-up incubator, Y Combinator, sever ties with him.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Thiel revealed that he was donating $1.25 million to support the election of Donald J. Trump. As these things go, it was a small gift. Dustin Moskovitz, a founder of Facebook, is giving tens of millions to support Hillary Clinton. But the news made Mr. Thiel a pariah in much of the tech community.

 

“I was surprised by the intensity,” Mr. Thiel said. “This is one of the few times I was involved in something that was not a fringe effort but was mainstream. Millions of people are backing Trump. I did not appreciate quite how polarizing the election would be in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.”

 

In an interview on Friday, he outlined his thinking. “Ideally, this will have the give-and-take of debate,” he said. “Obviously, I’ll get some very tough questions about Trump. But I thought the best way to advance the discussion was not to have some completely contrived format. The future of this country depends on us engaging with the tough questions.”

Live Feed…

 

As a reminder, here is Mr. Thiel’s full speech from the RNC…

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Enjoy Your Cuban Cigars and Rum: New at Reason

Cuban cigarsGood news for the winners and the losers of the election, whoever they may be. The winners may enjoy the pleasure of celebrating victory with genuine Cuban cigars. The losers can drown their sorrows in Cuban rum straight from the island.

That’s because President Barack Obama has made such indulgences easier. Until recently, any American traveler could bring back no more than $100 worth of these items. Under the new policy, you’re free to bring as much as you can carry.

True, you may bring supplies only for your personal use; selling them is forbidden. Ha. Enterprising travelers will either ignore or find ways to evade these rules. Americans who really want Cuban rum or cigars will be able to satisfy their desire without flying to Havana. Steve Chapman explains more.

View this article.

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Donna Brazile Shared More Debate Questions With Hillary

Over the past several weeks DNC Chair Donna Brazile has been pummeled in the media after Podesta’s emails revealed that she provided a debate question to Hillary in advance of a March 13, 2016 debate with Bernie Sanders.   

Now, the latest WikiLeaks dump reveals that it wasn’t just a one-off thing.  The following email from Brazile, sent one day prior to a March 6th debate with Bernie, shows yet another occasion of her providing an advanced peak at debate questions to the Hillary campaign. We can’t imagine that Bernie supporters are very happy that this is the person chosen to takeover the leadership position at the DNC after Schultz was pushed out for showing favoritism toward the Clinton campaign.

 

Brazile

 

And, sure enough, according to the following transcript from the New York Times, Hillary was well prepared for a question from Lee-Anne Walters about lead poisoning…she even had a handy stat about 500k children having “lead in their bodies”….but those are just stats that most people have on the top of their minds.

COOPER: I want to go to Lee-Anne Walters. This is Lee-Anne Walters. She was one of the first people to report problems with the water in Flint. One of her twin boys stopped growing. Her daughter lost her hair.

 

She says she’s undecided, and has a question for both of you to answer, but we’ll start with Senator Sanders. Ms. Walters?

 

QUESTION: After my family, the city of Flint and the children in D.C. were poisoned by lead, will you make a personal promise to me right now that, as president, in your first 100 days in office, you will make it a requirement that all public water systems must remove all lead service lines throughout the entire United States, and notification made to the — the citizens that have said service lines.

 

SANDERS: I will make a personal promise to you that the EPA and the EPA director that I appoint will make sure that every water system in the United States of America is tested, and that the people of those communities know the quality of the water that they are drinking, and that we are gonna have a plan to rebuild water systems in this country that are unsafe for drinking. COOPER: Let me just point out for accuracy’s sake, there is 10 million lead service pipes delivering water to people all across this country tonight. Secretary Clinton?

 

CLINTON: Well, I agree completely. I want to go further though. I want us to have an absolute commitment to getting rid of lead wherever it is because it’s not only in water systems, it’s also in soil, and it’s in lead paint that is found mostly in older homes. That’s why 500,000 children today have lead — lead in their bodies.

 

So, I want to do exactly what you said. We will commit to a priority to change the water systems, and we will commit within five years to remove lead from everywhere.

 

We were making progress on this in the 1990’s. I worked with then Senator Obama to get more money, more support to do more to remove lead.

 

And then there is also this follow-up to a previous email in which Brazile promises even more debate questions.

Brazile

 

Just more “behavior that is normal” we’re sure.

* * *

Donna Brazile was noticeably uncomfortable for every second of the following 10-minute interview with Megyn Kelly of Fox News.  Kelly pushed hard on the recent Project Veritas undercover videos showing DNC operatives plotting to incite violence at Trump rallies and commit massive voter fraud and over Brazile’s leaked email showing that she provided a CNN debate question to Hillary ahead of a March 2016 debate with Bernie.  Brazile tried every trick in the book to deflect and pivot but Kelly held her feet to the fire.

Brazile’s response on the Project Veritas videos were mostly nonsensical though she did summon the typical democrat argument that O’Keefe is a criminal and has a history of doctoring videos.  But the real fireworks came when she was pressed on her leaked email revealing that she shared a debate question with Hillary in advance of a debate.

I did not receive any questions from CNN, let’s just be very clear.”

 

“First of all what information are you providing to me that will let me see what you are talking about?”

 

As a Christian woman I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted because your information is totally false.

 

“Podesta’s emails were stolen. You’re like the thief that wants to bring into the night what you found in the gutter.

 

I am not going to try to validate falsified information. I have my documents, I have my files.”

 

Because Donna seems to be afflicted with the same disease that haunted Hillary during her tenure as Secretary of State, an awful condition the causes the host to “not recall” significant life events, below is a refresher of the email in question.

Donna Brazile

 

And here is a similar interview by Jordan Chariton of The Young Turks:

 

Yeah, but Russia.

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Pennsylvania Law Would Ban Naming Police Officers Involved in Shootings For 30 Days

None of your beeswaxPennsylvania lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a new bill last week—heavily backed by state and national police unions, including the Fraternal Order of Police—which would forbid the public release of the names of officers involved in shootings of civilians for 30 days, or until an internal police investigation is completed. The penalty for violating the government-wide gag order would be a second misdemeanor charge, however, exemptions would be made for the Attorney General and district attorney’s offices.

The bill sailed through Pennsylvania’s House 151-32 and 39-9 in the Senate, with a significant amount of Philadelphia-area lawmakers voting against it, according to Philly.com. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) still needs to sign the bill to make it law, but he has made no public indication of whether or not he will do so.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Marina White (R) as a means of providing officers involved in shootings “basic protection from threats” After voting in favor of the bill, Rep. Dominic Costa (D) declared, “We are the protectors of our protectors.”

Last year, then-Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey changed the department’s long-standing policy of releasing officers’ names whenever it felt it was appropriate to limiting the delay to a maximum of 72 hours. Ramsey was quoted by NPR as saying, “I don’t think you can shoot someone and expect to remain anonymous…and I do think that we have a responsibility as a police agency that work[s] for the people to provide that information, unless there are some extenuating circumstances.”

If the bill becomes law, it would supersede Philadelphia’s more transparent policy.

Writing of the proposed bill, the Cato Institute’s Jonathan Blanks noted:

Current Pennsylvania law is bad enough as it is. Authorities already have the discretion to release or withhold the names of officers involved in use-of-force incidents. Without a timetable for release of officers’ names, the process to get to the bottom of what happened can be a very lengthy one.

Transparency is also a problem for the Pennsylvania State Police, which makes public very little information about its officer involved shootings, nearly all of which are ruled justified.

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Neera Tanden To Podesta: “Violating The Law Doesn’t Help Hillary”

In all the chaos surrounding the reopening of the FBI’s probe into Hillary’s emails, as well as the still resonating confusion over the Teneo’s illicit dealings with the Clinton Foundation (which as we learned yesterday was also under investigation by the DOJ), one controversial topic has slipped between the cracks: Hillary’s support and funding via Super PACs.

In an email from May 2015 we find that concerns about Hillary’s exposure to SuperPACs was of utmost concern to Hillary Clinton’s top aides, Neera Tander and John Podesta.

In the email from Judd Legum of Think Progress to Neera Tanden, referncing a  WaPo article from May 12, 2015, titled “How a super PAC plans to coordinate directly with Hillary Clinton’s campaign“…

Legum says “this makes zero sense to me.” To which Tanden replies: “I’m not their biggest fan But this does seem shady.”

At this point John Podesta get involved, pointing out that David Brock, founder of the Media Matters watchdog group, is a “$ Machine”, which however brings the following disturbing assessment by Neera:

That’s fine

 

But skirting if not violating law doesn’t help her INMHO

We won’t even bother to ask if any US enforcement agencies are looking into whether Hillary Clinton may have “violated the law” on yet another campaign finance occasion.

 

 

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Dallas Fed Outlook Signals 22nd Straight Month Of Contraction

Dallas Fed’s Manufacturing Outlook has now contracted for 22 consecutive months (the 2008/9 crisis collapse was 24 straight months) with a -1.5 print in October (missing expectations of +2). Production declined, Capacity Utilization tumbled, New Orders and Average Workweek contracted, and wages dropped (while prices paid rose).

“Not” a recession…

Chart: Bloomberg

As The Dallas Fed warns, 

Job losses from the oil sector are having a negative effect on tax revenues in Texas.

 

This puts pressure on government spending at the state and local level.
High-paying manufacturing jobs are being replaced with lower-paying
minimum wage service sector jobs.

 

Unfunded pension liabilities of the
city of Houston will further depress economic expansion as city budgets
are affected.

Notably, expectations for business activity six months ahead dropped to 5 month lows.

But it’s probably nothing.

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FT Endorses Hillary Clinton: “Trump Has Demonstrated Contempt Towards American Democracy Itself”

While we doubt that Donald Trump will be especially distraught upon reading that the Japanese-owned, British-domiciled Financial Times has come out in support of Hillary Clinton, by endorsing the Democratic candidate this morning, it is worth highlighting that the talking points espoused by the establishment, and its preferred media outlets have remained largely unchanged through the campaign.

Here is the big picture according to the FT:

Rarely in a US presidential election has the choice been so stark and the stakes so high. The contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has provided high drama, amply demonstrated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s reckless, last-minute intervention in the saga of Mrs Clinton’s emails. But there must be no doubt about the gravity of the 2016 election, for America and the world.

 

The international order of the past 70 years is fraying, maybe even breaking down. The Brexit vote in June likely removes a pillar of the EU. The Middle East points to a shattered system; further east, in the Pacific, China is becoming more assertive, challenging America’s dominant role in the region and the postwar Bretton Woods system. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has become emboldened, threatening Nato’s borders, spreading havoc in Syria, and apparently orchestrating leaks to influence the US election itself.

Pitching Hillary…

This is a moment for the renewal of American leadership. One candidate has the credentials. Mrs Clinton has served as first lady, senator for New York and US secretary of state.

… While panning Trump:

Mr Trump deals in denigration not diplomacy. He has abused allies, threatening to remove east Asia’s nuclear umbrella, sideline Nato and unleash trade wars. Mr Trump casts himself in the role of a western strongman to stand alongside the likes of Mr Putin. 

 

Mr Trump has demonstrated contempt towards American democracy itself. He has persistently raised the prospect of a rigged election and declined, even when pressed, to guarantee he would accept the result. He has threatened to jail Mrs Clinton. Such arrogance is unprecedented and it points to a fatal flaw in his character. The first role of the president is to be commander-in-chief, in charge of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. Mr Trump has a thin skin and a questionable temperament. For all his many years as a reality TV host, he is simply not ready for prime time.

Still, even the FT admits nobody trusts Hillary:

Yet Mrs Clinton has much to prove. To many American voters, Mrs Clinton’s decades of public service mean little. She epitomises a remote, self-serving establishment. Her campaign has lacked inspiration. She struggled against Bernie Sanders, a 74-year-old self-styled socialist from Vermont. The uncomfortable truth is that both Mr Sanders and Mr Trump have touched a nerve among voters, tapping into a cynicism about politics which has been growing steadily in the US, fuelled in part by the legacy of the 2008 global financial crisis.

The FT believes many challenges lay on November 9 for president Hillary Clinton:

If elected, Mrs Clinton must work out how to heal the divisiveness which has characterised the 2016 election. If Mr Trump contests the result, her task will be infinitely harder. In the national interest she must show a determination to work with a fractured Republican party. This proved beyond President Barack Obama, whose fatigue with Congress verged on the fatalistic. Mrs Clinton, who has worked with ideological foes, has the chance for a fresh start.

The overarching argument here is that only by electing Hillary will the “legitimacy of the US political system” be validated.

The 2016 election, more than any in recent memory, is a test for the legitimacy of the US political system, with profound implications for the liberal world order. Mrs Clinton carries enough baggage to fill a Boeing 747. She is not trusted by the majority of voters. But she is manifestly more competent than Mr Trump whose braggadocio, divisiveness and meanness are on daily display. Despite her faults, Mrs Clinton is eminently qualified to be the first woman elected to the White House. She has the Financial Times’ endorsement.

Perhaps the FT is correct: after all, if anything, the recent unprecedented leaks into Hillary’s campaign reveal that the US political system is mostly about kickbacks, collusion with the media and shady backroom deals which enrich a handful of people under a “charitable” wrapper to make it that much more palatable to the public.

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Chicago PMI Screams Stagflation: Inflationary Pressures On The Rise As “Economic Growth Looks Very Disappointing”

Following September’s bounce, October’s Chicago PMI plunged to 5-month lows. The 50.4 print is a four standard-deviation miss with new orders sliding, production tumbling, but prices paid surging to the highest since Nov 2014. So, stagflation looms as inflationary pressures build but economic growth outlooks decline.

The bounce from June to September… is over…

Chart: Bloomberg

As MNI reports, the latest data marked a weak start to Q4, with the three-month trend softening to 52.1 in October from 53.8 in the three months to September.

The Barometer decline was led by a slowdown in Production, which fell 5.4 points to 54.4, giving up most of the gain seen last month but remaining above the 2016 average. New Orders also subtracted from the Barometer, falling to the lowest level since May. Order Backlogs increased slightly, but failed to jump out of contraction territory, where they have been over the past three months. Employment saw a smaller rise, edging back above the 50-breakeven level and recovering some of the lost ground experienced in the previous month. Meanwhile, Supplier Deliveries fell to the lowest level since June.

 

There was evidence of a pick-up in inflationary pressures at the factory-gate. Prices Paid rose to the highest level since November 2014, following the recovery in the oil price and panellists also reported higher prices for steel and plastic products. Moreover, suppliers have been pushing for price increases in recent months and some of these pressures appeared to have materialised in October.

And as Lorena Castellanos, senior economist at MNI Indicators, explains…

“A key takeaway from the latest survey was the pick-up in Prices Paid to a nearly two-year high. Inflationary pressures are on the rise, which is one of the metrics the Federal Reserve has been waiting for to increase rates. However, economic growth ahead, as read by the October Chicago Business Barometer, looks very disappointing. Hopefully, it doesn’t mark the start of a downward trend,”

Or put another way – the Chicago PMI report screams stagflation:

  • “inflationary pressures on the rise”
  • “economic growth looks very disappointing”

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