Month: March 2018

Syrian government forces have now secured most of the eastern Ghouta enclave, the last remaining rebel-held area near Damascus, the capital and the largest city of the Syrian Arab Republic.

With Syrian forces nearing full control of the war-torn region, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley recently warned, Washington “remains prepared to act if we must,” if the United Nations Security Council fails to act on Syria for its assault on eastern Ghouta.

Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov commented on the critical situation in eastern Ghouta and called on Washington to completely abandon its plans for a military strike against Syrian government forces.

“We’ve warned and warned the US that these plans must be unconditionally refused. Any such unlawful use of force, similar to what happened almost a year ago at the Shairat air base, would be an act of aggression against a sovereign state, as defined by the relevant article of the UN Charter,” he said.

Washington had the previous experince of launching a military intervention without the consent of the United Nations Security Council, when President Donald Trump lobbed 59 Tomahawk missiles onto Syria’s Shairat airbase in April 2017.

According to Muraselon news agency, Syrian forces have acquired most of the eastern Ghouta region through “achieving sweeping military victories or concluding evacuation deals.” The independent media outlet says Syrian forces “will most probably be heading to the country’s south in order to secure the borders with Jordan.”

Could Syria’s southern border with Jordan be the next confrontation zone in the country’s multiple regional wars? 

Sputnik news agency recently uncovered leaked images of U.S. military equipment arriving in Jordan’s Aqaba Industrial Port via the vehicle carrier ship “Liberty pride” for the upcoming participation in the annual war drill “Eager Lion.” During the unloading process, the images reveal the “M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, the M113’s variation for medical evacuation and the M2A3 Bradley armored personnel carriers” were offloaded from the 199-meter (652 feet) military transport vessel, said Sputnik.

Sputnik indicates that Eager Lion war drill is an important military exercise between the U.S. Armed Forces and Jordanian Armed Forces, along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Further, the war drill could flare up tensions on the Jordan–Syria border, and as we know, sometimes war drills go live.

“Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and other US allies will join the “Eager Lion” military exercises, which have been conducted every year since 2010. After the latest reports of a planned US strike on Syrian governmental forces these drills could possibly create tensions between Jordan and neighboring Syria.”

Here is what Eager Lion war drill looked like in 2016:

القوات الأردنية والأمريكية ينفذون إطلاق نار بالذخيرة الحية خلال إحدى فعاليات #الأسدالمتأهب في ميدان تدريب في الأردن pic.twitter.com/LTi74TsPdy

— Eager Lion (@eagerlion2016) May 24, 2016

However, Muraselon news agency ignores the Eager Lion war drill and believes the United States coupled with the Jordanian Armed Forces could be preparing for the next regional war along the Jordan–Syria border.

“With its economy greatly badly affected by Syrian war, Amman is desperately seeking to re-open Nassib border crossing to reinvigorate its economy. Jordan had previously failed to convince the Syrian opposition to hand over this vital crossing to the Syrian government. The Syrian Army will definitely make it to the Jordanian borders sooner or later. It might as well use the same tactics of Eastern Ghouta by dividing the territories of rival armed opposition groups and compel them to make separate concessions. But, will the Syrian opposition attack the Syrian forces along the Damascus-Daraa highway?” 

Jordan is a major player bordering southwestern Syria but has been silent as the Russian-backed Syrian regime expanded territorial gains from terrorist groups in the eastern Ghouta region. Now, Jordan seems like it is preparing for a conflict with Syria, as the United States Armed Forces have recently unloaded large amounts of tanks and personnel carriers. Nevertheless, with the return of John Bolton, is war imminent on the Jordan–Syria border?

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Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

The Polish secret services have detained a government official on allegations he had been spying for Russia, informing Moscow about Poland’s plans on how to put the brakes on the Nord Stream 2 gas project.

Reuters reports that the official, identified as Marek W., was responsible for energy projects and fed information about Warsaw’s plans to block Nord Stream 2 to Russian intelligence officers under diplomatic cover at the Russian embassy in Poland.

The central European country, along with Ukraine and the three Baltic States, is the most vocal opponent of Nord Stream 2, arguing it would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.

Recently, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki clashed over Nord Stream 2, which will ship Russian gas to Germany, bypassing Ukraine.

According to Merkel, Nord Stream 2 will diversify European natural gas supplies, but Morawiecki – and many other top EU officials – believe it will only deepen the EU’s dependence on Russian gas.

In January, Morawiecki asked Washington to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which was in tune with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s view of the project as a threat to European energy security.

Poland is already taking measures to reduce its own dependence on Russian gas as it seeks to block the project. It last year signed a five-year LNG supply deal with Centrica, with the gas to be delivered from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass terminal and is planning more deals like that to diversify its gas supplies.

At the same time Germany is in urgent need of more gas as it plans to phase out coal power plants as well as nuclear ones.

Europe’s largest economy is already by far Gazprom’s biggest client in Europe. Nord Stream 2 will increase total gas shipments to the continent by more than 50 billion cubic meters annually, most of which will go to Germany.

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The first round of public opinion polls following the recent backlash over Facebook’s ruthless monetization of user data has just been released. And it should give Facebook executives more reason to worry – though we doubt another round of full-page newspaper advertisements will do much to help.

Indeed, an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll comparing views in October with last week found that Facebook’s already low net favorability dropped twice as much as the other tech giants.

Meanwhile, less than half of Americans said they trust social media giant Facebook to follow US privacy laws amid the platform’s recent scandal involving data firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

41% of Americans polled said they had trust in Facebook to obey privacy laws, which apply to their personal information, while 51% of those polled expressed levels of mistrust in the platform.

What’s worse (for Facebook and its shareholders), is that a majority of those surveyed by Axios and SurveyMonkey appeared to express more confidence in other tech companies regarding the handling of personal information online. The poll found that 66% trusted Amazon to follow privacy information, while 62% said they trusted Google.

Facebook’s raw favorability rating was 48% last week, down from 61% in October. Google’s latest raw favorability was 78%, Amazon’s was 75%, Apple’ s was 61% and Twitter’s was 31%. SurveyMonkey points out: “In October, Facebook had more positive than negative ratings by about 2-1; now it’s … 48% favorable, 43% unfavorable.”

The negative turn for Facebook is particularly large among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, with favorable ratings falling 16 percentage points, from 67% to 51%. SurveyMonkey found more modest declines among Republicans and Republican-leaning voters (10 points) and pure independents (eight points).

But Axios notes that while these declines are troubling, the fact remains that Facebook is a free service – therefore, talk of leaving it for another social-media network is likely overblown.

Facebook is facing investigations and inquiries launched by lawmakers and regulators in both the US and the UK. The outrage, which has been percolating for years, roared to life following revelations that Cambridge Analytica improperly used personal data from 50 million Facebook users during its work for the Trump campaign. Facebook is facing criticism for its reluctance to disclose abuses of its customers’ data, and also the overall opaqueness surrounding its data-sales practices. Facebook executives have embarked on a media apology tour and have even paid for full page advertisements in daily newspapers to apologize to users.

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Submitted by Grants Interest Rate Observer

If regulators on either side of the pond have their way, it will soon be time to say tata to the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) as the benchmark interest rate used to set the price of hundreds of trillions of dollars in debt securities the world over.  Today, Bloomberg notes that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in tandem with the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research are set to debut the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).  The salient distinction between Libor and its presumed successor:

Where LIBOR relied on the expectations of bankers, SOFR is based on real transactions from a swath of firms including broker-dealers, money market funds, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension funds.  It’s different from Libor as well in that it’s a secured rate, since the repo rates it’s derived from are collateralized, or backed by assets. 

As financial authorities prepare to usher Libor to the exit, the benchmark reference rate has managed to make its way back into the investment spotlight. A methodical rise to 2.29% from 0.65% as the 10-year yield bottomed in July 2016 has pushed Libor’s spread over the “risk free” overnight indexed swap [OIS] rate to its highest since 2009.  That type of widening would traditionally signal diminished liquidity or even credit stress. 

Bhanu Baweja, deputy head of macro strategy at UBS Investment Bank, argued in an opinion piece in last Tuesday’s Financial Times that other factors explain the recent move. Baweja estimates that two-thirds of the widening can be attributed to rising Treasury bill yields (higher issuance amid the recent spending bill and tax cuts is the apparent catalyst), while the 2016 money market reform and subsequent upward pressure on commercial paper yield accounts for the rest. Baweja goes on to comment:

Does the price of funding not matter at all, then? It most certainly does. It can fundamentally alter market trends. But instead of Libor-OIS widening, which is likely a red herring, we need to focus on the right channels to detect signals of a change in the investment opportunity set.

First, watch the hit from yields to floating rate high yield credit and leveraged loans. We estimate floating rate loans to U.S. borrowers at $2.2 trillion, nearly half of which have been extended to issuers rated below double-B-minus. Our analysis shows that leveraged loan issuers will remain resilient to the next 75-100 basis point increase in Fed Funds rates, but could see their interest coverage ratios reaching dangerously low levels beyond that.

If leveraged loans are the canary in the coal mine, then so far, so good. The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Total Return Index made another new high on Friday, up by more than 18% from its February 2016 interim lows. 

Source: The Bloomberg

On March 15, Bloomberg noted more issuers managed to place leveraged loans at 175 basis points over Libor (the tightest spread seen since the crisis) in the prior month than in the past ten years combined. At the same time, investors continue to accept diminished legal protection, in the form of so-called covenant-lite loans.  S&P Global Intelligence’s LCD unit reported Friday that cov-lite’s share of the $984 billion leveraged loan market reached a fresh record high of 75.8% in February.

Last week, Uber Technologies, Inc., which lost $4.5 billion on $7.5 billion in revenue in 2017 and recently sold shares to Softbank at a 30% markdown from its prior valuation (see “Out of gas” from the Jan. 12 issue of Grant’s for more), tapped the leveraged loan market, hoping to borrow $1.25 billion at an indicated yield of 425-450 basis points over Libor.  Investor demand was strong enough for Uber to both upsize the offering to $1.5 billion and lower its spread over Libor to 400 basis points.

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Authored by Alexander Mercouris via TheDuran.com,

Messages of support for Russia and its “comprehensive collaborative strategic partnership” pour in from China

President Putin’s massive election victory and the fallout from the Skripal case have provided Global Times – an English language newspaper published under the auspices of the People’s Daily, the official organ of China’s Communist Party, and therefore reflecting the views of China’s leadership – with the opportunity to give Russia strong backing as it comes under renewed Western pressure.

The first editorial, published on 16th March 2018 under the title “West hopes to hurt, intimidate Russia”, makes clear that China sides with Russia over the handling of the Skripal case

This new round of “bullying” of Russia by the US and its European allies is quite abrupt and acute. London ignored usual diplomatic procedures to issue an ultimatum to Moscow and began sanctions. It feels like racing against time.

(bold italics added)

The second editorial, published on 19th March 2018 under the title “Western sanctions boost support for Putin”, makes the same point, though rather more trenchantly

Before the just-concluded election, the UK issued an ultimatum to the Kremlin to account for the poisoning of a former Russian agent on British soil, without solid proof. It was a humiliation for Moscow.

(bold italics added)

Both editorials see the Skripal case as a continuation of the Western campaign to undermine President Putin in order to disrupt Russia’s independent course.

Both editorials link the Skripal case to Russia’s Presidential election which took place on 18th March 2018.

The first editorial – published before Russia’s Presidential election – puts it this way

It makes people think of the upcoming Russian presidential election on March 18. The West wrestling with Russia at this particular moment has become a major factor for Russia’s elections. It is hard to distinguish how much of the antagonism reflect its true severity and how much is designed to target Russia’s elections.

The past couple of years has witnessed the most strenuous period of Russia’s relations with the West. The improvement in their relations since the end of the Cold War has almost run out. However, today’s Russia, without satellite states, is incomparable with the strength of the former Soviet Union when dealing with the strategic pressure from the West……

Analysts believe Putin will win the election without a doubt, and that the West’s sanctions will likely provide new momentum for Putin’s supporters. But maybe some Western elite think the other way and wish to drain Putin’s votes or undermine his authority via a new round of sanctions that may pressure the Russian public.

(bold italics added)

The second editorial – published after President Putin’s overwhelming victory in the Presidential election – makes the same point, whilst noting that the plan to undermine public support for President Putin in Russia has failed, with the West’s ongoing anti-Russian and anti-Putin campaign instead consolidating Russian society behind him

The past six years have seen the most intense conflicts between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War and Western countries have imposed severe sanctions against Moscow. During the same period, the price of oil stayed low. The Russian economy was hence facing a double blow. With the increasing cost of its national defense, the Russian government found available funds diminished to invest in improving people’s living standards. The Western political logic was like this: Even if Putin remains in his post, his support will decline. 

But the election showed the opposite. It seems that Russian people generally attributed the nation’s current difficulties to pressure and sanctions piled on them by the West. Meanwhile, they believe that Putin is the one defending their interests and without him, their situation would be even worse.

(bold italics added)

Both editorials note that Russia’s economy has proved highly resistant to the West’s sanctions, and both explain why.

The first editorial says “Russia’s rich natural resources make it highly self-sufficient to counter sanctions”.

The second editorial goes into more detail

Sanctions against Russia……economically….will…have little effect. The Russian economy returned to modest growth in 2017. Russia enjoys rich resources, high-level intellectuals and in the Soviet era, abundant technological breakthroughs. It is not a nation that can be besieged to death.

Global Times then proceeds to draw lessons from this for China, which is itself now starting to come under economic pressure from the US.

Firstly, as the first editorial points out, the West is as capable of applying sanctions pressure on China as it is against Russia

Western countries have been quite freewheeling in imposing sanctions on Russia, as they don’t see much cost in doing so.

The harsh attitude of Western countries toward Russia resembles their unity in the face of major geopolitical and value challenges despite problems in their own camp. Any non-Western competitor could become their shared target, which is part of the current world order.

Independent forces, including China, all face such risks.

(bold italics added)

Secondly, Russia has managed to resist the West’s pressure in part because of its “rich natural resources” – ie. its economic self-sufficiency – but also because of the strong national spirit of its people

The Western powers should reflect on the fact that they are not setting themselves against Putin alone, but against the entire Russian nation which defeated Napoleon and Hitler and is not afraid of anyone. Patriotism and self-esteem as citizens of a major power are pervasive in the Russian people. When the West fights these sentiments, its efforts amount to nothing….

Sanctions against Russia have failed politically because they have only promoted the unity of Russian society….

Discussions about how Russia will transition toward a post-Putin era have already started in Western nations, but they do not understand Russia in believing that Putin’s emergence was an accident. The truth is Putin represents the country’s national interest. The support he won reflects the support Russian people have for their national interest.

The implication is clear enough: in order for China to be able to resist Western pressure – the application of which I suspect the Chinese leadership believes is only a matter of time – China needs the same two things that have enabled Russia to resist Western pressure so successfully: a spirit of national unity and economic self-sufficiency.

Following my visit to China last August I have no doubt about the Chinese people’s spirit of national unity.  However these words in the second editorial are no doubt in part intended to remind China’s people of the cost they will pay if they ever lose it and succumb to the allure of the West

Moscow once tried to integrate with the West. Losing the Soviet Union was the price it paid for that. But in the end, its enthusiasm encountered the cold shoulder of the West. NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe was widely considered by Russian people as Western treachery following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Today Russian society is filled with desire to see their country rise again.

As to economic self-sufficiency, China though possessing an economy many orders of magnitude larger than Russia’s, unlike Russia is not economically fully self-sufficient.

However Global Times points to the solution, which it turns out is an ever-closer relationship with Russia

The China-Russia comprehensive strategic collaborative partnership also made sure that the West would fail to contain either Beijing or Moscow.

(bold italics added)

In other words the Russian-Chinese alliance guarantees each country’s security from pressure by the West.

Russia can to look to China to supplement its financial resources.  China can look to Russia for the food, energy and raw materials it needs.

Though the two editorials don’t say so, and the point is never publicly spoken about, the main purpose of President Xi Jinping’s One Belt, One Road Initiative is to tie the economic resources of the China and Russia together, with Russian President Vladimir Putin being President Xi Jinping’s essential partner in the whole enterprise.

President Putin alluded to this fact in his message of congratulation to President Xi Jinping following the latter’s recent re-election as President of China

This decision by the National People’s Congress of China has become another proof of your great authority, a recognition of your efforts in ensuring dynamic socioeconomic development of the country and protecting its interests on the global stage,” the Russian President stressed.

Vladimir Putin noted the unprecedented high level of relations between Russia and China achieved recently to a large extent due to the personal efforts of Xi Jinping. These relations have become a true example of equal and mutually beneficial cooperation between leading powers.

The President of Russia conveyed to his Chinese counterpart that he would be happy to have new meetings with him, and expressed confidence in further strengthening, through reciprocal efforts, the Russia-China comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation, in filling it with new content which will contribute to the prosperity of the two friendly peoples and to greater security and stability on the Eurasian continent and in the whole world.

President Xi Jinping then reciprocated in his message of congratulation to President Putin following the latter’s re-election as President of Russia a day after

In the message, Xi said that over recent years, the Russian people have united as one in firmly advancing on the path of strengthening the nation, realizing rejuvenation and development, achieving remarkable success in economic and social development, and playing an important constructive role in international affairs.

Xi expressed the belief that Russia will definitely be able to keep creating new glories in national development.

Currently, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership is at the best level in history, which sets an example for building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, cooperation and all-win results, and a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.

China is willing to work with Russia to keep promoting China-Russia relations to a higher level, provide driving force for respective national development in both countries, and promote regional and global peace and tranquility, Xi said.

I would finish by referring to the remarkably fulsome language Global Times uses to describe the current relationship between China and Russia.

What was once referred to as a ‘strategic partnership’ became a few years ago a ‘grand strategic partnership’.

Now Global Times calls it “the China-Russia comprehensive strategic collaborative partnership”.  Note that both President Putin and President Xi Jinping referred to it as a “comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership” in their respective telegrams to each other.  It appears that this is now the agreed formula used to describe the relationship.

I wonder for how much longer the Chinese and the Russians will go on pretending that their relationship is anything other than what it obviously is, something which can be summed up altogether more simply, with one word: alliance.

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Less than a week after FBI and ATF agents brought about the end of the Austin bomber’s three-week reign of terror, a local TV station is reporting that “suspicious packages” possibly containing explosive components have been discovered at several military buildings in the Washington DC-area. Up to six suspicious packages have been discovered at military and intelligence agency buildings in the capitol area.

NBC 4 reports that the military is investigating the packages, one of which was shipped to the National Defense University at Ft. McNair in DC. A suspicious package was received around 8:30 am – prompting officials to evacuate the building. 

The package tested positive for black powder, according to Ft. McNair. An X-ray showed what appeared to be a GPS and a fuse. But the package was deemed safe and the building was cleared at around 1:15 pm. The components are being investigated.

A suspicious package sent to Ft. Belvoir in Virginia Monday afternoon contained liquid in a vial and a circuit board. It was also deemed to be safe after a brief investigation.

It’s not clear if either was an actual working explosive device.

Another suspicious package is under investigation at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington DC.

There are also reports of suspicious packages at the CIA, a Secret Service mail processing facility and a Navy base in Richmond.

It’s not clear if the packages are linked to each other, but officials said they are not linked to the recent bombings in Austin, Texas.

 

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Testimony and court documents from the trial of Noor Salman – the widow of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, reveals that Omar’s father – who sat right behind Hillary Clinton at an August, 2016 campaign rally, was an FBI informant for over a decade.

Jurors in Salman’s trial heard from Miami-based FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin – Seddique Mateen’s contact within the agency, while documents show the senior Mateen was trying to raise $50,000 – $100,000 through donations in order to conduct a terrorist attack against the government of Pakistan – a discovery made by the FBI following the June 12, 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub by 29-year-old Omar Mateen, killing 49 people before dying in a shoot out with police. 

Disturbingly, Omar Mateen was such a threat that his co-workers reported him to the FBI – who had his supervisor wear a wire to try and capture Omar bragging about connections to terrorism. 

Martin also testified about investigating Omar Mateen, after co-workers at the security firm G4S reported in 2013 that Mateen had made comments about being connected to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. Martin had Mateen’s supervisor wear a concealed recording device. –Orlando Sentinel

The elder Mateen also made several money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan between March 16, 2016 and June 5, 2016 – a week before the Pulse attack. 

BREAKING: The US Government has reveleaed that Pulse Night Club shooter Omar Mateen’s father was an @FBI informant from 2005-2016! And at one point based on a tip tried to raise and transfer $50k-$100 overseas to contribute to an attack against the Pakistani govt pic.twitter.com/Jp0F1AGbYr

— Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanM) March 26, 2018

Seddique Mateen, father of the Orlando terrorist who killed 49 at the Pulse night club, was an FBI confidential human source between 2005 & 2016. Search at his residence found receipts for money transfers to Turkey & Afghanistan. 2nd transfer occurred one week before the attack. pic.twitter.com/gr5Kv4I2QX

— Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) March 26, 2018

Omar Mateen was searching plane tickets to Turkey prior to his attack on Pulse. Fact that Seddique sent money to Turkey one week before the attack indicates Omar Mateen may have been planning to travel overseas prior to or following the attack. pic.twitter.com/9n3uh9TrnL

— Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) March 26, 2018

Appears that Mateen’s father also played a significant role in the FBI’s decision not to seek an indictment from the Justice Department for false statements to the FBI or obstruction of justice against Omar Mateen. https://t.co/4Pl0kRCj5L pic.twitter.com/zqWtckWUZL

— Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) March 26, 2018

A motion filed by Salman’s defense team on Sunday argued that the case against her should be dismissed because prosecutors didn’t share the fact that the senior Mateen was an FBI asset. 

A motion filed by Omar Mateen’s wife, seeking to dismiss the charges, reveal: FBI just admitted that Omar’s father, Seddique, worked with the FBI as an informant for 11 years (2005-16) & himself was under investigation for sending $$ to Afghanistan & Turkey pic.twitter.com/9jH2euP3pJ

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 26, 2018

 

Noor Salman’s lawyers say FBI hid these key facts until now out of embarrassment: it was due to FBI’s close relationship w/Mateen’s father that they didn’t arrest Mateen when they investigated him in 2013. Also, prosecution of Noor intended to protect real accomplice: FBI’s asset pic.twitter.com/YGGq92E8Fw

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 26, 2018

“It is apparent from the Government’s belated disclosure that Ms. Salman has been defending a case without a complete set of facts and evidence that the Government was required to disclose,” attorney Fritz Scheller argued in the court filing.

U.S. District Judge Paul Byron said he would deal with the motion later. “I’m not going to address it right now,” he said. “It’s gonna take too much time.”

Did the FBI lie?

Journalist Jack Posobiec makes some interesting observations about the FBI response to the Pulse shooting, noting that in hindsight James Comey may have been lying through his teeth about what they knew. 

When Comey gave a press conference about the Pulse Nightclub shooting, he said the FBI had a confidential source that Mateen was no longer an Islamic radical

Was that source Mateen’s own father? https://t.co/9Rz49ImbTo

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 26, 2018

Comey told us in 2016 that an FBI source reported Mateen was no longer radicalized

Was the informant his own father? pic.twitter.com/Hs89FejSrf

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 26, 2018

Go back and look at Comey’s public statements on Mateen now that we know his father was an FBI asset – Lordy! https://t.co/RSmi1GySK1

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 26, 2018

What @Comey meant here was “We knew these guys were dirty, but they were on payroll, so we covered it up” https://t.co/WzzJAasDg1

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 26, 2018

And as attorney Robert Barnes concisely sums up:

Facts Obama’s FBI under #Mueller & @comey knew:

1/ Mateen bragging to co-workers about terror ties so badly, they reported him to FBI;

2/ Mateen bragging to others about terror ties led a sheriff’s deputy called FBI;

3/ reported Mateen family ties to domestic & foreign terrorists

Facts Obama’s FBI under #Mueller & @comey knew: 1/ Mateen bragging to co-workers about terror ties so badly, they reported him to FBI; 2/ Mateen bragging to others about terror ties led a sheriff’s deputy called FBI; 3/ reported Mateen family ties to domestic & foreign terrorists

— Robert Barnes (@Barnes_Law) March 26, 2018

Finally – as Luke Rosiak of the Dailly Caller notes, the “FBI considered making Pulse shooter Omar Mateen a confidential informant after investigating him and finding him clean. Jim Comey later called him a ‘lone wolf.’ Why hire someone as an informant if they have no connections?”

FBI considered making Pulse shooter Omar Mateen a confidential informant after investigating him and finding him clean. Jim Comey later called him a ‘lone wolf.’ Why hire someone as an informant if they have no connections?https://t.co/dxCNYFw9Qg

— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) March 26, 2018

So much for a “scandal free” Obama administration…

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Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Steemit.com,

They want you arguing over who should and shouldn’t be called a terrorist based on what ideology you subscribe to and what color the latest killer’s skin was.

They do not want you talking about the way the label “terrorist” itself is being used to justify unconstitutional detentions, torture, mass surveillance, and wars.

They want you arguing over whether to support the Democrats because the Republicans will take civil rights away from disempowered groups or Republicans because the Democrats will take away your guns and force you to bake gay wedding cakes.

They don’t want you talking about the fact that both parties advance Orwellian surveillance, neoliberal exploitation and neoconservative bloodshed in a good cop/bad cop extortion scheme to keep Americans cheerleading for their own enslavement.

They want you arguing about whether Trump did or did not collude with Russia.

They do not want you looking at what preexisting agendas the CNN/CIA Russia narratives are advancing and who stands to benefit from them.

They want everyone fighting over table scraps while they pour unfathomable riches into expanding and bolstering their empire. They psychologically brutalize you with propaganda day in and day out, and then expect you to look to them for protection from the phantoms they invented.

They don’t want you paying attention to the growing number of signsthat the current administration is gearing up for a major military bloodbath which may lead our species into a third and final world war.

They want you talking about Stormy Daniels instead.

And by “they” I of course mean the loose transnational alliance of plutocrats and defense/intelligence agencies who control the US-centralized empire, whose primary agenda is always to expand their own power and influence.

The “they” in question are aware that their empire is (according to their own data) entering post-primacy, which will lead to the rise of a multipolar world in which the US-centralized empire suddenly has rivals which can compete on equal footing for resources, assets and allies. Unless they do something very drastic very soon.

This arrival at post-primacy just so happened to coincide with the choice in 2016 between a warmongering establishment stalwart whom the DNC and media propaganda machine tried to force into the White House at great expense, and a billionaire who knew what people wanted to hear and has proven himself to be every bit the violent empire loyalist that his opponent would have been.

The election was fake and meaningless. Both candidates are owned and operated by the same unelected power establishment.

Now the Trump administration is being filled with more and more bloodthirsty neoconservatives of the same strain which backed Hillary Clinton, who are being promoted to higher and higher positions within that administration. Longtime Iran and Russia hawk Mike Pompeo’s promotion into Hillary Clinton’s old job as Secretary of State was quickly followed by the elevation of John Bolton, easily the most virulent neoconservative war hawk in Washington, to the position of National Security Advisor.

There were many perfectly qualified candidates who could have served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, but Trump selected the two most violent neoconservatives on the menu. There is no reason to do such a thing unless wars are planned; none of the countless feeble arguments I’m seeing from Trump apologists come anywhere close to a convincing argument to the contrary. All John Bolton does is war. You don’t appoint him to the leading advisory position on national security unless war is what you want.

In response to all this, Trump’s political opponents are of course talking about what he did with his penis.

As of this writing, #StormyDanielsDay is the top US trend on Twitter. I don’t know what #StormyDanielsDay is. I don’t care what#StormyDanielsDay is. Neither should you. Neither should anyone else.

Please stop this shit, America. If the US war machine goes after Iran or Russia it will likely mean a world war against multiple nuclear-armed countries, which could very easily send our species the way of the dinosaurs should a nuke get deployed in the fog of war. We don’t have time to focus on Stormy fucking Daniels.

Those most fiendishly devoted to the service of the empire would rather take that risk than see the US lose its dominant role on the global stage; for them there is no difference between the end of their empire and the end of their lives. From their point of view they are fighting for their lives, and they are willing to take all-or-nothing gambles with the lives of every terrestrial organism in order to win.

We are staring down the barrel of world war and possible extinction. This should deeply impact the hearts and minds of Trump’s opponents and his supporters. Stop arguing about Stormy fucking Daniels and spread awareness about things that really matter.

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Amid a collapse in the crypto space and under investigations over its ICO, Overstock’s share price is tumbling after-hours – near 6-month lows – after announcing a new offering of 4 million shares.

As of March 12th, Overstock had 29.5 million shares outstanding, so this is a significant dilution.

 

Full Statement:

Overstock.com, Inc. today announced that it intends to offer 4,000,000 shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. 

Overstock also expects to grant to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 600,000 additional shares of its common stock in the offering.  All of the shares will be offered and sold by Overstock. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering.

Guggenheim Securities, LLC is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering. D.A. Davidson & Co. is acting as co-manager.

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