Month: September 2018

Special counsel Robert Mueller will accept written answers from President Trump on questions about whether his campaign conspired with Russia’s election interference, Mueller’s office told Trump’s lawyers in a letter, the NYT reports.

But on another significant aspect of the investigation, whether the president tried to obstruct the inquiry itself, Mueller and his investigators understood that issues of executive privilege could complicate their pursuit of a presidential interview and did not ask for written responses on that matter, according to the letter, which was sent on Friday.

While Mueller did not say if he was giving up on an interview altogether, including on questions of obstruction of justice, but the tone of the letter and the fact that the special counsel did not ask for written responses on obstruction has prompted some Trump allies to conclude that if an interview takes place, its scope will be more limited than Mr. Trump’s legal team initially believed, the NYT reported.

The letter was the latest in lengthy negotiations that the two sides have engaged in about whether Mr. Trump will be formally interviewed in the investigation. “We continue to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the office of the special counsel,” Mr. Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow said, adding that it was the legal team’s policy to not discuss its communications with the special counsel’s office.

As reported previously, Trump’s lawyers have been eager to avoid a formal interview, saying repeatedly that to determine whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia’s election interference and whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry, Mueller can find the answers in the interviews that his investigators have conducted with witnesses, including senior White House aides and administration officials, and more than 1.4 million documents turned over by the White House.

They did, however, offer written answers as a possibility, and the Mueller team appears receptive to it as an interim measure.

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With core CPI printing at a frothy 2.4%, and the Fed’s preferred inflation metric, core PCE finally hitting the Fed’s 2.0% bogey for the first time since 2012, inflation watchers are confused why Jerome Powell’s recent Jackson Hole speech was surprisingly dovish even as inflation threatens to ramp higher in a time of protectionism and tariffs threatening to push prices even higher.

But the biggest concern from an inflation “basket” standpoint has little to do with Trump’s trade war, and everything to do with shelter costs, and especially rent, the single biggest contributor to the Fed’s inflation calculation. It’s a concern because according to the latest report from RentCafe and Yardi Matrix,  which compiles data from actual rents charged in the 252 largest US cities, fewer than expected apartment deliveries this year increased competition among existing units, pushing up the national average rent by another 3.1% – the highest monthly increase in 18 months –  to $1,412 in August, an all time high.

The national average monthly rent swelled by $42 since last August and $2 since last month. Above-average numbers of renters renewing leases at the end of the summer and heightened demand from college-age renters also contributed to the rise in rents this time of year.

The rental market is so hot right now – perhaps a continue sign that most Americans remain priced out of purchasing a home – that rents increased in 89% of the nation’s biggest 252 cities in August, stayed flat in 10% of cities, and dropped in only 1% of cities compared to August 2017. Queens (NYC), Las Vegas, and Phoenix rents increased the most in one year, while Baltimore, San Antonio, and Washington, DC rents have changed the least among the nation’s largest cities.

Here are the main highlights for large, mid-size and small markets:

• Renter Mega-Hubs: The largest increases were in Orlando (7.7%) and Phoenix (6.8%), while Manhattan (1.9%) and Washington, D.C. (2.1%) saw some of the slowest growing rents in this category. The biggest net changes were felt by renters in Los Angeles, which pay $102 more per month this August compared to last year.
• Large cities: Rents in Queens and Charlotte surge by 8.4% and 5.2% respectively, but barely move in Baltimore (0.2%) and San Antonio (1.5%).
• Mid-size cities: Mesa (6.9%), Tampa (6.4%), and Sacramento (5.5%) rents increase at the fastest pace. At the other end of the spectrum, rents only ticked up in Virginia Beach (1.4%) and Albuquerque (1.7%).
• Small cities: Due to limited stock and high demand, Lancaster and Reno rents soared by 9.7% and 11.3% respectively. Apartment prices in Midland (31.9%) and Odessa (30%) are over $300 per month more expensive than in August 2017. Brownsville (-2%) and Baton Rouge (-0.7%) saw rents decrease over the past year.

Orlando’s fast-growing rents outpaced the nation’s largest renter hubs

Of the top 20 largest renter hubs in the U.S., Orlando apartments are seeing the highest increase in rent over the past year, 7.7%, reaching $1,393 in August, while San Antonio apartments saw the weakest rent growth of the 20 cities, 1.5% in one year, posting an average rent of $996 per month in August. The biggest net changes in rent compared to August 2017 were felt by renters in Los Angeles, who are paying on average $102 per month more this August compared to the same month last year. Orlando rents increased by no less than $99 per month, and Tampa, Chicago, and Manhattan (New York City) rents are $77 above last year’s average. At the opposite end, rents in San Antonio saw the smallest uptick, only $15 more per month than they were one year ago.

NATIONAL LEVEL: Rents in Nevada and Arizona feel the heat from increased demand

Housing in the Permian Basin continues to see the steepest price increases in the country. Apartments for rent in Midland, TX now cost $1,595 per month, a 31.9% leap from one year prior. Likewise, rentals in neighboring Odessa, TX cost $1,365 on average, having jumped 30% in one year.

• Reno, NV‘s housing crunch is worsening due to limited land development and high demand for rentals. Rents in Reno are the third fastest rising in the country, behind only Midland and Odessa. The average rent in Reno is $1,253 per month, a massive 11.3% increase year over year, or $127 more per month compared to the same time last year. The average rent in Reno was around $900 just three years ago but has jumped by more than $300 in 36 months, making it increasingly unaffordable for renters. Nevada’s growing popularity as a destination for those moving out of California is reflected in rapidly-growing real estate prices. Besides Reno, apartments in Las Vegas are also getting expensive, with the third fastest growing rents in the U.S. compared to other large cities.
• Peoria, AZ is facing a similar situation. What used to be an affordable town in the Phoenix area, with an average rent of about $900 per month no more than three years ago, now has apartments that go for $1,114 per month on average, over $200 more expensive, a big leap and a heavy burden for the area’s renters. Compared to August 2017, the average rent in Peoria is 10.1% or $102/month more expensive, the fourth fastest growing this August out of 252 cities surveyed. Likewise, rents in other parts of the Phoenix metro are also rising faster than most other parts of the country, as a consequence of strong demand boosted by big increases in population.
• Lancaster, CA is fifth in the U.S. in terms of fastest-growing rents. The average rent in Lancaster shot up 9.7% year over year, reaching $1,274 per month. The likely reason? Not enough apartments are being built to keep up with the surge in renter population in this town located on the northern fringes of Los Angeles County.

On the other end of the national spectrum, rent prices have decreased in August in border town Brownsville, TX (-2% y-o-y), Orange County’s Irvine, CA (-0.9% y-o-y), Norman, OK (-0.9% y-o-y), Baton Rouge, LA  (-0.7%) and Dallas suburb Richardson, TX (-0.6%). Amarillo, TX, New Haven, CT, Baltimore, MD, Frisco, TX and Stamford, CT round up the 10 slowest growing rent prices in the U.S. in August.

LARGE CITIES: Rents rise the fastest in Queens, NY, Phoenix, AZ and Las Vegas, NV

• Step aside Brooklyn: rent prices are now racing in the NYC borough of Queens, up 8.4% compared to last year, with an average rent of $2,342, behind Manhattan’s average rent of $4,119 and Brooklyn’s $2,801. Rents in Manhattan are among the slowest growing in the U.S., 1.9%, while in Brooklyn rents were up 3.9%.
• The second fastest growing rents among the nation’s largest cities are in Phoenix, AZ, up 6.8% over the year. The area has seen a surge in population in search of affordable housing and job opportunities. Even with prices of apartments growing at annual rates of 6-7%, the average rent is still affordable at $996 per month, especially when compared to most other major cities in the country.
• Las Vegas is an increasingly popular place to move to, as Census population estimates show, but the local real estate market is slow to respond. New apartment construction is low, causing rents to go up significantly. An apartment in Las Vegas costs on average $1,011, up 6.2% since August 2017.

At the same time, rents decreased in August in border town Brownsville, TX (-2% y-o-y), Orange County’s Irvine, CA (-0.9% y-o-y), Norman, OK (-0.9% y-o-y), Baton Rouge, LA  (-0.7%) and Dallas suburb Richardson, TX (-0.6%). Amarillo, TX, New Haven, CT, Baltimore, MD, Frisco, TX and Stamford, CT round up the 10 slowest growing rent prices in the U.S. in August.

MID-SIZE CITIES: Mesa and Tampa apartments see steepest rises in rents

Apartments in Mesa, AZ and Tampa, FL are seeing price increases above 6% in August. Rents in Mesa reached $965 per month, and in Tampa the average rent is $1,287. Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Fresno wrap up the top 5, with annual price increases of above 5%.

• Pittsburgh, PA is emerging as a hot rental market, as the city’s job market is gaining traction in tech-related fields. The average rent in Steel City is $1,216, but it is expected to keep growing as apartment construction is not yet in line with the sudden increase in demand.

At the other end of the chart are Wichita, KS, with rents decreasing by 0.8%, Lexington, KY, where prices for apartments moved by 1.1% in one year, Tulsa, OK, where rents changed by 1.3%, Virginia Beach, with prices up by only 1.4% and Albuquerque, NM, where rents saw a 1.7% uptick. The average rent in Lexington sits at $889 per month, in Virginia Beach it is slightly higher, at $1,169 per month, and in Albuquerque, it averages $852 per month.

SMALL CITIES: Rents in Midland and Odessa are over $300 per month more expensive than last year

The most fluctuating prices are in small cities at both ends of the list. The top 20 list of highest annual rent increases is dominated by small cities (17 out of 20). Midland and Odessa,  however, stand out from the rest of them, with annual percentage increases of over 30%, which translate into an additional $300 or more per month to the average rent check. The region is economically centered around the shale/oil industry and it’s booming, and real estate prices are taking off as well.

Small cities make up most of the bottom of the list, as well, in terms of slowest growing rents: Brownsville, TX, Irvine, CA, Norman, OK, Baton Rouge, LA, and Richardson, TX saw rents stagnate over the past year. Akron, OH, Thousand Oaks, CA, and McKinney, TX are in the same boat

In terms of absolute prices, the top cities with the 10 highest rents in the country remains unchanged. Manhattan is still the most expensive, with apartment rents at $4,119, San Francisco is second, with an average rent of $3,579, and Boston is third, with an average rent of $3,388. San Mateo, CA and Cambridge, MA also have an average rent above $3,000 per month. The cheapest rents of the 252 cities surveyed are in Wichita, Brownsville, and Tulsa, all below $700 per month.

According to RentCafe, much of the change in rent prices we see this year is driven by how much demand there is in a specific area and what that area does to deal with it. However, the underlying factors are more complex. The housing market continues to change as a result of the 2007 subprime crisis, according to Doug Ressler, Director of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix. Furthermore, markets are undergoing a significant change driven by dramatically different demographic trends. Trends vary by market and will be impacted by population aging, population growth, immigration and home ownership trends, says Ressler.

Naturally, they will also be impacted by the state of the economy, the Fed’s monetary policy and the level of the capital markets.

However, should the current rental surge continue, the Fed will have no choice but to hike rates far higher than the general market consensus expects, especially following Powell’s “dovish” Jackson Hole speech.

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With a net worth of over $7 billion, Liu ‘Richard’ Qiangdong, founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, is China’s 20th richest man. Liu’s fortune is derived from his 15% stake in JD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce company after Alibaba.

As we reported over the weekend, arrest records showed that Liu Qiangdong, who uses the English name Richard, was arrested in Minneapolis and brought in at 11:32 p.m. Friday on an accusation of an unknown “criminal sexual conduct” and released just over 16 hours later at which time he flew back to China.

Now more details have emerged over the arrest and as Bloomberg reports, the JD.com founder is under investigation for a suspected rape in a weekend incident that led to his arrest in Minnesota, local police say.

Liu Qiangdong, who uses the English name Richard, is a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota and was in Minneapolis for his studies, the college confirmed. The case involves a Chinese student at the school, according to the Financial Times and the Star-Tribune.

Police responded to a location Friday night, found Liu and another individual, took photos and arrested the CEO, Elder said. Police declined to specify the location.

After the Chinese billionaire was arrested over “criminal sexual conduct” he was then released just 16 hours later, according to arrest records. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder said the case is being investigated as a rape, but authorities decided not to keep Liu in custody and haven’t imposed any travel restrictions while conducting their investigation.

Upon his release, Liu, 45, returned to China and was at work Tuesday.

According to Bloomberg, police have the authority to hold a suspect for 36 hours, not including Sundays and holidays, without a charge, but if the investigation is expected to take longer, they can release a suspect earlier, Elder said. Police said they are confident they can reach Liu when necessary, he added.

“We are very much in the infancy of this investigation,” Elder said. Authorities may decide not to charge Liu at all, he added.

As we reported on Sunday, JD previously said on its official Weibo social media account that U.S. police found no misconduct in their probe against Liu. It didn’t explain how that assertion squared with the police statement about an ongoing investigation. In the Weibo post, the company had said Liu will continue a scheduled business trip.

Police haven’t outlined the accusations against Liu, said his attorney Joseph Friedberg. The lawyer, who JD confirmed as representing the billionaire, said Liu was neither questioned nor told why he was under arrest. Elder, the police spokesman, said it was “absolutely” standard practice to tell people what they were accused of when arrested.

“I find it to be preposterous,” he said of the claim that Liu had not been informed of accusations against him. “However, if there is a concern about the way our officers behaved we certainly would encourage them to exercise their client’s right to file a complaint about it.”

Friedberg, who said Liu appeared confused during a brief meeting, couldn’t confirm that the case involved a Chinese student at the university. Liu is registered as a student at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in its Doctor of Business Administration program. Participants were in town from Aug. 26 through Saturday as part of their residency, a spokeswoman for the college said. Liu remains registered at the university, according to spokeswoman Caitlin Hurley.

“I’m very confident that there will be no criminal charges,” Friedberg said. “They realized that this whole thing was ridiculous and they turned him loose. They didn’t ask for his passport, they didn’t ask for any bail.”

“You can take that as gospel,” he added. Elder said however that the lack of bail or travel restrictions had no bearing on the potential seriousness of the charge.

Following the news of the CEO’s arrest – and release – JD’s ADRs declined 6% to $29.43 at the close Tuesday in New York.

“Investors may treat the stock cautiously for the next short while as they wait to see how this issue is resolved,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. “But I suspect it will likely not come to much and that it won’t have any major long-term impact on the stock.”

His wife Zhang Zetian is also famous in China, with some 1.5 million followers on Weibo. She was dubbed “Sister Milk Tea” after a photo of her holding the drink went viral on social media in the country.

Intriguingly, however, Bloomberg points out that earlier this year, a guest at a party Liu hosted in downtown Sydney was convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow guest after the event. There was no accusation of any misconduct by Liu. The billionaire lost a legal attempt to keep his name out of the records. Over the weekend, JD said it will take legal action against the publishing of untrue reports or rumors.

Liu’s net worth has fallen dramatically in the last few months (from over $10bn to ‘just’ $7.3bn currently) as the share price of his company and has plunged relative to other tech stocks.

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Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

A government requirement in the massive Obamacare law is being blamed for the burnout of doctors across the United States. A new report found that over just three years as Obamacare was being implemented, “physician burnout increased significantly, from 45.5 percent to 54.4 percent.”

The report published in the American Journal of Medicine found that the electronic health records (EHR) is destroying the relationship between doctors and patients. The Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom charges the Obamacare requirement that doctors use electronic health records has caused a surge of burnout in the medical profession, explains Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. “The EHR is causing doctors to leave their patients,” said Twila Brase, the president of CCHF and the author of “Big Brother in the Exam Room: The Dangerous Truth About Electronic Health Records.”

“Congress forced doctors to buy and use computerized record systems to collect and report patient data to the government. And it’s wreaking havoc on their practices and their patients,” said Brase according to WND. 

Brase’s book is opening eyes to the problems of government interference in markets – especially the healthcare market.

There are serious dangers lurking behind the government’s $30 billion electronic health record (EHR) experiment. This omnipresent technology turns doctors into data clerks and shifts attention from patients to paperwork–while health plans, government agencies, and the health data industry profit. Patients who think the HIPAA ”privacy” rule protects the confidentiality of their medical information will be shocked to discover it makes their medical records an open book.

–“Big Brother in the Exam Room: The Dangerous Truth About Electronic Health Records,” desription.

“Parallel studies of all U.S. workers during the same period showed no changes,” the report found. It also said studies “show the doctors spend more face time on their EHRs than with their patients.” It added,

“The hours spent cloning notes in a mandated doctor computer relationship leaves the physician unable to experience the best part of being a doctor.”

The increase in doctor burnout was not seen in any other profession.  Doctors now spend two hours doing the paperwork required to comply with Big Brother for every hour they spend with a patient. If we thought Obamacare was done destroying what little medical freedom we had left, we were all very wrong.

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Submitted by James Miller of The Political Insider

Arizona governor Doug Ducey has reportedly chosen former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl to replace the late John McCain, according to multiple sources.

Kyl would fill the seat until a special election is held in 2020 to decide who will finish out the final two years of McCain’s term.

Here are five things you need to know about Jon Kyl:

Good Friends With John McCain

Senator Jon Kyl was a close friend of McCain’s who served three terms alongside him in Congress. At McCain’s services last week, Kyl said, “I will miss him as a friend and as a strong force for America in the world.”

He cited the Senator in discussing Ducey’s decision to choose a replacement, saying they should be in the same mold as the late Senator.

“John had the experience to do that and he had the instincts, in my view, to make the right kinds of decisions, and I hope whoever the governor appoints can work in that vein,” Kyl said.

Cindy McCain has already expressed her support for the decision.

Jon Kyl is a dear friend of mine and John’s. It’s a great tribute to John that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the state of Arizona.

— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 4, 2018

Once Considered For Trump’s Secretary of Defense

Kyl was once listed as a consideration for the role of Secretary of Defense under the Trump administration.

His foreign policy resume was a prime reason.

Time Magazine had listed Kyl as one of its 100 most influential people in the world in 2010, highlighting his “encyclopedic knowledge of domestic and foreign policy, and his hard work and leadership” and “power to persuade.”

But the Senator eventually told president-elect Trump in late November of 2016 that he had no interest in serving in government again.

General James Mattis was eventually selected for the post, and Kyl has apparently rekindled his interest in government service.

Helped Guide Brett Kavanaugh

Kyl was tapped to help guide President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, through the Senate.

He was chosen as “chief sherpa” to help lead Kavanaugh through an incredibly polarized and partisan Senate confirmation process.

“I have made an effort not to be partisan in an in-your-face sense,” Kyl once claimed. “Ordinarily, I don’t talk about Republicans and Democrats. I talk about ideas.”

Defended Trump From Media Attacks

Following a comment in which then-candidate Trump claimed he could “shoot somebody” in the street and “I wouldn’t lose voters,” Kyl defended him by explaining to the media that he wasn’t being literal.

“I think we all recognize that Donald Trump speaks loosely I don’t think anybody actually thought that he would shoot somebody,” he responded.

Still, Kyl has been willing to critique Mr. Trump when necessary, saying his “boorish” style sometimes hurts the cause.

“I don’t like his style,” he claimed. “I think he’s his own worst enemy.”

Once Supported Impeachment … Of Obama

Kyl, in 2012, wasn’t a big fan of Barack Obama selectively enforcing immigration laws, especially coming from a border state like Arizona.

GOP Senator Jon Kyl Floats Idea Of Impeaching Obama For Halting ICE’s Cooperation With Arizona… http://t.co/GJLFL0CE YES IMPEACH HIM!!!

— Hollywood Resistance 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@BettinaVLA) June 26, 2012

“If the president insists on continuing to ignore parts of the law that he doesn’t like, and simply not enforce that law, the primary remedy for that is political,” he said during a radio interview.

“Now if it’s bad enough and if shenanigans involved in it, then of course impeachment is always a possibility,” he added, though he confessed it hadn’t been an actual topic of conversation at the time.

Summary

With all of these facts laid out, it’s most important to try and understand how Kyl would serve in his new role. Steven Law, Senate Leadership Fund President, and CEO summed it up, congratulating Ducey on making Kyl the choice to replace Sen. McCain.

“I couldn’t imagine a more responsible and thoughtful conservative to represent the State of Arizona in its time of grief than Sen. Jon Kyl,” he said. Can’t ask for much more than that. Let’s hope he’s slightly more ‘responsible and thoughtful’ as a conservative than McCain had been in recent years.

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President Trump has finally broken the day’s silence on the Nike-Kaepernick debacle, telling The Daily Caller that Nike is sending a “terrible message” by featuring the has-been quarterback.

“I think it’s a terrible message that they’re sending and the purpose of them doing it, maybe there’s a reason for them doing it.”

“But I think as far as sending a message, I think it’s a terrible message and a message that shouldn’t be sent. There’s no reason for it.”

However, President Trump also acknowledged that Nike has the right to feature whoever they want in the ad campaign.

“As much as I disagree with the Colin Kaepernick endorsement, in another way — I mean, I wouldn’t have done it,” he said.

“In another way, it is what this country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do, but I personally am on a different side of it.”

Trump also said in the interview that “Nike is a tenant of mine,” referencing Nike’s five-floor Niketown store at Trump’s property on 57th Street in New York City.

However, while Trump rejects the message (but understands it) and outraged conservatives burn their Nikes in disgust over the shoemaker’s “Just Do It” ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the NFL has released a statement backing the former QB who hasn’t played in two years (and is suing the league): 

“The National Football League believes in dialogue, understanding and unity. We embrace the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful, positive change in our communities,” Jocelyn Moore, the NFL’s executive vice president of Communications and Public Affairs, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action.”

The NFL has released a statement on social justice, saying the issues that Colin Kaepernick and others have raised deserve attention and action. pic.twitter.com/QfmEUkXdjT

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 4, 2018

Since the virtue-signaling sweat-shop operating shoe company rolled out their Kaepernick ad, they’ve shaved off nearly $4 billion in value since Friday, after shares fell over 3% in trade on Wednesday. 

Setting half their lawn on fire while burning Nike shoes pic.twitter.com/rDqGGARzj0

— Things White Folks Like (@Things4WhitePpl) September 4, 2018

Kaepernick, who achieved peak greatness in the 2013 Super Bowl, sued the NFL for colluding to keep him from being signed by any other NFL team. Last week he was granted a preliminary win, after a court granted him a full hearing on the dispute, according to the New York Times. 

A hearing could begin by the end of the year, though the two sides could settle the case before then. Kaepernick is seeking damages equal to what he would have earned if he were still playing in the league.

The case has attracted so much attention, experts said, that it would have been difficult for Burbank to dismiss it.

“Politically, if you’re the arbitrator, in a case as big as this is, there’s no way to throw it out,” said Charles Grantham, a former executive with the National Basketball Players Association who is now the director of the Center for Sport Management at Seton Hall University. “We knew that, as soon as Donald Trump put his fingerprints on the issue.” –New York Times

Meanwhile, former CIA Director John Brennan joined former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have praised the former NFL star. 

Colin Kaepernick drew our collective attention to the problem of continued racial injustice in America. He did so not to disrespect our flag but to give meaning to the words of the preamble of our Constitution—“in order to form a more perfect union.” Well done, Colin, well done. https://t.co/4ALyUxLjM5

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) September 4, 2018

The #NFL season will start this week, unfortunately once again @Kaepernick7 is not on a NFL roster. Even though he is one of the best Quarterbacks in the league.#ColinKaepernick #NFL

— Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (@Ahmadinejad1956) September 3, 2018

Makes sense… 

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Authored by Zachary Petrizzo via Campus Reform,

A St. Mary’s College of Maryland professor published a scholarly article exploring how “queer environmentalism” and “ecosexuality” can make environmentalism more appealing.

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies professor Lauran Whitworth wrote “Goodbye Gauley Mountain, hello eco-camp: Queer environmentalism in the Anthropocene,” a study which seeks to convey the “effectiveness of queer environmental ethics in the Anthropocene, a word increasingly used to describe the anthropogenic destruction of ecosystems that marks our current geological era.” The academic journal Feminist Theory published the article.

“What do ecosexual encounters with nonhuman nature offer current discussions of environmental ethics?” she asks.

“Can ecosexuality’s posthumanist tendencies queer our speciesist modes of belonging and foster an environmentalism that is not foundationally anthropocentric nor steeped in ‘reproductive futurism’?”

“Ecosexuality celebrates the carnal and grotesque, particularly in some of its campiest moments,” Whitworth explains, offering the example that some “wedding performers wear dildos outside their clothing and don costumes that accentuate and exaggerate their genitalia.”

Whitworth describes ecosexuality as “a theatrical environmental sensibility I deem eco-camp,” arguing that “ecosexuality’s campy ecological ethics and their tragi-comic and parodic tone…provides an alternative to the didacticism and moralism that characterise much contemporary environmentalism.”

Since it “elicits confusion, scepticism, and squeamishness from audiences,” she elaborates, ecosexuality has “the potential to disrupt environmental rhetoric per usual.”

Whitworth defines “eco-camp” as a “mode of florid performance, spectacle, and ostentatious sex-positivity” that looks to explore “new forms of relationality between humans and other earthly inhabitants.”

In a section of the study titled “Queer(ing) environmentalism,” Whitworth argues that previous research on the topic has “often focused on how rhetoric of ‘the natural’ has been used against marginalized groups—indigenous peoples, women, people of colour, and queers,” citing one study that used a “queer ecofeminist lens” to explain “the ways in which queers are feminized, animalized, eroticized, and naturalized in a culture that devalues women, animals, nature, and sexuality.”

To build on that research, Whitworth focuses on two ecosexual performance artists, Elizabeth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, who she says espouse “interspecies ethics” in a way that makes the movement “open to queers and non-queers alike.”

“The packaging of these ethics in a campy performativity that is a far cry from conventional environmentalism challenges us to consider the possibility of alternative modes of environmental activism,” she asserts. “Thus, this article uses ecosexuality to think through eco-camp with hopes that the latter can be applied outside the LGBTQ community such that Stephens and Sprinkle’s performances become one among many examples of ‘queer’ environmentalism.”

On their website, Whitworth notes, Stephens and Sprinkle give multiple definitions of “ecosexual,” ranging from “a person that finds nature sensual, sexy” or “takes the Earth as their lover” to “an environmental activist strategy.”

“Whereas some environmentalists expend their energy making human intercourse more earth-friendly” by promoting environmentally-friendly sex items such as chemical-free lubricants and fair trade condoms, Whitworth points out that “many ecosexuals encourage erotic encounters that are not just nature-friendly but with nature itself.”

She explains, at length, one “ecosexual” sexual encounter that Sprinkle had with a redwood tree at Yosemite National Park, as initially reported by Breitbart News.

“I loved the scent of the trunk, like vanilla mixed with soil,” Sprinkle says.

“I have a strong memory of coming across a redwood that had fallen over from a storm. I walked around off the trail and peeked at its freshly exposed roots. So soft, so sensuous, so sexy! I had to touch them.”

Stephens, however, asserted in an interview that ecosexuals are “not actually out there humping trees—even though sometimes we will kind of perform that,” explaining that the concept is “more about breaking down separations between humans and nature.”

“If you can separate yourself from nature, then you don’t have much of a problem killing nature, exploiting it for resources, and so on,” Stephens elaborated. “But if you look at a tree as your lover, you’re going to think twice before you cut it down or burn it.”

St. Mary’s College of Maryland students learned about “contemporary environmental justice issues within our immediate communities” in a spring 2017 class Whitworth taught titled “Topics in Global Environmental Challenges,” which focused on “global environmental justice in the Anthropocene.”

Students were required to do a “multi-part term project” in lieu of a final exam, for which they were asked to “pick an environmental issue or problem and research it throughout the term” before writing a final paper on the topic.

As examples, Whitworth suggested topics such as “environmental racism,” “the Green Movement in Africa,” and “eco-normativity in Western environmental campaigns.” Other topics of interest could include “classism and racism in the Vegan movement,” or even an analysis of the “meat industry in the US or animal ethics.” 

In addition, Whitworth’s Emory University dissertation—“Environmental Eros: From Ecofeminism to Eco-Queer”—examined environmental messaging through the lens of “1970s ecological feminism, the Radical Faeries (ca. 1979 to today), and contemporary ecosexuality,” exploring how each of those movements uses nature imagery to further its “political projects.”

Campus Reform reached out to Whitworth, but did not receive a response. This story will be updated if and when one is received. 

via RSS https://ift.tt/2MPtLVC Tyler Durden