Month: September 2020

London ‘Shocked And Saddened’ By Rare Fatal Shooting Of Police Officer

London ‘Shocked And Saddened’ By Rare Fatal Shooting Of Police Officer

Tyler Durden

Fri, 09/25/2020 – 06:33

In a bizarre and horrifyingly tragic episode, a London police officer was shot and killed during the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning by a criminal in what appears to be the first killing of a police officer in the UK since a London terror attack back in 2017.

Since guns are largely illegal to own in the UK, police officers are typically armed with nightsticks. But somehow, a 23-year-old criminal being detained at Croydon Custody Center in south London apparently managed to get his hands on a gun, and shoot an officer. The name of the officer has not yet been released.

London has been hammered by a wave of stabbings in recent years, something Mayor Sadiq Khan has sought to play down. But shootings are so rare, that investigators are taking extreme caution in releasing information to the public. Details about the incident are unclear. Police only said that the suspect didn’t commit the shooting with a police weapon, but it’s unclear where the gun came from, and how it ended up in the suspect’s possession while he was in custody.

Fellow officers and paramedics treated the officer at the scene, according to a police statement. However, he later died of his injuries at the hospital. Police chiefs from across the UK sent tributes to the fallen officer, and PM Boris Johnson took a brief break from the ongoign COVID-19 emergency to deliver a statement.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country owed a “huge debt” to police officers who risk their lives to keep the community safe, and offered “my deepest condolences…to the family, friends and colleagues of the police officer who was killed in Croydon last night.”

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was “shocked and saddened” by news of the shooting, while Mayor Khan said he was “devastated” to learn of the loss.

Met commissioner Cressida Dick said the shooting was “truly shocking” and “most tragic”. She added in a statement: “My heart goes out to his family, direct colleagues and friends. We are currently supporting his family and also have a dedicated team providing support to the officers and those in the custody center who witnessed the shooting.”

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Throw a Billion Dollars From the Helicopter

ministhrowamilliondollars_MichaelBertin

When voters in Arlington, Texas, approved a 2016 referendum to replace their then-22-year-old ballpark with a new retractable-roof stadium, the $1.1 billion project appeared to be more on the up-and-up than were some other recent ballparks. Around the same time, teams based in Atlanta and Miami were also getting upgraded stadiums via backroom deals and public deceit.

Don’t be fooled. Throw a Billion Dollars From the Helicopter, a documentary from Michael Bertin now streaming on Amazon, reveals how city and team officials beanballed opponents of the new Arlington stadium, called Globe Life Field, to win the referendum.

Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams is the prime villain. After he was elected on promises of cutting government, he transformed into the lead cheerleader for the project. Meanwhile, Rangers team owners Ray Davis and Bob Simpson—two of the richest people in Texas, Bertin points out—spent more than $2 million to convince voters to pitch in $500 million for their new stadium.

An all-volunteer squad of Arlington residents, armed with nothing more than an understanding of economics, stepped up to the plate to stop the pro-stadium rally, but they were outpitched. As usual, there is little reason to believe the stadium will be a financial benefit for the city or its taxpayers. Arlington residents would be better off if officials literally dumped piles of $20 bills out of helicopters hovering above the city, University of Chicago economist Allen Sanderson says.

The facts might be on their side, but the effort to defeat the stadium project goes down swinging against the potent combination of big-league sports and mid-sized city politics. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the grand opening of the Rangers’ new ballpark, but taxpayers have already taken the loss.

 

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Marijuana Federalism

minismarajuanafederalismbrookings

While 33 states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, the federal government recognizes no exceptions to pot prohibition. Marijuana Federalism, an essay collection edited by Case Western Reserve law professor Jonathan Adler, maps some promising pathways through this cannabis conflict.

Duke law professor Ernest Young argues that the combination of limited federal resources and the anti-commandeering doctrine, which implies that Congress cannot compel state officials to enforce federal drug policies, means states can effectively nullify marijuana prohibition in most of its applications. But as University of Alabama law professor Julie Andersen Hill notes, that observation provides little reassurance to banks, which will continue to eschew marijuana money until Congress removes the threat of criminal penalties and potentially ruinous regulatory sanctions.

Hastings College of Law professor Zachary Price thinks the Obama administration’s policy of prosecutorial restraint regarding state-legal marijuana activity, while constitutional, set a dangerous precedent for flouting the will of Congress in less appropriate circumstances. Vanderbilt University law professor Robert Mikos proposes a broader solution: revisiting the rules governing federal preemption of state laws, an issue raised by a 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing state legalization of sports betting.

Getting closer to the heart of the matter, University of Chicago law professor William Baude questions the legal basis for the comprehensive national ban on marijuana, which unlike alcohol prohibition was imposed without amending the Constitution. Baude suggests a narrower understanding of Uncle Sam’s authority over pot would help restore the proper balance between state and federal power.

 

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Throw a Billion Dollars From the Helicopter

ministhrowamilliondollars_MichaelBertin

When voters in Arlington, Texas, approved a 2016 referendum to replace their then-22-year-old ballpark with a new retractable-roof stadium, the $1.1 billion project appeared to be more on the up-and-up than were some other recent ballparks. Around the same time, teams based in Atlanta and Miami were also getting upgraded stadiums via backroom deals and public deceit.

Don’t be fooled. Throw a Billion Dollars From the Helicopter, a documentary from Michael Bertin now streaming on Amazon, reveals how city and team officials beanballed opponents of the new Arlington stadium, called Globe Life Field, to win the referendum.

Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams is the prime villain. After he was elected on promises of cutting government, he transformed into the lead cheerleader for the project. Meanwhile, Rangers team owners Ray Davis and Bob Simpson—two of the richest people in Texas, Bertin points out—spent more than $2 million to convince voters to pitch in $500 million for their new stadium.

An all-volunteer squad of Arlington residents, armed with nothing more than an understanding of economics, stepped up to the plate to stop the pro-stadium rally, but they were outpitched. As usual, there is little reason to believe the stadium will be a financial benefit for the city or its taxpayers. Arlington residents would be better off if officials literally dumped piles of $20 bills out of helicopters hovering above the city, University of Chicago economist Allen Sanderson says.

The facts might be on their side, but the effort to defeat the stadium project goes down swinging against the potent combination of big-league sports and mid-sized city politics. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the grand opening of the Rangers’ new ballpark, but taxpayers have already taken the loss.

 

from Latest – Reason.com https://ift.tt/3cw0HMl
via IFTTT

Marijuana Federalism

minismarajuanafederalismbrookings

While 33 states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, the federal government recognizes no exceptions to pot prohibition. Marijuana Federalism, an essay collection edited by Case Western Reserve law professor Jonathan Adler, maps some promising pathways through this cannabis conflict.

Duke law professor Ernest Young argues that the combination of limited federal resources and the anti-commandeering doctrine, which implies that Congress cannot compel state officials to enforce federal drug policies, means states can effectively nullify marijuana prohibition in most of its applications. But as University of Alabama law professor Julie Andersen Hill notes, that observation provides little reassurance to banks, which will continue to eschew marijuana money until Congress removes the threat of criminal penalties and potentially ruinous regulatory sanctions.

Hastings College of Law professor Zachary Price thinks the Obama administration’s policy of prosecutorial restraint regarding state-legal marijuana activity, while constitutional, set a dangerous precedent for flouting the will of Congress in less appropriate circumstances. Vanderbilt University law professor Robert Mikos proposes a broader solution: revisiting the rules governing federal preemption of state laws, an issue raised by a 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing state legalization of sports betting.

Getting closer to the heart of the matter, University of Chicago law professor William Baude questions the legal basis for the comprehensive national ban on marijuana, which unlike alcohol prohibition was imposed without amending the Constitution. Baude suggests a narrower understanding of Uncle Sam’s authority over pot would help restore the proper balance between state and federal power.

 

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Top IMF Official: “Global Recovery Could Take Years” To Return To 2019 Levels

Top IMF Official: “Global Recovery Could Take Years” To Return To 2019 Levels

Tyler Durden

Fri, 09/25/2020 – 05:45

A handful of NGOs have debunked the “recovery-narrative” that has been touted as a “V” in the financial media and some economists (notably including those who work for the Trump Administration) and – to a lesser degree – central banks.

Now, the No. 2 official at the International Monetary Fund, has become the latest to declare that the global economy could take years to heal, and that it could take a long time before we return to 2019 levels, reported Reuters.

First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto said during an online event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the IMF is “trying to preserve our financial firepower” for more instabilities that may be ahead. 

Okamoto said, “We’re talking about a … return to growth that’s going to take a few years, and many countries along the way that are probably going to need assistance.” 

The Fund has distributed upwards of $90 billion in total financing to 79 countries, including 20 in Latin America, since the pandemic emerged early this year, an IMF spokeswoman said. 

Latin American and the Caribbean nations have seen their economies crushed by the virus-induced downturn, along with reporting a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. 

Okamoto said IMF officials were in discussions with the G-20 countries to “extend a temporary halt in official bilateral debt service payments by low-income countries under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), and how to kickstart private sector participation,” reported Reuters.

The No.2 IMF official also said others within the fund were worried about the debt sustainability of heavily indebted emerging market economies, such as Latin American countries, because of their pre-existing high debt-levels before the virus-induced downturn. 

Okamoto called on wealthy developed countries, such as the US, who is also the largest shareholder of the Fund, to contribute more and aid emerging countries. 

And it’s not just the IMF signaling the global recovery could take more time than initially anticipated; the World Bank was out with a warning last week that full recovery could take upwards of five years.

“There will probably be a quick rebound as all the restriction measures linked to lockdowns are lifted, but a full recovery will take as much as five years,” chief economist of the World Bank, Carmen Reinhart, warned Thursday (Sept. 17). 

Meanwhile, St. Louis President James Bullard was out Thursday touting the US economic recovery is within reach or nearly fully recovered by year-end.

Here’s what David Rosenberg, Chief Economist & Strategist of Rosenberg Research, had to say about that:

As Gary Shilling, the president of A. Gary Shilling & Co., said in early July, investors have misread the shape of the recovery… 

… and that could have profound implications for markets looking ahead into quarter four. 

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British Man Arrested For Not Wearing Mask Asks Cops Where They Were During BLM Riots

British Man Arrested For Not Wearing Mask Asks Cops Where They Were During BLM Riots

Tyler Durden

Fri, 09/25/2020 – 05:00

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

A video out of the UK shows a man being arrested outside a Starbucks for not wearing a mask while asking police officers where they were during multiple Black Lives Matter demonstrations and riots during which coronavirus rules were ignored.

UK COVID-19 regulations state that masks must be worn when entering shops, but there is no requirement to wear a mask outside.

The man apparently became embroiled in an argument with a Starbucks employee after being told to wear a mask.

The elderly man is seen remonstrating with officers as they put him in handcuffs.

“It takes two of you to arrest a 72-year-old man, what a pair of fucking heroes,” the man states as he is being cuffed.

“Bet you lot weren’t up in London for the fucking BLM,” he adds, before telling officers, “I don’t like being told I’ve got to wear a mask!”

The man then asks the officers if they bowed for BLM.

“This is what’s going to happen to all of you soon, you’re all gonna be under a bloody dictatorship.in about 6 months time you’ll all be getting this!” the man tells observers.

As we highlighted earlier this month, Piers Corbyn, the 73-year-old organizer of a ‘Unite For Freedom’ anti-lockdown protest, was arrested and fined £10,000.

However, organizers of Black Lives Matter protests in London have not been arrested or fined, with some officers even bowing in front of them despite numerous violent attacks on police by BLM rioters.

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