As we noted previously, Trump made it clear that he plans to make good on his campaign pledge to block federal funding to states and cities where local law enforcement refuse to report undocumented immigrants they encounter to federal authorities, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
"The American people are no longer going to have to be forced to subsidize this disregard for our laws,” Spicer said.
Spicer said an executive order signed by Trump on Wednesday directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to look at federal funding to cities to figure out "how we can defund those streams."
And tonight, as The Hill reports, the first so-called 'Sanctuary City' mayor decided to comply with President Trump's executive orders…
The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday ordered his local jails to comply.
“In light of the provisions of the Executive Order, I direct you and your staff to honor all immigration detainer requests received from the Department of Homeland Security,” Mayor Carlos Gimenezwrote in a memo to the interim head of the corrections and rehabilitation department, as reported by the Miami Herald.
“Miami-Dade County complies with federal law and intends to fully cooperate with the federal government,” Gimenez wrote.
“I will partner with the Board of County Commissioners to address any issues necessary to achieve this end,” the mayor added.
"From here on out, I'm asking all of you to enforce the laws of the United States of America. They will be enforced and enforced strongly," Trump said during his visit to DHS.
“Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders,” he added.
As The Miami Herald reports, Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, denounced Gimenez’s action, saying that it:
“flies in the face of Miami’s long history as a city of immigrants” and predicting it will “drive a wedge of distrust between law enforcement and our immigrant community.”
“At the very least, a warrant from a court, not merely a request from a federal official, is required to detain somebody in jail,” Simon said.
“We will resist every attempt by our government to punish immigrants, regardless of their status.”
With the Trump reflation trade once again spooking global government bonds and sending rates higher around the world, overnight Japan’s 40-year JGB rose to 1% for the first time in 11 months as Treasuries led a global debt sell-off amid rising inflation fears. Quoted by Bloomberg overnight, Barclays’ rates strategist Naoya Oshikubo said that “the 40-year yield has further to go, but the speed of its rise has been very fast” and suggested that “the BOJ might take action if the yield rises further rapidly.”
On Wednesday, before the latest move, there was some speculation that the BOJ might increase the amount of bonds it buys for super-long zones as yields climbed, but the BOJ bought just the regular amount, which suggested to traders that the BOJ is willing to tolerate the rise, putting pressure on the USDJPY.
Heading into today’s session, the BOJ was expected to announce its last regular market operation for this month. According to Katsutoshi Inadome, a senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, while the BOJ was expected to offer to buy 420bn yen in 1-to-3 year category, 400bn yen in 3-to-5 year category, and 410bn yen in 5-to-10 year zone, he cautioned that if the BOJ does not expand its purchases on the long end, it would disappoint the market, leading to a jump in the yen and bond selling: “If BOJ does what would be in line with the schedule as above, it is likely to spark bond selling on disappointment.”
He added that “super-long yields have risen to levels the markets saw as the upper end of the range for the BOJ’s yield curve control so if there is no action to stem these rises, it would raise doubts about its stance.”
Moments ago, the BOJ decided to avoid any “doubts about its stance” and when it announced the quantities for today’s POMO operations, it did not disappoint because whereas it previously bought “only” 410bn yen in the 5-10 year zone, today it increased the amount by 10%, to 450bn, effectively increasing the amount of debt the central bank is monetizing on the long end of the belly.
And with the telegraphed explicit support by the BOJ, any further selling in bonds has for now been halted, while the USDJPY spiked, as expected, tagging 115, before modestly dipping now that instead of concerns about tapering its QQE “with yield control” the BOJ has shown it is quite happy to keep the curve under control and from overshooting, despite Japanese December CPI printing stronger than expected across the board earlier in the session.
That said, even today’s “intervention” did not appease everyone, and as SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo wrote, the BOJ operation rose uncertainty about the BOJ’s February plan as the central bank’s operations this week suggest it is seeking to flatten the 2s10s curve which had been steepening. SMBC’s Souichi Takeyama added that “it raises uncertainty to what the buying plan will be for February” noting that “raising the amount of longer- dated bonds it buys at this time will strengthen expectations for further changes, such as making 450 billion yen the amount for the 5-to-10 year zone.”
One can sympathize: what until recently was supposed to be an intervention to gradually steepen the JGB yield curve has now become an attempt to flatten it. Our condolences to Kuroda, who lately no matter what he does, he always gets the undesired outcome.
…And Should Canada Dump the Monarchy and Become a Republic?
It’s of paramount importance that Canada and other nations cut off foreign funding to civil society groups and foundations which operate within their borders. These foundations and organizations represent outside forces which have ulterior motives and agendas which may not always, if ever, be aligned with the needs of the people.
One such foreign “philanthropic” organization is the George Soros funded Open Society Foundation. This foundations sole purpose is the promotion and expansion of the liberal-left international agenda meant to reduce national sovereignty, fund and support massive migration, such as is taking place in Europe, and the promote the mandate of open borders.
Soros and his foundations have provided the majority of funding for liberal-left social justice movements which have eroded national identity, encouraged abortion and divorce, and promote extremist environmentalism and taxation, such as the carbon tax scams which are being implemented in western nations.
Along with giving billions to left-wing socialist organizations Soros also attempts to influence elections, as in the recent American election and other nations. Even within nations his foundations fund and support groups such as the Dogwood Initiative based in British Columbia. This group’s stated goal is to influence Canadian elections in federal ridings.
The attempts to remove American sovereignty have been halted by the election of Donald Trump which is why Soros is now funding the protests against the Trump administration. The control which Soros has over the news media comes from his funding and support for the progressive media watchdog group called Media Matters. The term “media watchdog” should be interpreted as “ensuring the promotion of liberal-left propaganda”.
The MoveOn.org progressive advocacy group is also funded by the foundations of George Soros. Its purpose is to raise millions of dollars for liberal candidates and is behind such liberal propaganda as comparing political opposition to Hitler. We have seen these comparisons from Russian leader Vladimir Putin to most recently with Donald Trump.
Soros also funds the progressive think tank Center for American Progress. The CAP has provided talking points to the Obama Administration and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta even heads up the group. Obama’s staff consisted of a large percentage of CAP personalities.
The Open Society Foundation has even infiltrated the education systems of most nations by funding curriculum studies and implementing changes to the education courses. This has been happening for so long now that most western teachers are promoting the liberal-left agenda without even realizing they have been manipulated and conditioned to destroy their own culture from within.
Some of the foundations historical successes have been the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Arab Spring which further fragmented the Middle East and caused massive death and the ongoing migration problem which is affecting the whole world.
The amount George Soros gives to the liberal international agenda is billions, but still only a fraction of his reported $23 billion worth.
Most nations have some form of law or regulation which prevents foreign entitites from funding and influencing elections. The way the Open Society works around this is by establishing domestic foundations within nations with no direct ties to the larger parent. These groups are funded by the larger Soros foundation which serves as a third party. The domestic foundation can then work to influence the elections within the country because once the money is given to them it is no longer considered foreign money or influence. This needs to change.
So in most cases it is impossible to determine if foreign interests have influenced Canadian elections, or the elections of other nations, because none of the funding has to be registered or reported to the governments of those nations.
George Soros is evening funding a progressive war against Israel and has, for all intents and purposes, successfully infiltrated its extreme environmental agenda into the Catholic Church. There is no political ideology or religion which is off limits. The liberal-left international agenda has even taken control of the United Nations over the last few decades and is now attempting to force a loss of sovereignty on member nations through sustainable development planning, such as Agenda 2030.
In the post The Take Down of George has Begun, I explained how the world is beginning to turn against George Soros and his Open Society Foundation. Russia, the favorite Soros punching back (mainly because Putin stopped his revolution in Ukraine) has already passed laws banning the Open Society and its broad funding to domestic groups. (This particular post has been copied and spread around the globe through re-posts and YouTube videos, reaching millions of people.)
Since that post, Soros' home nation of Hungary has also enacted legislation to ban the Open Society Foundation and all subsidiary organizations and those who receive funding. Macedonia has also started a massive movement called “Stop Operation Soros” which is meant to remove all traces and influence of the foundation from its internal politics.
This war against George Soros is only just beginning.
President Trump will be taking action against Soros in the weeks and months to come, as will other nations. In part two of The Take Down of George Soros has Begun we explore how the next stages of this take down may look, everything from Iran becoming the dominant regional power in the Middle East to the collapse of Soros friendly Saudi Arabia.
It is time for Canada to take action now against George Soros and his Open Society Foundation. Our liberal-left socialist government is aligned with both Soros and the mandates of the United Nations. The same agenda is attempting to take control and/or keep control of Canadian provinces through the same tactics as described above. Our media is in alliance with this agenda, just like the major news media in the United States are aligned against Trump.
Even our non-liberal political parties, such as the Progressive Conservatives, both federal and provincial, promote the mandates and propaganda of the Open Society Foundation. The Alberta PC Party is tripping over itself as it attempts to stop leadership candidate Jason Kenney from hijacking the party. Kenney’s campaign platform is positioned against the mandates of the liberal-left. The other leadership hopefuls, along with party insiders, are doing everything they can to delegitimize his campaign or find ways to remove him from the race. Even the liberal media is attacking him, as would be expected.
If our major political parties will not serve the people of Canada and protect our way of life from the liberal international agenda funded by George Soros then it is time for Canadians, like others around the world, to begin the process of taking back our political systems and removing this insidious disease from our countries and cultures. This may mean starting a new federal political party and completely redefining the structure of Canadian governance to reflect the ideals of a republic as opposed to maintaining a defunct, purposeless, and symbolic allegiance to a monarchy who sold us out long ago.
Roughly eight years ago, Obama infamously first shared with “Joe the Plumber” his plans to “spread the wealth around.” Unfortunately, at least for the like-minded socialists of the country, as data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals, he failed miserably.
In fact, as Bloomberg points out today, not only did income inequality not decline under Obama’s reign, it actually surged to multi-decade highs with people in the 90th percentile of all earners bringing home over 5x the amount paid to people in the 10th percentile.
Of course, as we pointed out in a post entitled “Harvard Crushes The “Obama Recovery” Farce With 9 Simple Charts“, low-income wages have been stagnant, in real terms, since the mid-1970s. And, despite Obama’s vow to “spread the wealth around”, real wages for the poor actually suffered under his presidency.
As Bloomberg notes, wage disparity is supposed to be counter-cyclical, rising during periods of economic contraction and falling during expansionary periods. Which, obviously, begs the question of exactly how income disparity could be surging in light of Obama’s stunning economic recovery that he so often bragged about.
Americans near the top of the income scale, whose weekly earnings exceed those of 90 percent of all full-time wage and salary workers, made at least $2,095 in a typical week last year, according to the report released Jan. 24. Those in the bottom 10 percent earned less than $415.
It’s not all bad news: The latest figures show overall median weekly earnings for the 101 million workers 25 years or older last year climbed about 3 percent to $885, from $860 in 2015. The 2016 figures were reported by the Labor Department this week along with its fourth-quarter data from a survey of U.S. households.
Wage disparities tend to be counter-cyclical, rising during times of slower economic growth, and usually shrinking when the business cycle accelerates. Of course, inclusive policies and opportunities to move up the socioeconomic ladder also play a huge role.
While the economy has grown at a historically modest 2.1 percent rate on average in the current expansion that began in mid-2009, the U.S. is almost at full employment now and the tight labor market has sparked hope that workers across the board will eventually see a lasting pickup in wage growth. Whether paychecks also reflect less inequality in coming years is anyone’s guess.
Reflect on that: the average US adult watches 5 hours of television PER DAY. There are roughly 242 million people 18 and over living in the US. So that means we collectively consume 1.2 billion hours of TV per day. That's over 440 billion hours per year.
Imagine how much more we could get accomplished as a nation if we devoted even just half of that time into self-betterment projects or public service. That's a staggering amount of human productivity we're pissing away.
And note that I'm only looking at the TV usage stats — there's an additional 4.5 hours of internet/smartphone/radio time (per day!) we'd benefit from cutting back on, too. With so much of our day spent being a screen zombie, how the hell do we get anything done?
But despite my ranting, I'm not a complete ascetic about television. Yes, I do watch it — in moderation — as does the rest of my family. But in my household, the TV is usually off. And when on, it's usually to watch a specific show or film — not to "see what's on" and mindlessly channel surf.
And amidst the vast sea of cable-network detritus, every so often there's a show or two that I find worthwhile — either for entertainment or for learning something.
Recently, there are two shows I'm currently enjoying that deliver on both counts. And very surprisingly, they're "reality TV" — a genre I usually associate as the worst of the worst when it comes to low-quality programming. But I'm finding I'm learning some useful lessons from these two series, and I thought I'd take a moment to share my observations for those who might want to tune in and see for themselves.
Both of these shows are on the History Channel. That's pure coincidence, or perhaps a sign that the History Channel doesn't produce pure dreck. But just in case you're wondering, no, Peak Prosperity has no relationship with them, nor is getting anything in return for mentioning them here. I simply like these two shows.
"Alone" (History Channel, Thursday nights)
Alone is an experiment in the "lone wolf" approach to survival.
Each season (they're on Season 3 now), they drop 10 contestants — each of whom is well experienced with outdoor survival — off in a remote part of the world and see who can last the longest without any support from or interaction with other people.
Contestants are allowed to bring 10 items from a pre-approved list of 50 — and that's it. They're dropped off far enough apart so that they won't come into contact with each other. They must learn to acquire shelter, food, warmth, etc all on their own. Whoever can last the longest without requesting/requiring emergency evacuation wins — and receives a check for $500,000.
Here's a quick trailer for the show, to give you a sense of what the conditions are like:
For anyone with a prepper mindset, Alone is fun to watch. As mentioned, all of these people are experienced outdoorsmen/women. They know what they're doing. Each brings their own set of skills, and they're often delightfully creative in how they apply that expertise to feed and shelter themselves. Human ingenuity, especially when under pressure, is an amazing force to behold.
But ingenuity only goes so far. When completely removed from the supply chain of modern living, survival is hard.
Even though the contestants are intentionally located in areas where fish and wild game live, obtaining enough calories to live consumes all of their time and focus. Most days, they're not able to replace the calories they expend. Substantial weight loss occurs.
Creating a shelter that can withstand the onset of winter and its harsh storms is another requirement contestants must attend to. One that gets harder as their energy saps due to their deficient diet.
Watching this show, you learn quickly that those armchair preppers who buy a pile of camping gear and then consider themselves all set to go "live off the grid" during a crisis are delusional. Alone shows us how much work needs to be put in day after day to provide the calories needed to sustain just a single person. These contestants are experts in hunting and foraging and yet most days they fail to provide for themselves. And remember, they're in an unpopulated area. For those of us who live near a well-stocked river or forest, how long will it take for the deer and fish there to dwindle away if our entire neighborhood is competing with us for food? A week?
Plus, there's a huge "shit happens" factor, too. Initial shelter designs fail. Firewood becomes scarce. Scavengers steal your food. One contestant this season got bitten by a Chilean Recluse spider, whose venom is more potent than a rattlesnake's and can cause organ failure (she pulled a very cool MacGyver maneuver and created a poultice from native plantains and lentils to draw out the poison successfully). There are just so many points of failure out there waiting to happen. And keep in mind, these conditions don't involve other people lurking around who want to steal your stuff.
But the biggest challenge, by far, is mental. How contestants deal with the complete and total social isolation determines their odds for success.
As we talk about in our book Prosper! as well as often on this site, humans are social animals. We're wired to co-exist with others. Remove that interaction, and we're out of our natural element. Remove that interaction for long enough, and our ability to function can become seriously compromised.
We write often of Social Capital and Emotional Capital, both of which are critical success factors on Alone. The structure of the competition deliberately removes the Social Capital factor: there's no morale-boosting camaraderie, nor is there anyone to turn to when your own abilities aren't up to the task. But it's the Emotional Capital element that matters most: through the setbacks, though the hunger, through the cold, through the boredom, through the fear — How are you going to persevere?
The contestants here are seriously hard people. They can deal with a prodigious amount of physical adversity — for most of these folks, substantially more than the show will throw at them. But when you start hearing them question their resolve (Why am I doing this?), or whether it's worth spending so much time away from their family, you know their will is breaking. It's a classic signal they're about to tap out. Once the will is broken, the physical tribulation just serves as the excuse to leave.
It's surprising to see how relatively little time it takes for these folks to break mentally. Season 1 lasted 56 days. That's less than 2 months. Season 2 lasted 66 days. Now, while that's certainly a lot longer than I would have lasted, I would have expected experienced wilderness enthusiasts to go on for much longer — like the trappers of past centuries were able to. Also, remember that there's a half-million dollar payout awaiting the victor. Part of the swift attrition is likely due to the harshness of the regions the show takes place in, but watching on a weekly basis, it's clear that it's the isolation that gets folks in the end.
What Alone does a good job of, in my opinion, is validating our opinion that The lone wolf is a myth. Very, very few of us can truly "go it alone" — in times of crisis, or anytime otherwise for that matter. We need to live in community; to leverage the strengths of others, as well as to have purpose in life and to be psychically nourished. We literally starve both our mental and physical well-being when we isolate ourselves from social contact.
More importantly, the lessons of the show underscore how emotional resilience is *the* critical success factor for overcoming adversity. Those rich in it find the strength and the ingenuity to carry on. Those poor in it give up — no matter how well-resourced they are in other forms of capital.
It's important to keep in mind that Emotional Capital is something all of us can build, and usually at no financial cost (feel free to read our recommended steps here) . As we often say about dealing with crisis: It's not the insult that will determine your fate, it's your reaction to it.
Alone: Season 3 airs Thursday nights on the History Channel. Past episodes can be streamed online or purchased from iTunes.
"The Selection" (History Channel)
I only recently stated watching The Selection: Special Operations Experiment, but I'm fully sucked in at this point.
This is a first-run series that takes 30 qualifying civilians and puts them through a hyper-intense boot camp run by US special forces instructors. The goal is to meet similar performance standards that elite combat soldiers like Navy Seals, Green Berets and Army Rangers are held to. There is no monetary prize for any contestants who pass.
First off, let me make it clear that I don't have any military experience, so I have no first-hand knowledge underlying my opinions of this show. Nor do I mean to equate what these contestants go through the with the rigors and dangers of those who serve in the active military. I had a lot of respect for our active servicemen and women beforehand. I simply have even more for them now.
Exceptionally grueling is the best way to describe the program the contestants for The Selection are put through. As the professional instructors explain, their job at the start is to weed out the weak. One they've done that, they then focus on weeding out the strong. Those remaining after that (if any) have the mettle the special forces are looking for.
It's not like this is a group of creampuffs. To be chosen for the show, contestants had to meet an array of rigorous fitness qualifications. One guy mentioned how much weight he can deadlift. That's something I myself work at, and while I'm not the strongest guy at the gym, my deadlift is a respectable 340lbs. His is over 500lbs. So most of these men and women are legit bad-asses.
The first two days of the program are a non-stop pain-fest of physical challenges. The goal is to force anyone and everyone whose body can't meet the standard, or whose commitment to the program isn't firm, to quit. The workouts are punishing, and they just keep coming. The instructors are brutal — cruel even. They're looking for weakness. And if they find any, they press on it — hard. Sleep and rest is minimal and interrupted, sometimes by being blindfolded and sent to interrogation.
Here's a brief preview that shows (just a slice of!) what's thrown at these guys:
Five candidates quit in the first few hours. By the end of Day 2, half had dropped out.
And then, the psychological stress component dialed up. By this point, the instructors knew that those remaining had a lot of physical fortitude. But how strong was their mental resolve?
Candidates were "captured by the enemy", bound, blindfolded and placed into boxes for hours, with recorded baby cries and klaxons blaring over loudspeakers. They quickly lost track of time and place. After that came drowning tests. And more sleep-deprivation. And harsh criticism of their commitment to the program.
After Day 5, it was down to just 8. Now the series is at Day 9, with just 5 candidates left.
While it may sound like this is a TV show for sadists (and it probably does appeal to that audience segment), I've found a lot of inspiration and insight following it. As inhumanely cruel as it appears in its application, there's a method behind the instructors' madness. Here's what I've learned:
The mind trumps the body. "Your mind will fail before you body does" repeat the instructors throughout this series. What they mean is that, if you're conscious and functioning, you have more in you to keep going. As in Alone, what defeats these contestants is almost always a breakdown of their willpower. Yes, severe physical abuse is being doled out, but based on their real-life experiences and those of their fellow soldiers, the veteran instructors know first-hand that limits are set by the mind. Find a way to expand those mental limits, and the body will follow.
It's shocking to watch the attrition process during the show, because it's largely so hard to predict. Some of the earliest drop-outs were big guys, guys who looked like contenders to last until the bitter end. But there was some mental shortcoming each had; a lack of confidence, a fear, a hubris — some "seed of doubt" as the instructors called it that, once identified, they "watered to grow into a beautiful quit tree".
And on the other hand, there were candidates who lasted longer than anyone expected; again, due to the mental factor. One standout was a smaller guy from the Philippines who couldn't have weighed more than 130lbs (if that). By sheer force of will, he outlasted men who outweighed him by 100 pounds of muscle. He was only dropped from the program when the instructors realized he couldn't swim(!) during an ocean exercise.
Based on my own life experience, I wholeheartedly believe the same is true for overcoming ANY obstacle, physical or otherwise. It's what we believe we can do, or endure, that determines our destiny. If we work on strengthening our emotional resilience (as discussed in the previous section) — on expanding what we believe to be possible — we can achieve dramatically more in our lives.
Finding your "Why?" is the key to perseverance. Building on the importance of mental fortitude is the criticality of having a guiding purpose. What's the reason that keeps you moving forward when times get tough?
The instructors call this "finding your Why?". Those with a strong Why? can power through abuse. On the show, these are the folks who were able to withstand tear gas, torture, drowning risk, extreme heat/cold, physical exhaustion, lack of sleep, and the instructors' head games. Those without a bedrock Why? folded early.
Through little mini-interviews during the show, you get a glimpse inside the heads of the candidates. Those with something to prove — to themselves, to a family member, or to society — are the ones faring best. They have a cause, a goal, or a driving principle that is sustaining them. Fear of the pain of betraying that outweighs the physical and mental pain they're being subjected to.
Having a rock-solid Why? is the #1 determinant to completing their brutal selection process say the instructors. I believe it. And that insight has inspired me to look inwards at my own internal motivations. What, specifically, is my Why? How solid is it? What might I be able to do to strengthen it?
How solid is yours?
Humans belong in a tribe. What's really fascinating to watch in this series is that, as the pool of contestants winnows down, those remaining no longer are competitors. They begin to develop a team mentality. It ceases being, Can I make it through the next challenge? and instead morphs into, What can I do to make sure WE get through it?
This, of course, is what the instructors are looking for. From experience they know that an effective soldier is part of a team, who puts that team's objectives and welfare above his/her own.
While I assume this has been a time-proven lesson over the thousands of years of human warfare, it's really inspirational to see how the remaining candidates feed off of each other's support. As the adversity intensifies, the strength they draw from going through it together visibly grows.
This directly reminds me of the discussion we had on this site with with Sebastian Junger about his book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. Junger, who spent over a year embedded with an army platoon in an Afghanistan hot zone, observed the tight-knit brotherhood that soldiers in combat develop. Many of them have trouble re-integrating into the relative quiet of civilian life, not due so much to issues of PTSD, but to loss of that sense of belonging and purpose.
Junger notes that humans evolved as a tribal species, living in close groups of no more than 60 people, under constant threat from other tribes and natural stressors.
So, in a very real way, the remaining candidates on this show areliving — really truly alive as humans were meant to be.
When they're removed from the group for interrogation, it's not uncommon for these incredibly tough people to cry when the instructors challenge their commitment to remain. You can see that at this point they're experiencing a fulfillment and a self-discovery that is very rare for them — and so, they view this unbelievably punishing experience as a priceless gift. I find myself envying these guys.
The challenge for the rest of us is to ask ourselves, How can I add more tribalism to my life? We live in a society that actually values independence from — not interdependence on — others. We are starving our social receptors in much the same way as the contestants on Alone are. Why? The benefits of brotherhood/sisterhood are so clear when we can see them. Why not have more of that in our lives? Why not be more alive?
An abandoned Walmart in Brownsville, Texas will soon be home to 100’s of illegal immigrant “minors”, many of them late in their teen years, thanks to your federal tax dollars. According to a report from a local ABC affiliate in Brownsville, the facility is currently being converted into a shelter by a nonprofit organization called Southwest Key, which receives the majority of its funding from federal tax dollars via the Office of Refugees Resettlement.
A Southwest Key spokeswoman confirmed the facility is set to open on March. They said it’ll be to welcome unaccompanied minors who crossed into the U.S. illegally.
It will be the 4th facility in Brownsville to shelter children, under the age of 17, who have crossed into the U.S. without an adult.
Southwest Key is federally funded by the Office of Refugees Resettlement. The group’s mission is to provide a safe environment for unaccompanied children while they wait to be reunited with a sponsor or relative in the U.S.
Southwest Key officials said children are supervised during their stay. The program ensures youngsters have a safe place to sleep, are fed, educated and also have access to healthcare and counseling services.
Of course, the report drew a lot of criticism from local Brownsville residents, many of whom questioned whether the money shouldn’t be redirected to fund a shelter for veterans and/or the homeless.
As background, according to WND, Southwest Key has an annual budget of $150 million and operates 27 shelters for illegal immigrants in Texas, Arizona and California. Per the Southwest Key website:
Southwest Key Programs is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1987 to keep young people out of institutions and empower them with the skills, knowledge and tools they need to succeed. Through an exceptionally competent and diverse staff, Southwest Key empowers youth and their families to make positive changes in their lives including at our 27 immigrant children’s shelters in Texas, Arizona and California.
Southwest Key Unaccompanied Minor shelters operate as a self-contained unit, delivering shelter, food, healthcare, education, recreation, case management and legal services to the children in our care. We are required by the federal government to provide everything that a child needs in order to thrive in a humane and homelike environment. As a result, there is little interaction between the children in our services and the surrounding community, save for those businesses and employees engaged in their care on-site.
Healthcare: The overwhelming majority of medical services are done on site by Southwest Key’s fully-staffed, licensed medical professionals who ensure the health of the children in our shelters. Every child receives a full, medical exam by a doctor within 24 to 48 hours of entering our facilities, including receiving all the CDC recommended immunizations and being screened for any infectious diseases.
Education: While in our care, all unaccompanied minors receive educational services. Our presence in a community does not impact children in the local school system as our kids receive all educational services separate and distinct from local children and they never have an opportunity to interact with one another.
If Southwest Key sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s the same Southwest Key that drew criticism from Senator Chuck Grassley back in 2014 for using taxpayer money to provide a petting zoo and guitar lessons to their illegal immigrant residents at a cost of over $300 per child per day. Per the Washington Times:
One of the contractors housing some of the surge of illegal immigrant children from this summer offers them a petting zoo with miniature ponies, a tilapia fish farm operation and guitar lessons, according to documents released Thursday by a senator who questioned whether the plush accommodations were a good use of taxpayers’ money.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, said it seemed excessive to pay the $329 that Southwest Key Programs, the contractor, charged per child per day at one of its California facilities in Lemon Grove, California. Another facility in El Cajon cost taxpayers $316 per child per day.
Here is the original report from KRGV-TV in Brownsville, TX:
After threatening to "send in The Feds" yesterday– after seeing the "carnage" in Chicago – President Trump asked (rhetorically) during his address to Congressional Republicans today, "what the hell is going in Chicago?" He received a surprising one-word answer that seemed to sum things up rather well…
"Democrats"…
while only time will tell how/if Trump will follow through on his campaign promises to crack down on rising violence in America's inner-cities, we suspect any approach taken by the new administration will be a welcome change from the Obama administration's parting efforts to delegitimize Chicago's police force by effectively labeling it as a racist organization that the habitually resorts to the use of "deadly force" in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
They may have a point!
With 44 homicides already recorded, Chicago is on pace for 60 murders in the opening month of January which would exceed the two-decade record high set last year.
So "when will it end?" BofAML's best guess remains sometime in the summer.
The current rally started in February 2016 on the 2nd day of Yellen's Humphrey-Hawkins testimony. The inflection was caused by a. uber-bearish Positioning, b. uber-bearish profit expectations, c. Policy easing. And thus BofAML believe the rally will end with a. bullish Positioning, b. bullish Profit expectations, c. Policy tightening.
We’re not there yet.
Here's Michael Hartnett's checklist of Positioning, Profit & Policy data to indicate we are in the Last 100 days of the rally, perhaps also the Last 100 Days of the secular upswing that began in March 2009:
Extreme bullish Positioning would be signaled by…
1. BofAML Bull & Bear indicator (up from 0 in Feb’16 to 5.3 today) >8; VIX approaching all-time low reading of 9.3 (Dec’93)
2. BofAML Global Flow Trading Rule triggering risk “sell signal" following high yield bond & global equity inflows >1% AUM in 4 weeks
3. BofAML Global Breadth Rule signaling “overbought” with 90% of MSCI markets trading >200-day & 50-day moving averages
4. BofAML FMS cash levels <4% (currently 5.1%, down from 5.8% in Oct); BofAML GWIM asset allocation to equities >64%, i.e. at new highs
Extreme bullish Profit expectations would be signaled by…
5. US ISM >58, i.e. a level above which EPS growth normally peaks (e.g. 1997, 1999, 2003, 2014)
6. Surge in wage data (e.g. US average hourly earnings >3%) or producer prices (>2%, PPI’s now positive in developed markets for first time in 2 years) that hurt margins
7. Markets signaling “peak macro” via US high yield bond spreads (currently 400bp) dropping below 350bp; real rates jumping roughly 100bps in the next 6-9 months
Policy hawkishness would be signaled by…
8. Bear flattening of yield curves as markets discount Fed playing catch-up (see Investment Clock analysis Chart 5); rate volatility (MOVE index >90)
9. ECB & BoJ QE tapering announcements
10. Fed announces an end to the "reinvestment" of their balance sheet (Chart 6) which would be the big signal that the QE era had come to a close, and is likely to become a much bigger story for markets as the year progresses
The Big Top
At this stage we see the potential in 2018 for rising rates & falling EPS, a complete reversal of the era of falling interest rates & rising profit margins that has caused risk assets to do so stunningly well since 2009. In the absence of an acceleration in labor productivity, the incoming President will find it tougher to engender the 2nd greatest bull market (2870), or the greatest ever (3504 – although should Trump match the historic 1st term annualized equity gain of 11% p.a. then 4 years of Trump would take the S&P500 to 3480.), or the longest ever (Sept 1st 2018). More likely risk assets will make a major top later in 2017.
US Continuing Claims (WoW) 14 Jan: 2.100 Mln (est 2.040 Mln prev 2.059 Mln)
US Leading Index (MoM) Dec: 0.50% (est 0.50%; rev prev 0.10%)
US Chicago Fed Nat Index (Dec): 0.14 (est -0.05 rev prev -0.33)
US Kansas City Fed Mfg Index (Jan): 9 (est 8, prev rev to 9 from 11)
US Atlanta Fed GDPnow (26/Jan): 2.9% (prev 2.8% on 19/Jan)
ECB's Weidmann: If infl rise sustainable, may need to withdraw stimulus
ECB's Knot: Improved economy reduces the need for more stimulus
IMF: For sustained recovery of EZ infl, Germany must run above 2%
UK publishes bill to authorise Brexit
ECB's Villeroy: UK's free trade deal with EU difficult to achieve
US EIA Natural Gas Storage (BCF) Jan 20: -119 (est -117; prev -243)
J&J to pay $30 billion for Actelion
COMMENTARY
Mexico & Trump – a key call in emerging markets
President Trump’s anti-Mexico rhetoric has made Mexican assets one of the key calls in emerging market debt. I have just returned from a research trip to Mexico where I met with local economists, analysts, and corporate bond issuers. Below are a number of observations from my time there. Donald Trump won the election on a fairly protectionist rhetoric – with a special focus on Mexico – and the pressure to fulfil electoral promises (unlike most seasoned politicians) is therefore likely to see the implementation of some of the things he has proposed. Whilst the intentions are clear, the measures that he will implement to satisfy his electorate are more uncertain. Despite the symbolic nature, building a wall at the Southern border of the US would have a limited impact on the Mexican economy. However, other policies that Trump supports may have a significant impact on the economy and asset prices. (Bond Vigilantes)
When do rising yields become a headwind for equities?
Interestingly, on a very strong day for equities, the majority of e-mails that I fielded yesterday involved bonds. From sell-side sales traders, and from retail traders alike, either to ask what I thought, or to offer their own opinion, there seemed to be a theme. Traders want to know: "At what point do rising yields become a headwind for equities?" The answer is relatively complex. To this point, the rise in interest rates has been a market tailwind. The financial sector led the post-election "Trump Bump", and then led equity markets sideways to slightly lower for a month. There is no doubt that higher rates are a good thing if you are invested in banks and consumer finance stocks. (The Street, continue)
US Q4 GDP Preview
US GDP in Q4 is forecast to print an annualised 2.2% QoQ. While the Fed's December economic projections expect 2016 growth at 2.4%, there seems to be an interesting divergence between the Fed’s own econometric models, and the NY Fed’s GDP Nowcast tracking growth at 2.1% annualised, while the Atlanta Fed’s GDPnow is running at a clip of 2.9%. If uncertainty is evident in the models and forecasts for Q4, going ahead, it may become an even more tricky exercise. In Q4, the rate of GDP growth is seen easing from Q3 levels — which was the best rate in two years — on the back of the widening trade gap, with the dollar’s moves also providing some forecast risk. Until President Donald Trump’s policies are fully announced, this trade uncertainty will remain. “The future effects of trade on US output are rife with uncertainty with regards to the evolution of policy and the value of the dollar,” Moody’s analysts write. “But the underlying pace of consumer spending is holding firm, getting a lift from the recent upside surprise in auto sales.” Potentially offsetting the trade ‘wildcard’ is stock building, which is seen contributing to growth. (Livesquawk)
Top Fed forecaster BNP Paribas sees hikes in every quarter in 2018
The Federal Reserve is about to go rapid-fire on interest rates, boosting them in the second half of this year, and following that with a rise in every single quarter of 2018, according to BNP Paribas SA, which expects the tightening to strengthen the dollar and push gold down toward $1,000 an ounce. The U.S. central bank is seen raising borrowing costs later this year given the fiscally expansive policies proposed by Donald Trump, and the new president’s agenda may help to lift wages in 2018, hoisting labor costs, the bank said in a Jan. 25 report. BNP was the top gold and precious metals forecaster in the fourth quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (BBG)
