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4,059,478 | political | dailycaller.com | 2017-11-27 | http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/26/the-top-8-most-precocious-or-wonky-bloggers-that-are-smarter-than-you/ | null | The top 6 bloggers &/or personalities that are smart | To commemorate this week’s launch of the news blog Eye Street here at the Daily Caller, we’re ditching the blogroll for something more personal — a quick recap of some of our favorite political hotspots, and why we love them. (Note: Some readers have emailed asking whether this is an entirely exhaustive list of smart bloggers. The answer is yes.)
6. ezra klein
Why we love him: 25-year old wunderkind Ezra Klein shares more than a few similarities with The Office’s Ryan Howard. He works for a struggling paper company. Men chase him. And if you squint, he even kind of looks like Ryan Howard. Three strikes, we’re in love.
First, though, it’s necessary to get some dirty laundry out of the way. Back when he blogged in between final exams and keggers (circa 2007), Klein made waves for arguing that the Nazis, for all their bad press, did a “pretty good job” increasing economic growth. Just a year later, he tweeted that the late Tim Russert should be “f—ked with a spicy acid-tipped dick.”
We reached out to Klein to see if he wanted to clarify those comments for an unrelated hit piece we were working on, but he directed us to his already public explanation: It was a private Twitter account. Would you like it if someone revealed what was on your private Twitter account? (We had our editorial staff check their private Twitter accounts, and sure enough, there were acid-tipped dicks pretty much everywhere. Point for Klein.)
But the big reason to read Klein’s Washington Post blog is that he doesn’t work for himself. He works for you. If you’re a single-mother without health insurance, for example, just shoot Klein an email and he’ll head to an online calculator that you could probably head to yourself and tell you just how much President Obama’s recently passed health-care legislation will help you turn your life around. As anyone who’s asked Markos Moulitsas for directions knows, that’s the kind of dedication most bloggers just don’t have.
Probably the only thing about Klein that gives us pause is his almost unfailing defense of the recently passed health-care reform bill, to the point that he overlooks flaws in some sinking ships like the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) – the “good kind of market” that he says is working as a “cost control” for federal employees. The FEHBP’s premiums have risen substantially faster than premiums in the private insurance market, and we’re not afraid to point it out.* Even if it means we’re probably racists.
*To be fair, neither was Klein. Last October, anyway.
5. glenn reynolds
One-line blurb that doesn’t really make it clear where the hell the link will take you. |
4,059,479 | bias | lifenews.com | 2017-11-27 | https://consciouslifenews.com/iran-blamed-911/1122163/ | Greg Scott | Iran Now Blamed for 9/11 | FAIR USE NOTICE. Many of the stories on this site contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making this material available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental issues, human rights, economic and political democracy, and issues of social justice. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. If you wish to use such copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use'...you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. And, if you are a copyright owner who wishes to have your content removed, let us know via the "Contact Us" link at the top of the site, and we will promptly remove it.
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Paid advertising on Conscious Life News may not represent the views and opinions of this website and its contributors. No endorsement of products and services advertised is either expressed or implied. |
4,059,480 | political | dailycaller.com | 2017-11-27 | http://dailycaller.com/buzz/massachusettsunited-states/page/2/ | Jeff Winkler, Jonathan Strong, Ken Blackwell, Pat Mcmahon, Julia Mcclatchy, Admin, Matt Purple | The Daily Caller | New Hampshire is the state with the highest median income in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report on income, poverty and health insurance |
4,059,482 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2014/08/29/abigail-ratchford-is-winning-instagram-30-photos/ | President, Executive Editor - Coed Media Group., Nyc Via Austin | Abigail Ratchford is Winning Instagram [30 PHOTOS] | Abigail Ratchford‘s Instagram page is a force to be reckoned with. One second you pull it up and the next second it’s morning and you have no idea where the time has gone. OK obviously that’s not true (you know exactly where that time has gone) but you get my point. Homegirl knows she’s got “it.”
She’s in New York City visiting for the weekend–but somehow she’s also on Sunset Boulevard… How’s that possible? Because her billboard for 138 Water is currently posted there.
Abigail has been blowing up over the past couple of years so we’re excited to see what’s coming next.
Follow Abigail on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
VIEW GALLERY |
4,059,484 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2010/04/09/how-to-have-sex-in-a-car-2/ | null | How To: Have Sex In A Car | Nothing says “I love you” like a sweat-stained, back-scratched, toe-curled, romp in your Dads Hummer. Perhaps more accurately, car sex says “I can’t wait to get back to the dorm so why don’t we just get it on here” or my personal favorite “let me assure you that this, whatever this is, is not turning into a relationship”. Backseat ugly bumping has some serious advantages over your more typical coitus locations, and describing the reasons why you would want to engage in four-wheeled fornication is akin to asking Scrooge Mcduck why he loves diving into a pool of his own gold doubloons; because he can.
Whatever your reason for wanting some Toyota Torpedoing (insert “can’t stop” joke here), there is no denying that sex in any public place poses its problems for the randy philanderer. Worry no more, because here at COED magazine we sympathize with your plight, and offer you the following rules for making sure that your next Ford Fusion doesn’t crash and burn.
1. Location, Location, Location
While your grandparents may have had a ‘swell ol’ time” up at Lookout Point, the truth of the matter is that unless there is some risk of getting caught you might as well be having sex in a locked bedroom. Abandoned camp grounds, empty streets, and your own driveway, do not offer the adrenaline fueled anxiety that is necessary for the perfect quickie. For those who are just beginning their foray into the automotive, I would recommend the crowded parking lot. It offers just enough fear of getting caught to intensify the moment, as well as the safety and comfort of being surrounded by other cars. A mid-range enthusiast might enjoy the octane proximity of the break-down lane on the highway — high risk, high reward. To the Volvo veteran who is just looking for his next car sex fix there is but one option, the “Charlie Sheen” i.e The hottest car Chase scene in history.
2. Screw going Green, go SUV
You look over at her with a knowing glance, she unclasps her hand from yours and scratches your arm, hinting at both of your desires. Oh no, your Prius is only getting 45 mpg’s, better take this baby back up to 55. A scene out of the weirdest romance novel ever? Maybe, but the truth is that if you are crammed into a nature loving, eco micro-machine, the only thing you are conserving is your own fruity-ness. Ditch the ‘save the planet’ attitude for one evening and get into an automobile that extends your options (trunk, backseat, front seat), not limits them (masturbating at home, crying, and eating a ham sandwich… at the same time).
3. Weather Report: Avoiding a Cold Front
What does the weather have to do with your Mini Cooper going full throttle with her Gelandewagen? More than you think. If it’s cold outside when you start heating it up, your windows are going to fog up and create the perfect perspiration shield for your nasty deed, or your shot for shot remake of that weird scene in Titanic. Of course, if the temp gets too hot inside and you happen to have a leather interior, you’re going to run into some movement binding sweat friction which could upset your Daewoo darling. Keep the A/C on low and you’ll be sure to keep your rpm’s at their most optimal.
4. Get Creative
What’s the point of having sex in a transportation vehicle, if you’re only transporting her the to back seat for some uninspired missionary. You’ve got some serious tools at your disposal so don’t be afraid to use them. The front seats have adjustment buttons on the side which can and should be your best friend during the act, giving you the ability to change positions without doing any work.- go from reclined to upright in a matter of moments without any awkward limb shifting. If you’ve got a centrally located shifter, then you are in possession of the greatest mobile sex toy on the planet. Put the car in neutral and you will notice that the drive shifter is vibrating. Put the back of your forearm on top of this…you are now the proud owner of a Manual Stimulant the likes of which her second-drawer down vibrator has never seen. Congratulations.
5. Quick shot: Fear not
Sex in the car should be like a Lamborghini; superior handling, unsurpassed luxury, but above all Fast and Furious. Don’t worry about lasting forever because I promise you, she’s not. You’re having a quickie, and that’s exactly what it should be. Bedroom heroics are best saved for the bedroom, and this fact should make car sex that much more enticing. There isn’t any pressure to ‘go all night’ because if you did, the chances of getting caught by Joe-Lawmaker would be all but assured. Get in, and get out, just make sure that you take a moment to realize how mind-numbingly cool you are for taking part in this decades old top gear tradition.
And, there you have it, the most important advice I can give you before your sloppy jalopy journey. While this list may enhance your sexual auto undertakings, having a girl who is excited about this prospect is a pretty essential part of the process, and if you found her hold on tight, because it’s going to be a wild ride. |
4,059,485 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2015/04/14/ryan-kovacik-vcu-birthday-video-ambulance-joyride-info/ | Wyatt Is A Gettysburg College Graduate, Nyc Native Who Is Flattered That You'Re Interested About Reading Up On Him. | Ryan Kovacik: VCU Student’s 21st Bday Ambulance Joyride | Ryan Kovacik, a VCU premed student and certified EMT, did what any person celebrating their 21st birthday would do when they come across an unoccupied ambulance–he stole it and took it for a little joyride session.
Maybe he had work the next day and needed a quick IV pick me up. Maybe one of his friends had been drinking too much. Either way, his trip was cut short when EMT’s hailed him on the ambulance radio and asked him to return the emergency vehicle.
He was pulled over and arrested while he was en route to returning the ambulance.
No harm, no foul. |
4,059,486 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2010/07/16/how-to-create-the-ultimate-power-hour-playlist/ | null | How to Create The Ultimate Power Hour Playlist | Quarters, beer pong, boat races, and flip cup are all perfectly suitable methods of taking down beer, but they all pale in comparison to the guzzling glory that is The Power Hour. 60 minutes, 60 one-minute songs, 60 shots of beer- its elegance is awe-inspiring, and with the proper selection of tunes we guarantee your pre-game will never be the same; and with that in mind we offer you the following How to guide in creating your hour of power.
1. Inspire your Drinking Minions.
The beginning of any drinking game can be tricky; get off on the wrong foot and you might lose valuable participants and their even more valuable peer pressure. This is why I recommend starting each power hour with a prelude anthem. It’s not part of the 60 songs, and drinking can be optional but it’s sure to put everyone in the mood.
Recommendation:
A Bard’s Tale:
The Cocktail Bar Poem:
300 Call to Battle:
2. Mix it up.
While I will not dispute the sheer magnificence of listening to 60 minutes of 80’s power ballads, after 45 minutes of “Here I go again”, you definitely will be “born to walk alone” after everyone leaves. You are trying to inspire the masses with your righteous musical taste so show them your diversity with rock, rap, pop, oldies, hell why not throw in some boy band music – even the most hardened jock will be unable to contain his fist bumping when “Bye Bye Bye” comes on.
3. Song Numbers: What Number is this Again?
Because who won’t be impressed by strategically placed numbered songs in your power hour.
Song 1: “Start Me Up” – The Rolling Songs
Song 2: “Song 2” – Blur
Song 7: “Seven Nation Army” – The White Stripes
Song 21: “21st Century Breakdown” – Green Day
Song 30: “Living on a Prayer” – Bon Jovi (Cause you’re halfway there)
Song 40: “40oz. to Freedom” – Sublime
Song 50: “Ayo Technology” – 50 Cent
Song 60: “Final Countdown” – Europe
4. Editing: Hit the Sweet Spot
“Africa” by Toto has just come on, and you’ve got a hoard of party-goers just itching to “Bless the rains”, the only problem is that the chorus doesn’t come in until 1:05, thus blue-balling the crap out of everyone’s ears. This is where we separate the booze Busch Leaguer’s, from the moonshine Marvels. Listen to each song you’re putting on the power hour and trim it up to ensure you’ve got the songs “sweet spot”. In iTunes, go to Song Info (command I), then go to Options – – the start and stop time of the song will be right there.
5. Taking it Seriously:
With so many drinks to take down in an hour, things can fall apart faster than you can say “Dude, you haven’t taken a shot since Tupac.” You want everyone participating, but being a dick about the rules is best left for frat initiation and the step-by-step on the back of a home pregnancy test (someone, and I’m not pointing fingers, had a few scares junior year). It’s much easier, and the same amount of alcohol, to chug a beer every 9 songs, so make this an option for the less die-hard. Also, I wouldn’t get too upset if most of the girls in your company wander off after song 20 – let them know you don’t mind with a casual “No pressure, we’re all just getting ready for a kick-ass night.” I guarantee your tolerance will pay off in the long run. |
4,059,488 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2014/01/08/sophia-bush-on-chicago-pd-see-her-tonight/ | J.R. Taylor Has Spent Several Years Covering All Aspects Of Pop Culture For Prestigious Publications. Well, They Were Prestigious. | Sophia Bush on “Chicago PD” [SEE HER TONIGHT] | See Her Tonight
Sophia Bush on Chicago PD
(10 PM EST, NBC)
We have Sophia Bush starring–not guesting–on the new NBC show Chicago PD, which is the network’s big bid for creating a CSI-styled franchise off of Chicago Fire. Sophie Bush is a good start to that kind of thing. In fact, the See Her Tonight column is going with Sophie as a regular star in this mid-season show instead of jumping on Ashley Tisdale as a guest again on Super Fun Night. That’s mostly because we would only be figuratively jumping on Ashley, of course.
Anyway, we’re hoping that Chicago PD has guest stars as hot as Chicago Fire‘s Lauren German and Shiri Appleby. For now, though, we won’t waste the opportunity to celebrate Sophia Bush’s return to television. She looked set for stardom during her long stint on the teen drama One Tree Hill, but Sophia was quickly canceled when she attempted a sitcom with last year’s Partners. At least One Tree Hill ran long enough to give Sophia some comfort after getting replaced by Claire Danes in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Sophia really deserved some stardom as part of 2006’s John Tucker Must Die. That underrated teen comedy always deserves a second look–as does Sophia herself, showing up on Chicago PD reprising a character she played on Chicago Fire last year. We’re actually a little confused over whether her character is a cop or an informant. Wait, that’s clarified now because we follow Sophia on Twitter. Now check out these pics to enjoy some other things that we’re looking forward to… |
4,059,489 | political | dailycaller.com | 2017-11-27 | http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/20/incumbency-at-issue-in-massachusetts-race/ | null | Incumbency at issue in Massachusetts race | For Barney Steverman, the 2010 election comes down to two words: No incumbents.
“There isn’t a Democrat that I would vote for today,” said Steverman, an 86-year-old registered Democrat and World War II veteran who is supporting Republican Charlie Baker in his bid to unseat incumbent Gov. Deval Patrick (D).
“As far as Beacon Hill goes, it’s the same old, old, old,” Steverman said, noting that speaker after speaker of the state House has been brought up on criminal charges. “That’s why I say, no incumbent for me. I want a complete change.”
Voters such as Steverman are just the kind that Baker will need to reach out to if he is to succeed against Patrick — and with less than two weeks until Election Day, the Republican is doing everything he can to rally those voters.
The question for Baker — as well as for Patrick and the other major player in the race, state Treasurer Tim Cahill, a former Democrat running as an independent — is whether that anti-incumbent sentiment will be enough to turn Massachusetts red again, nine months after Sen. Scott Brown’s (R) come-from-behind win in the special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D).
Full Story: The Fix – Incumbency at issue in Massachusetts race – The Washington Post |
4,059,490 | political | dailycaller.com | 2017-11-27 | http://dailycaller.com/author/ajfluehr/page/2/ | null | The Daily Caller - Part 2 | IDF: Global Jihad links on flotilla Dozens of passengers who were aboard the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship are suspected of having connections with global jihad-affiliated terrorist organizations, defense officials said on Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Turkish warships would accompany a future flotilla to the Gaza Strip. Read More
DNC pushing sex scandal story they don’t know is true The DNC, the political wing of a president who launched his campaign decrying slash-and-burn campaign tactics, is highlighting new stories about a sex scandal rocking a GOP primary. Read More
GOP moves to repeal healthcare law, unlikely to pass House Republican leaders introduced a bill Thursday to repeal and replace the sweeping healthcare law adopted in late March. Read More
Find something to cut, Hoyer tells panel heads House Democrats are scrambling to jumpstart a long-stalled effort to trim the federal budget, spurred by deficit worries that have left them unable to push much of their agenda. Read More
Opinion: Mass. health care disaster foreshadows ObamaCare’s fate The future of US medicine under ObamaCare is already on display in Massachusetts. The top four health insurers there just posted first-quarter losses of more than $$150 million. Most of them blamed the state's decision to keep premiums at last year's levels for individual and small-business policies, when they'd proposed double-digit hikes to match the soaring costs they've seen under the state's universal-coverage law. Read More
New SurveyUSA poll has Fiorina walloping Campbell, Whitman solidifying her lead California's GOP primary polls are moving back and forth so dramatically some observers might have whiplash. Any conventional wisdom about how the U.S. Senate and governor's races will shape up should be tossed out the window until the real tally on June 8. Consider this: two weeks ago former Congressman Tom Campbell held a 11 percentage point lead over Carly Fiorina in the GOP governor's primary. That lead has now incredibly evaporated into a 23 point deficit if SurveyUSA's new poll results are accurate. Read More
Bipartisan Senate bill aims to take ‘retarded’ out of federal lexicon Senators are preparing to eliminate all references in federal law to the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded individual.” Read More
House panel votes to block Obama Gitmo plan President Barack Obama’s hopes of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects is slipping further away. The defense authorization bill approved 59-0 by the House Armed Services Committee late Wednesday night contains language barring funding to build or convert any facility in the U.S. to accept former Guantanamo detainees. Read More
Iran likely to avoid new sanctions with deal to send uranium to Turkey TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran agreed Monday to ship most of its enriched uranium to Turkey in a nuclear fuel swap deal that could ease the international standoff over the country's disputed nuclear program, just as pressure mounts for tougher sanctions. Read More
Flying high: Philadelphia dismantles Montreal Canadiens 6-0 in Game 1 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — James van Riemsdyk, Danny Briere and Simon Gagne scored in a span of 9:23 in the second period against playoff star Jaroslav Halak, and the Philadelphia Flyers routed the Montreal Canadiens 6-0 in the Eastern Conference finals opener on Sunday night. Read More
Lindsay Lohan is in Cannes, says she’s in ‘compliance’ with traffic school Lindsay Lohan isn't letting an all-important court date that's just four days away from getting in the way of jetting off to France. Read More
Europe’s dream of grand resurgence goes bust For much of the last quarter century, European pundits, particularly in France, have been promoting the notion that the old continent sat on the verge of a grand resurgence. The events of the past month—culminating in a trillion dollar rescue of the Euro—should, at least, put that dodgy notion to rest. Read More
Fears $$21.3M will be wasted on New York subway cameras that don’t even record A four-year push to hook up hundreds of cameras in 32 subway stations has become an embarrassing boondoggle, with a ballooning pricetag and nothing yet to show for it. Read More
Pelosi to artists: Quit your jobs, U.S. taxpayers have your health care Nancy Pelosi spoke to musicians and the artistically inclined in Washington DC, and instead of telling those in attendance they should get a job, she brought quite a different message: they needn't bother working, because the taxpayers of the United States would cover their health care. Perhaps channeling her San Francisco district, Pelosi explained that without a job they would be free to focus on their talents, passions and aspirations because they wouldn't be "job locked." Read More
Flyers beat Bruins in historic game 7 The Philadelphia Flyers were down 3-0 at one point in the first period but battled back with one goal in the first period and two more in the second to tie the Boston Bruins 3-3. Read More |
4,059,491 | political | dailycaller.com | 2017-11-27 | http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/08/toddler-seen-drinking-beer-at-phillies-game/ | null | Toddler seen drinking beer at Phillies game | PHILADELPHIA – Another month, another Philadelphia Phillies controversy, after a child at a game is seen on camera drinking from a beer bottle.
Video of the unidentified child surfaced on Monday after the Phillies lost to the Padres on Sunday.
In two video shots taken from an official game broadcast, the blonde child is seen with a plastic beer bottle in his right hand, drinking from the bottle.
The child appears to be between three and four years old, and is also wearing a white Phillies home jersey.
Full story: Child Seen With Beer At Phillies Game |
4,059,492 | political | dailycaller.com | 2017-11-27 | http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/08/new-helen-thomas-israel-interview-footage-released-by-rabbilive-com-video/ | null | New Helen Thomas Israel interview footage released by rabbilive.com [video] | Rabbilive.com, the site that first released the video of Helen Thomas telling Jews to ‘get the hell out of Palestine,’ has now released new footage of the infamous interview on YouTube. |
4,059,495 | bias | conservapedia.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.conservapedia.com/Psychology_and_pseudoscience | null | Psychology and pseudoscience | From Conservapedia
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior and the practical application of psychological therapy. Unfortunately, the field of psychology is riddled with sloppy work, pseudoscience and scientific fraud.
Psychology studies: Major problems with replication and transparency
Over half of psychology studies fail reproducibility test, Nature, August 27, 2015
Psychology is not science - Discusses lack of transparency of Dutch psychologists in terms of their data for their experiments
Psychology studies and statistical errors
In 2011, the New York Times reported:
“ Also common is a self-serving statistical sloppiness. In an analysis published this year, Dr. Wicherts and Marjan Bakker, also at the University of Amsterdam, searched a random sample of 281 psychology papers for statistical errors. They found that about half of the papers in high-end journals contained some statistical error.[1] ”
Significant percentage of psychologists having depression and/or suicide ideation
Theodore beale reported:
“ This is why therapy is reliably doomed to failure:.. In addition to the 46 percent of psychologists who the NHS reports as being depressed, "out of 800 psychologists sampled, 29 per cent reported suicidal ideation and 4 per cent reported attempting suicide."... Would you go to a plumber whose toilet is overflowing? Would you hire a computer programmer who didn't know how to use a computer? Then why would you ever talk to one of these nutjobs in order to fix whatever mental issues you might be having?... There is very little scientific evidence of the benefits of psychology. I read one recent study which showed that neurotic individuals actually stabilize on their own at a higher rate than those who seek therapy. This is no surprise, as the foundations of psychology are literally fiction.[2] ”
Effectiveness of laymen vs. trained psychologists
Christian author Todd A. Sinelli wrote in an article entitled To Whom Shall We Go?:
“ Psychology is ineffective, impotent, and embarrassingly deceptive. The great humbug is that “the psychological industry has successfully concealed its ineffectiveness from the general public. Pastors, churches, and the laity have been brainwashed into believing that only psychologically trained professional counselors are competent to deal with serious problems.” Empirical research indicates that this is not so. In his study conducted in 1979 and entitled "Comparative Effectiveness of Paraprofessional and Professional Helpers", J.A. Durlack writes, “The research reviewed forty-two studies that compared professional counselors with untrained helpers. The findings were ‘consistent and provocative.’ Paraprofessionals achieve clinical outcomes equal to or significantly better than those obtained by professionals (...) The study, on the whole, lent no support to the major hypothesis that (...) the technical skills of professional psychotherapists produce measurably better therapeutic change.” At the conclusion of this study, psychologist Gary Collins reluctantly admitted, “Clearly there is evidence that for most people, laypeople can counsel as well as or better than professionals.” Again, the bottom line is that Christians are not to turn to psychologist for guidance. Primarily because the Word of God instructs us not to and God has given us the ability to counsel one another through His Word.[3] ”
See also: Abstract - Comparative effectiveness of paraprofessional and professional helpers and PubMed citation - Comparative effectiveness of paraprofessional and professional helpers
A 1985 paper entitled Does professional training make a therapist more effective? which was published by the University of Texas reported there was no substantial difference in between the results that laymen and trained psychologists are able to achieve.[4][5]
Psychiatric quackery revealed by race often unnecessarily causing misdiagnosis
Self-portrait of a person with schizophrenia. The picture reflects how schizophrenia can distort a person's perception.
In 2005, The Washington Post reported:
“ John Zeber recently examined one of the nation's largest databases of psychiatric cases to evaluate how doctors diagnose schizophrenia, a disorder that often portends years of powerful brain-altering drugs, social ostracism and forced hospitalizations. Although schizophrenia has been shown to affect all ethnic groups at the same rate, the scientist found that blacks in the United States were more than four times as likely to be diagnosed with the disorder as whites. Hispanics were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed as whites.[6] ”
Rosenhan experiment
The main building of St Elizabeths Hospital, located in Washington, D.C., which is now boarded up and abandoned, was one of the sites of the Rosenhan experiment.
The website Frontier Psychiatrist wrote:
“ The ‘Rosenhan experiment’ is a well known experiment examining the validity of psychiatric diagnosis. It was published in 1975 by David Rosenhan in a paper entitled ‘On being sane in insane places’ The study consisted of two parts. The first involved ‘pseudopatients’ – people who had never had symptoms of serious mental disorder – who, as part of the study, briefly reported auditory hallucinations in order to gain admission to psychiatric hospitals across the United States. After admission, the pseudopatients no longer reported hallucinations and behaved as they ‘normally’ would. Despite this many were confined as inpatients for substantial periods of time and all were discharged with the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. For the second part of the experiment staff at a teaching hospital, whose staff had learned of Rosenhan’s above results, were informed that one or more pseudopatients would attempt to be admitted to their hospital over an ensuing three month period. Many patients were subsequently identified as likely pseudopatients but in fact no pseudopatient had been sent.[7] ”
The atheist psychologist Sigmund Freud promoted pseudoscience
See also: Sigmund Freud's view of religion and Atheism and science and Atheism and depression and Atheism and suicide
Sigmund Freud and the atheistic and pseudoscientific Freudian psychoanalysis has had a cultish following.[8][9] See also: Atheist cults
Karl Popper indicated that psychoanalysis is merely a pseudoscience because its claims are not testable and therefore they cannot falsifiable.[10]
Freud was a proponent of the notion that theism was detrimental to mental health.[11] Oxford Professor Alister McGrath, author of the book The Twilight of Atheism, stated the following regarding Freud:
“ One of the most important criticisms that Sigmund Freud directed against religion was that it encourages unhealthy and dysfunctional outlooks on life. Having dismissed religion as an illusion, Freud went on to argue that it is a negative factor in personal development. At times, Freud's influence has been such that the elimination of a person's religious beliefs has been seen as a precondition for mental health. Freud is now a fallen idol, the fall having been all the heavier for its postponement. There is now growing awareness of the importance of spirituality in health care, both as a positive factor in relation to well-being and as an issue to which patients have a right. The "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" conference sponsored by Harvard Medical School in 1998 brought reports that 86 percent of Americans as a whole, 99 percent of family physicians, and 94 percent of HMO professionals believe that prayer, meditation, and other spiritual and religious practices exercise a major positive role within the healing process.[11] ”
[12] The prestigious Mayo Clinic found that that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life and other health outcomes.
The prestigious Mayo Clinic reported on December 11, 2001:
“ In an article also published in this issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers reviewed published studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews and subject reviews that examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life and other health outcomes. The authors report a majority of the nearly 350 studies of physical health and 850 studies of mental health that have used religious and spiritual variables have found that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes.[13] ”
American millennials, irreligion, therapy and pseudoscience
See: American millennials, irreligion, therapy and pseudoscience |
4,059,496 | bias | conservapedia.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.conservapedia.com/LaVeyan_Satanism | null | LaVeyan Satanism | From Conservapedia
LeVeyan Satanism is a form of atheism which extolls the values of Satan which are described in the Bible. It is a very prideful and hedonistic worldview. Some specific characteristics of Leveyan Satanism is that it incorporates egoism, self-deification, the occult/magic, Social Darwinism and naturalism. It was found by Anton LeVey in 1966. The Church of Satan was also founded by LeVey.
Related quote
See also: Atheism quotes
"Look at Satan's reason for rebelling against God. It's not that he doesn't recognize that God is greater than he is. He does. It's just that he doesn't want to play by anybody else's rules. This idea that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven is Satan's motto, and it turns out that this is also the motto of contemporary atheists such as Christopher Hitchens." - Dinesh D'Souza [1]
See also |
4,059,499 | bias | lifenews.com | 2017-11-27 | https://consciouslifenews.com/spy-satellites-ukraine/1175324/ | null | What Did US Spy Satellites See in Ukraine? | Robert Parry| Commondreams
In the heat of the U.S. media’s latest war hysteria – rushing to pin blame for the crash of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin – there is the same absence of professional skepticism that has marked similar stampedes on Iraq, Syria and elsewhere – with key questions not being asked or answered.
The dog-not-barking question on the catastrophe over Ukraine is: what did the U.S. surveillance satellite imagery show? It’s hard to believe that – with the attention that U.S. intelligence has concentrated on eastern Ukraine for the past half year that the alleged trucking of several large Buk anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia to Ukraine and then back to Russia didn’t show up somewhere.
Yes, there are limitations to what U.S. spy satellites can see. But the Buk missiles are about 16 feet long and they are usually mounted on trucks or tanks. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 also went down during the afternoon, not at night, meaning the missile battery was not concealed by darkness.
So why hasn’t this question of U.S. spy-in-the-sky photos – and what they reveal – been pressed by the major U.S. news media? How can the Washington Post run front-page stories, such as the one on Sunday with the definitive title “U.S. official: Russia gave systems,” without demanding from these U.S. officials details about what the U.S. satellite images disclose?
Instead, the Post’s Michael Birnbaum and Karen DeYoung wrote from Kiev: “The United States has confirmed that Russia supplied sophisticated missile launchers to separatists in eastern Ukraine and that attempts were made to move them back across the Russian border after the Thursday shoot-down of a Malaysian jetliner, a U.S. official said Saturday.
“‘We do believe they were trying to move back into Russia at least three Buk [missile launch] systems,’ the official said. U.S. intelligence was ‘starting to get indications … a little more than a week ago’ that the Russian launchers had been moved into Ukraine, said the official” whose identity was withheld by the Post so the official would discuss intelligence matters.
But catch the curious vagueness of the official’s wording: “we do believe”; “starting to get indications.” Are we supposed to believe – and perhaps more relevant, do the Washington Post writers actually believe – that the U.S. government with the world’s premier intelligence services can’t track three lumbering trucks each carrying large mid-range missiles?
What I’ve been told by one source, who has provided accurate information on similar matters in the past, is that U.S. intelligence agencies do have detailed satellite images of the likely missile battery that launched the fateful missile, but the battery appears to have been under the control of Ukrainian government troops dressed in what look like Ukrainian uniforms.
The source said CIA analysts were still not ruling out the possibility that the troops were actually eastern Ukrainian rebels in similar uniforms but the initial assessment was that the troops were Ukrainian soldiers. There also was the suggestion that the soldiers involved were undisciplined and possibly drunk, since the imagery showed what looked like beer bottles scattered around the site, the source said.
Instead of pressing for these kinds of details, the U.S. mainstream press has simply passed on the propaganda coming from the Ukrainian government and the U.S. State Department, including hyping the fact that the Buk system is “Russian-made,” a rather meaningless fact that gets endlessly repeated.
However, to use the “Russian-made” point to suggest that the Russians must have been involved in the shoot-down is misleading at best and clearly designed to influence ill-informed Americans. As the Post and other news outlets surely know, the Ukrainian military also operates Russian-made military systems, including Buk anti-aircraft batteries, so the manufacturing origin has no probative value here.
Relying on the Ukraine Regime
Much of the rest of the known case against Russia comes from claims made by the Ukrainian regime, which emerged from the unconstitutional coup d’etat against elected President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22. His overthrow followed months of mass protests, but the actual coup was spearheaded by neo-Nazi militias that overran government buildings and forced Yanukovych’s officials to flee.
In recognition of the key role played by the neo-Nazis, who are ideological descendants of Ukrainian militias that collaborated with the Nazi SS in World War II, the new regime gave these far-right nationalists control of several ministries, including the office of national security which is under the command of longtime neo-Nazi activist Andriy Parubiy.
It was this same Parubiy whom the Post writers turned to seeking more information condemning the eastern Ukrainian rebels and the Russians regarding the Malaysia Airlines catastrophe. Parubiy accused the rebels in the vicinity of the crash site of destroying evidence and conducting a cover-up, another theme that resonated through the MSM.
Without bothering to inform readers of Parubiy’s unsavory neo-Nazi background, the Post quoted him as a reliable witness declaring: “It will be hard to conduct a full investigation with some of the objects being taken away, but we will do our best.”
In contrast to Parubiy’s assurances, the Kiev regime actually has a terrible record of telling the truth or pursuing serious investigations of human rights crimes. Still left open are questions about the identity of snipers who on Feb. 20 fired on both police and protesters at the Maidan, touching off the violent escalation that led to Yanukovych’s ouster. Also, the Kiev regime has failed to ascertain the facts about the death-by-fire of scores of ethnic Russians in the Trade Union Building in Odessa on May 2.
The Kiev regime also duped the New York Times (and apparently the U.S. State Department) when it disseminated photos that supposedly showed Russian military personnel inside Russia and then later inside Ukraine. After the State Department endorsed the “evidence,” the Times led its newspaper with this story on April 21, but it turned out that one of the key photos supposedly shot in Russia was actually taken in Ukraine, destroying the premise of the story.
More from Commondreams |
4,059,500 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2008/07/24/bike-jump-fail/ | null | Bike Jump Fail | Rate this:
OOOOUUUUUUUUCCHH!! F**K ME! That has got to hurt. It helps to remember that your friends build sh*tty ramps and you suck at riding bikes, before trying the gap at top speed. If you’d thought of that first, maybe your face wouldn’t look like that now. |
4,059,501 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2011/03/01/he-said-she-said-9-things-girls-shouldnt-do-in-the-bedroom/ | I'Ve Written Thousands Of Articles Including Posts For Coed, Guyspeed, Thefw, Tv Fanatic, G-Men Hq, Brobible, Nfl Spin Zone. I'Ve Also Authored Scripts For Woven Digital'S Short-Form Videos Published Uproxx, Brobible., Here Are Links To My Writing Samples, Social Networks | He Said / She Said: 9 Things Girls Shouldn’t Do In The Bedroom | He Said/She Said is a new series designed to help dudes understand what chicks are thinking. Every week we’ll be throwing out a topic for debate…you can read the guy’s side here and the girl’s side at CollegeCandy.com. This week’s topic: awful, terrible, despicable things chicks do to dudes during sex that they need to stop ASAP.
There are some pretty misleading sex advice articles floating around. I remember leafing through a copy of Cosmo when I was dating my first girlfriend and I was SHOCKED at the toro turd nuggets of misinformation they were spewing forth. It lead me to 2 theories:
1. The editors and contributors of Cosmo date and/or hook up with guys who patronize them for God knows what reason.
2. The editors and contributors of Cosmo are playing one helluva sick prank on its readers.
I always find it funny that women need any advice when it comes to sex. To me, the onus is on the guy to perform and the girl to direct – faster, slower, right there, harder, to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right, now dip, baby, dip.
Guys are pretty simple when it comes to pleasing us sexually. We don’t ask for much, yet these articles make it seem like we’re Rubix cubes of Fort Knox schematics. I’m not saying you should clock in and clock out – it’s always nice to mix it up, but you don’t have to pull sh*t out of left field to get it done. It’s difficult for a girl to really suck in bed, but here a couple ways they can:
1. Sucking of the nipples.
I’m not sure which one of the wiz kids at Cosmo tested this out and received the thumbs up, but men’s nipples could be the most pointless parts of the anatomy ever. Some guys might be into it. Majority of those guys most likely have nipple rings. If that’s the case, you have free license to ill, but to dedicate any more than a pinch, flick, or lick to the male nipple is a waste of time.
2. Machine gunning my junk.
I hooked up with a girl junior year and though she was fun to hang out with I couldn’t bear another session with her in the sack. She jerked my johnson so frickin’ hard, I thought she was being timed and a prize was involved. That transitioned to what I can only loosely call “a blowjob”, which was basically the same as the handjob with slightly more lubrication. I almost had an anxiety attack. My penis’s life flashed before its eye. This is it, I thought, she’s going to literally rip and/or bite my c*ck off. I’mma be a Ken doll for the rest of my days. I mean, WHERE’S THE FIRE? Luckily, I think she might’ve suffered whiplash forcing her to cease and desist.
From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, most female mags tell its readers to treat the meat stick like an ice cream cone. Sometimes they say to throw in a nibble. If you’re opposed to a beej, and you want to give a HJ (cheaper than a ZJ), please make sure you use SOME kind of moisture. Your spit, your secret bottle of KY, stick of butter, hand lotion – something slick to avoid making our warrior get road rash. Slow, long, and wet usually lead to bigger, better climaxes.
3. Finger in the ass.
Yeah, I know. What a double standard. Most guys plead, beg, borrow, and steal to get you to do anal, the girls that end up caving in rarely enjoy the experience. Yet, we’ll leave the country if you even hint at the possibility of putting anything near our bungholes. I’ve only had 1 or 2 girls try this on me and it’s an absolute boner killer. Almost impossible to bounce back from. Though, rubbing of the taint area is not all that bad, I tend to tense up and lose my focus because I know the next stop is my chocolate starfish. I don’t know how much easier to make this: focus on the dong and mind the stepchildren.
4. Talk sh*t.
Keep in mind, this is different from dirty talk. Talking dirty can really enhance the sexperience, but I don’t want to feel like I’m f***ing Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali. Some guys are super competitive and get off on being challenged. I like being challenged, but I also don’t want you sounding like the drill sergeant from “Full Metal Jacket”. You can be playful, you can tease, but when you start belting out, “Is that all you got?!” or “Aw, lil baby d*ck gettin’ tired?” you either A) make us see red, which takes us to our weird, bad place or B) has us focus more on awesome comebacks, thus distracting us from the task at hand. It can be demoralizing – best move is to keep things positive.
5. Choking, hitting, and/or scratching.
Again, some people are into this. But if you’re just getting into it with a new partner, you might want to hold off on the asphyxiation until the second or third date. It’s something you should probably discuss first. I thumbed a girl once… yes, THUMBED, and she got so excited that she left serious Wolverine-like gashes on my chest. The Red Hot Chili Peppers like pleasure spiked with pain, but for most dudes it can be scary. Plus, who knows if the guy sees that as a ticket to retaliate? Things could get bananapants real quick.
6. Stay silent.
So, trash talking is off limits and maybe you’re not so great with the dirty talk. But, if the only thing we hear are crickets and an occassional ball slap, it can be awkward. You don’t have to say anything award-winning but moaning or whispering “yes” goes a long way. Playing soft music can fill the void, but it’s rare you’ll both agree on something that won’t kill the mood.
7. Use teeth.
Chicks love vampires, which might explain why they like biting. I’ve had a couple girls tear layers off my lips during kisses and it’s frightening as f*ck. The sight of blood doesn’t turn me on. Likewise, I’m not looking to fly into the Danger Zone when you flash your pearlies near my pillar. It might look cool but it immediately sends shivers down my spine, inducing nightmarish premonitions. I begin to think, “Oh snap, is THIS how she gets me back for deleting The Bachelor?”
8. Treat our man juice like it’s sewage.
Again, a neat little double standard. We cringe at the thought of touching the guy goo, but then we marvel at the abilities of porn stars to take a load or five to the grill. Are we saying you HAVE to do facials or even pearl necklaces? Not at all. But, we also don’t want you freaking out and fleeing the scene if some gets on you or your sheets. That kind of reaction makes us feel like dogs who wet the rug.
9. The Dead Fish.
To me, you could do every other item on this list and still manage to have a decent sex life. But, you pull the dead fish and you are straight up F’d in the A. You can find a guy or three who might actually want you to digitize their bicycle spokes (see #3), or feed on their man boobs, or verbally belittle them. However, I defy you to find a dude other than a necrophiliac, who’s into a chick who just lays there. Why are you even having sex in the first place? As men, we have every right to turn up the heat when we see this maneuver – I’m talkin’ titty twisters, finger in the mouth, tongue in nostril, anything to snap you out of that maddening malaise.
I’m not saying girls should stop trying to improve their sex lives, but maybe put down Cosmo and pick up some high quality adult entertainment. See how the pros do it. Take notes. Most important of all, keep the lines of communication open before, during, and after. Practice makes perfect. So, get out there and get some strange ass. No more butthole surprises.
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He Said She Said: WARNING, Applying Labels Can Be Dangerous To Your Health
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He Said / She Said: Swiping The V-Card
He Said / She Said: Her Number Doesn’t Really Matter
He Said / She Said: Sex…During Her Period |
4,059,502 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2011/03/15/he-said-she-said-going-soft-makes-things-hard/ | I'Ve Written Thousands Of Articles Including Posts For Coed, Guyspeed, Thefw, Tv Fanatic, G-Men Hq, Brobible, Nfl Spin Zone. I'Ve Also Authored Scripts For Woven Digital'S Short-Form Videos Published Uproxx, Brobible., Here Are Links To My Writing Samples, Social Networks | He Said / She Said: Going Soft Makes Things Hard | He Said/She Said is a new dating, sex, and relationship series designed to help dudes understand what chicks are thinking – we know, an impossible feat. Every week we’ll be throwing out a different topic for debate…you can read the guy’s side here and the girl’s side at CollegeCandy.com. This week’s topic: what to do when Captain Winky doesn’t stand to attention.
I gotta admit, this week’s topic is tough for me. While most of you reading that previous sentence might jump to the conclusion that I’m about divulge my battle with erectile dysfunction – I actually have quite the opposite “problem” – I can’t keep the damn thing down. Just about anything can awaken it from its slumber: bus rides, train rides, car rides, rollercoaster rides, helicopter rides – what can I say, I guess I love transportation. It’s safe to assume if you’re sitting next to me on the subway, I’m probably all chubbed up.
Am I proud of this “gift”? Most of the time, no. But when it’s the rare instance of a lady demanding it, then I’m thankful. Girls are either surprised, annoyed, or even frustrated when they discover my “ability”. They either think this guy is the horniest man I’ve ever met or they think they must not have satisfied me the first time around, making them feel inadequate (not true), or they’re like dude, chill out, I have sh*t to do today.
I’ve only come remotely close to being unable to get it up 2 maybe 3 times in my life. In those select scenarios, it’s usually because I’ve been drinking a sh*t ton of booze for hours on end or I’m having doubts about what I’m about to do. In all those cases, I’ve managed to pull through. How? I don’t pop a pill or try to get myself psyched up, I just focus on what turns me on.
But, what about those guys who easily get whiskey d*ck or suffer from impotence / ED? I have a couple friends that get teased for this. They do extremely well with the ladies, they’re able to attract them and bed them, but their difficulty getting and staying hard becomes an issue. So, what are some of the causes and how should those guys go about dealing with it? After some very brief research, here are some leading causes:
Anti-depressants
Neurogenic disorders like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke
Psychological causes: performance anxiety, stress, mental disorders (clinical depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, personality disorders or traits, psychological problems, negative feelings
Surgeries that may damage the nerves and blood vessels involved in erection
Aging (which many of you don’t have to worry about now, but your 60s will surely suck)
Kidney failure
Diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis affect the nervous system and inhibit blood flow
Smoking – it promotes arterial narrowing and the incidence of impotence is 85 percent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers
Some causes have obvious treatments:
Quit smoking
Alter your diet to promote kidney health
Don’t drink your weight in Wild Turkey – it reduces testosterone production, which is critical for libido and physical arousal
Exercise
Get a prescription for Viagra, Levitra, or Cialis
Get a FDA approved “vacuum therapy” device aka penis pump
Don’t get old
I’m going to address the “psychogenic” causes that are within your control when it happens in the heat of the moment like anxiety, stress, and negative thoughts and/or feelings. If you’re getting boners in your sleep, you can probably chalk up your impotence to psychological rather than something circulatory or physical.
For guys, don’t panic. Relax. I know that’s easy to say now but difficult to do when the chick is pummeling you with questions and possible wisecracks, “What’s wrong?” “Are you okay?” “Tell me what to do” “Am I not good enough for you?” When this happens it’s important to keep a level head and reassure her that she’s not doing anything wrong.
For girls, chill out. If anyone should understand the complexities of achieving arousal and orgasm, it should be women. You ladies have the combination lock of circumstances and conditions that help you get into a place or mindset that allows you to climax. The same holds true for some dudes. It’s just a matter of figuring out his combination. It could be as simple as turning off the lights, lighting candles, playing some soothing / chill music. But, the most important thing to keep in mind is HE controls the situation. The issue is in HIS head. All you can do is help guide him to a non-stressful, calm place so his brain can process that you’re hot and can do great things to his body.
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He Said / She Said: “Dormcest” (Hooking Up With Roommates/Neighbors)
He Said / She Said: Her Number Doesn’t Really Matter |
4,059,503 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2011/04/12/he-said-she-said-who-should-control-birth-control/ | I'Ve Written Thousands Of Articles Including Posts For Coed, Guyspeed, Thefw, Tv Fanatic, G-Men Hq, Brobible, Nfl Spin Zone. I'Ve Also Authored Scripts For Woven Digital'S Short-Form Videos Published Uproxx, Brobible., Here Are Links To My Writing Samples, Social Networks | He Said / She Said: Who Should Control Birth Control? | He Said/She Said is COED’s dating, sex, and relationship debate series designed to help dudes understand what chicks are thinking – we know, an impossible feat. Every week we’ll be throwing out a different topic for debate…you can read the guy’s side here and the girl’s side at CollegeCandy.com. This week’s topic: who should be responsible for birth control?
Ever since I was handed my first condom in the kitchen of a friend’s house after senior prom, I’ve been obsessed with condoms. Throughout college, I carried way way way too many condoms with me at all times. Even when I had a serious girlfriend who I’d known for years, I couldn’t bear the thought of not wearing a condom. When she finally convinced me to go without one because she said she was on birth contrl, I absolutely positively had to pull out. Call it a trust issue, but something about not being able to see the birth control at work throws me off.
The majority of men hate condoms. They say they can’t feel anything, it detracts from the experience, it makes them soft, they’re not big enough (shut up, Holmes). I’ve had multiple friends openly admit they don’t ever wear condoms. If the girl insists, he just passes. And these guys f*** like champions. How their d*cks are still intact is beyond me. How they’re not rivaling Antonio Cromartie for most illegitimate children is beyond me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had 2-3 sexperiences when I was wearing a condom and I thought I’d be in the market for diapers and a crib. They’re not 100% foolproof. But to raw dog and cross your fingers? It can’t be worth those precious few minutes of passion.
From what I gather, men expect women to be on birth control. Just look at Knocked Up. Rogen’s trying to wrap his willy, Heigl’s barking instructions, he abandons the rubber and goes in for the kill thinking she’d be on birth control. Yes, I’m definitely surprised she wasn’t. And, I do assume (read: HOPE TO GOD) every girl is on birth control, but who knows who’s telling the truth or not. If it’s your girlfriend, you’re more likely to trust her, but even then she could just be out for your seed!
Even when the girl asks if a guy has one, I’d say more times than not the guy will say no and respond with, “You don’t have any?” Call me condom crazy, but EVERY PERSON who doesn’t want babies or STDs should carry condoms.
Here’s an interesting story. The company I used to work for hosted a party at a bar near a college campus. To promote our sponsor, we tried to hand out FREE condoms that were supposed to stimulate both guy and girl with a unique proprietary gel. It was ALARMING how many people turned them down and said, “I don’t use condoms.” Have fun at the doctor, kids!
I read somewhere that it costs something like $$250k to raise a kid. You have that kinda cream laying around? If so, can a brother get $$20? I need to go pick up another pack of condoms.
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4,059,504 | fake | coed.com | 2017-11-27 | https://coed.com/2008/05/31/sneakers-centennials-and-rock-n-roll/ | null | Sneakers, Centennials, and Rock ‘N Roll!!! | It seems that Converse (#1 choice of 1920s b-ball stars and indie rock hipsters alike) is celebrating 100 years of being in the sneaker business by releasing a line of limited edition kicks that pay homage to rock greats The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, and Kurt Cobain. The designs, which are printed on both the classic Chuck Taylor and Jack Purcell high tops, feature iconic images associated with the groups, such as the Dead skull and Cobain’s sketches from him journals. (On a side note, you almost have to admire Courtney Love’s complete and utter lack of shame.)
While the collection will no doubt incite rage-filled, hEavI!Ly? PunCtu.ATeD!!! posts on message boards across the Internet, condemning the sneaks as selling out of the highest order, I myself think they’re kind of fly. Sure, they reek of corporate gimickiness and maybe they’re not very rock-and-roll in the pissing-on-audience-members-while-smoking-crack sense, but, a) Converse shoes do have kind of a history with the music industry, b) the shoes wouldn’t exist if the people that have legal control over the bands’ images didn’t approve, and c) there’s a lot of merch out there associated with these musicians that is a lot more shitty than these sneakers are. Plus, they’re pretty rad-lookin’.
Will I be purchasing them? Hell no. But they’re not so terrible that I’ll judge people I see wearing them at the bar. At least, I won’t judge them on their footwear. Their flat-ironed hair and guyliner is still fair game. |
4,059,505 | political | thinkprogress.org | 2017-11-27 | https://thinkprogress.org/pope-benedict-uses-christmas-speech-to-call-same-sex-marriage-a-manipulation-of-nature-6018801009b6/ | null | Pope Benedict Uses Christmas Speech To Call Same-Sex Marriage A ‘Manipulation Of Nature’ – ThinkProgress | At his annual Christmas speech to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called same-sex marriage a “manipulation of nature” to be deplored and an attack on the “essence of the human creature.”
It was the second time this week that Benedict took aim at marriage equality:
People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.
The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned.
Benedict has repeatedly condemned same-sex marriage as “defection in human nature” that bears an “immense human and economic cost.” Most recently, he used his World Day of Peace message to claim that marriage equality presents a “serious harm to justice and peace.” |
4,059,507 | political | thinkprogress.org | 2017-11-27 | https://thinkprogress.org/star-wars-the-force-awakens-succeeds-but-trades-wisdom-for-wows-57bf05e275ad/ | null | ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Succeeds, But Trades Wisdom For Wows – ThinkProgress | WARNING: The following contains minor spoilers from Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
You may find it odd that ThinkProgress asked its religion reporter to review Disney/Lucasfilm’s new blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams. To be honest, it’s largely because I’m probably the biggest Star Wars fan in the building — my desk is covered with X-Wing decals, my tea infuser is a Death Star, and I have a small Christmas tree at home festooned with Star Wars-themed ornaments (my favorite is a talking Darth Vader). And don’t even get me started on the R2-D2 Halloween costume I used to wear as a child.
But experience with religion is actually a good foundation from which to assess any addition to the Star Wars universe, whose fans express such rabid devotion that “Jediism” is literally a religion in some parts of the world (usually jokingly…usually). Star Wars nuts like myself bring an intimidating level of scrutiny to any new fable in the galaxy far, far away, which makes the task set before Abrams — to satisfy devotees so zealous they effectively excommunicated Star Wars creator George Lucas when his early 2000s-era prequels didn’t meet expectations — a challenge of galactic proportions.
With that in mind, I’m happy to say that the yarn Abrams spins in Awakens will delight Star Wars fans and newcomers alike — albeit with more than a few tradeoffs that won’t exactly disappoint, but that may change Star Wars forever.
The Light: Awakens “rhymes” a lot, but in a good way, and it also sings amazing new songs
Some critics have already expressed frustration with the fact that Abrams’ Awakens “rhymes,” essentially repeating story beats from the original Star Wars films. The movie does, in fact, replicate several aspects of the old trilogy, but it works amazingly well early on: The first third of Awakens wowed and delighted me in a way I haven’t felt in a theater in years — maybe since I saw the re-release of A New Hope. The characters make the audience laugh and gasp while soaring through a universe that is unmistakably Star Wars, complete with the droid beeps, lightsaber hums, and Wookie growls we’ve come to know and love. It’s a testament to both Abrams’ talent as a director and his clear adoration for Lucas’ creation; even if you’re just a causal fan of the originals, the plethora of nostalgia-ridden references will have you pumping your fist in celebration. (The rhyming game is also true to the original trilogy, which, lest we forget, intentionally repeats lines of dialogue several times and blows up the Death Star twice.)
Ren is a special kind of evil, one arguably more menacing than the monster he clearly aspires to emulate — Darth Vader.
This isn’t to say there’s nothing new here. Without giving too much away, the story includes several of your old favorites (Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, and Carrie Fischer reprise their roles as Han Solo, Chewbacca, and General Leia), but focuses primarily on two very new, deeply compelling characters who triumph in the face of impossible odds: Finn (John Boyega), an ex-Stormtrooper looking to escape his past, and the Luke Skywalker stand-in Rey (Daisy Ridley), who has trouble embracing her future. Both young actors shine in their budding roles, bringing a double-punch of much-needed diversity to the lead Star Wars cast (it even passes the Bechdel test “with flying colors”) while carving out their respective spaces as the future of the franchise. They have different strengths, but they mesh well: Boyega is hilarious as the giddy and often overeager Finn, and Ridley’s earnestness makes you want to root for Rey really, really hard. Meanwhile, Oscar Isaac’s performance as the crack Resistance pilot Poe Dameron is equal parts charming and dashing, so much so that you wish the film spent more time in his cockpit.
The most captivating addition to the saga, however, is Kylo Ren, a new villain portrayed admirably by Adam Driver. Ren is a special kind of evil, one arguably more menacing than the monster he clearly aspires to emulate — Darth Vader. Whereas Vader and the Emperor were expressions of a focused, concentrated darkness, Ren is something closer to raw, chaotic rage. He doesn’t respond to failure by biding his time and waiting for the right moment to strike, but instead tends to furiously swing his unstable-looking lightsaber in frustration until nearby objects are reduced to cinders. His lightsaber, by the way, is a none-too-subtle visual metaphor for his mental state: Ren is unhinged, a man whose internal struggles make him a threat to everyone around him, especially those he loves. A note to parents: This is a villain that will undoubtedly frighten children — heck, he terrified me.
Abrams’ work also feels different. Unlike the relatively static camerawork of the original trilogy, the new film is as kinetic as Abrams himself, bouncing rapidly from one brilliant action sequence to another, barely letting the audience breathe. It’s also literally more kinetic than any previous Star Wars film: blaster bolts throw people across rooms, explosions toss Stormtroopers like rag dolls, and the aging Millennium Falcon seems suddenly capable of taking way more punishment than it used to.
In truth, the action eventually becomes a bit much, and the second half of the film crosses the line into overstimulation several times, generally valuing combat over much-needed exposition. Though a regular viewer of Abrams’ films will be used this sort of overwhelming action, original trilogy purists may find it off-putting. Still, this newfound energy is partly what makes the film’s unlikely rockstar — the spherical droid/wonderball/cuteness explosion known as BB-8 — work so well, and what will keep audiences coming back to see him and the rest of the characters bounce around spaceships in future installments.
Well, that, and a bunch of jaw-dropping revelations that I won’t spoil for you here.
The Dark: The film doesn’t “teach,” and lacks a central moral compass
Ironically, despite the film’s aforementioned proclivity to rhyme, one of its greatest weaknesses is something it doesn’t copy from the originals. A classic hallmark of a Star Wars film is the presence of a wizened master, a moral exemplar who teaches an eager pupil valuable lessons — usually about the Force, but also about life. The original trilogy used the tag-team of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda to steer Luke Skywalker through his adventures and away from the Dark side, and Lucas’ prequel saga offered a hodgepodge of various Jedi masters to bestow wisdom on the viewer, even if the intended subject — Anakin Skywalker — ultimately failed to heed advice.
Awakens, by contrast, virtually abandons this concept. Rey and Finn find kinship with Han and other characters, but not tutelage. With the exception of an all-too-brief encounter with Lupita Nyong’o’s character (a fabulous computer generated figure who I will not name, but who should’ve gotten more screen time), the two newcomers are basically left to figure things out by themselves.
But while Han is arguably the film’s father figure, he doesn’t pretend to be a moral exemplar, and that leaves our characters — and the story — somewhat adrift.
This will no doubt resonate with our “Do It Yourself” generation, fiercely independent Millennials who celebrate home-brews, iPhone jailbreaks, and even handcrafted reworkings of the original Star Wars. And the shift is expressive of characters who thirst for self-reliance: Rey, a scrap-peddling orphan, spent years surviving on her own in the desert of the planet Jakku, and Finn’s story arc sees him desperate to forge an independence long denied to him. Both characters clearly admire the swashbuckling Han, whose primary life tutor is time, experience, and trial and error.
But while Han is arguably the film’s father figure, he doesn’t pretend to be a moral exemplar, and that leaves our characters — and the story — somewhat adrift. Han even seems to acknowledge the absence of a genuine mentor about midway through, when he watches Rey struggle with a blaster before saying, “You have a lot to learn” — but then offers no further instruction. Han doesn’t become Rey’s teacher in any real sense, leaving her to discern life’s secrets — not to mention details about things like the Force — entirely on her own.
This rugged individualism remains true to the spirit of Han, Rey, and Finn. But it also changes the way audiences have historically interacted with Star Wars films. There is no moral compass in Awakens, no hooded figure to offer sagacity in the face of Kylo Ren’s reckless sadism. In fact, Awakens is, quite literally, a quest to find such a teacher. It’s a universe filled with characters, both young and old, who are desperate to mature, but with no one to instruct them as to how. The result is a story swelling with the power of the Force, but none of the wisdom that’s supposed to accompany it.
The Rest: Ultimately, The Force Awakens feels more like a story than a myth — and the difference matters
Much has been written about how Lucas’ original trilogy is emblematic of history’s greatest myths, particularly how it mimics the traits of archetypal heroes and religious figures outlined in scholar Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. George Lucas himself has acknowledged the influence ancient story models (and Campbell’s work) had on the crafting of Star Wars, and many argue that it was the series’ mythic quality — which can also be seen in beloved series such as Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings saga — that made it so successful.
Awakens, however, does not emulate these mythic patterns, which some believe are what makes a tale timeless. Instead, the newest Star Wars feels a bit more like an amazing story that has little interest in being repeated for ages — even if it might be. It’s reminiscent of the now-defunct Star Wars Expanded Universe, a lexicon of stories crafted by authors, artists, and video game producers that added new tales and filled in the gaps that pockmarked Lucas’ otherwise beloved universe — but none of which succeeded in becoming myths unto themselves. Abrams toes a similar line, making his Star Wars characters more “real” by divorcing them from established — but ultimately simplistic — tropes. The movie is strengthened by it, but it will likely cost it some staying power in the long run. As Yoda would put it: a myth, this is not.
As Yoda would put it: a myth, this is not.
In fairness, the lack of legend in Abrams’ work is likely due to the radical shift currently rocking the film industry, where standalone films and even trilogies are being cast aside in favor of mega-moneymakers such as the Marvel franchise, with stories that are told over the course of dozens of films instead of two or three. Disney has already made it clear they intend to do the same with the Star Wars franchise, releasing one every year for as long as they can. This is a different kind of storytelling framework than Lucas’ era, and helps explain why Awakens feels like the first episode of a great series instead of standalone film.
Such is the odd emotional space that Awakens ultimately occupies. Abrams’ creation is no less beautiful, no less fantastic than anything Lucas created. It’s arguably better directed than at least one of the original films (not to mention all of the prequels), and nails the universe-building challenge as well as the obligatory creation of at least one iconic character — BB-8. The acting is superb, the action sequences are Oscar-worthy, and the characters — homo sapien, robot, or otherwise — are in some ways more human than any Star Wars film to date.
But this time, when the film ended and the lights went up, I didn’t want to rush home and write my own fan fiction, explore extra details in Wookieepedia (yes, that’s a thing), or imagine how Jedi wisdom mirrors the words of real-life sages. Instead — for reasons that will be made clear when you see the film — I desperately wanted to click the “next episode” button, as if on a Netflix binge, which is a dramatic departure from how the original Star Wars films made me feel. It’s a distinction between a Lucas myth and the light speed jaunt across the galaxy that Abrams has set in motion, which is less about ancient archetypes and more about creating a series of really, really amazing stories. It’s different, and I will miss Lucas’ embrace of the timeless as I watch the untold number of Star Wars movies, television shows, and virtual reality experiences to come.
But rest assured, Abrams: Thanks to you, I’m going to watch every damn one of them, just as soon as I clear off a space on my desk for BB-8. |
4,059,508 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-31/beijing-blowback-begins-china-orders-anbang-sell-its-overseas-assets | null | Beijing Blowback Begins: China Orders Anbang To Sell Its Overseas Assets | Two weeks ago, when discussing the troubles plaguing one of China's conglomerates and "boldest dealmaker", HNA Group - recently best known for acquiring Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge capital in a transaction that has yet to close - we said that what until recently was one of the world's most aggressive roll-ups of varied companies from around the globe, including stakes in Hilton Companies and Deutsche Bank, as well as countless Chinese acquisitions, could very soon become the "reverse roll-up from hell", as the stock price of HNA tumbled, putting the roughly $$24 billion in loans that had been taken against HNA stock in jeopardy of breachin their LTV limits, forcing a massive margin call, and potential firesale liquidation of the company's assets as shown in the chart below...
... which have been hit with the double whammy of various rating agency downgrades in recent months, further eroding the collateral value of HNA's various assets.
Yet while the fate of HNA's conglomerate future still remains largely in the hands of the market, which could easily prompt a firesale if it were to push HNA stock low enough, another Chinese conglomerate may not have the benefit of the market's potential generosity, because according to Bloomberg, Chinese authorities have asked HNA's peer, Anbang Insurance Group, the insurer whose chairman was recently detained in June and was classified as a potential "systemic risk" to China's economy, to sell its overseas assets.
In addition to demand a liquidation of many if not all assets acquired by Anbang over the past three years, the government also asked the company - whose Chairman will surely comply following his brief "detention" - to bring the proceeds back to China after disposing of holdings abroad, suggesting not only growing concerns about Chinese capital outflows, but Beijing's apparent intention to undo the massive Chinese M&A wave that swept the globe from 2014 through most of 2016, and led to the infamous "Chinese acquisition premium."
Bloomberg notes that it is not clear yet how Anbang will respond, and in a WeChat message, the insurer said that “Anbang at present has no plans to sell its overseas assets," although that is sure to change once Beijing asks again, less politely this time. "Currently, Anbang’s various businesses and operations are all normal, and the company has ample cash and sufficient solvency capabilities.”
Anbang, together with HNA, Wanda and Fosun, were the four most prominent Chinese conglomerates which unleashed a buying binge across the globe, fueled by soaring sales of investment-type insurance policies. Since 2015, the four companies completed a combined $$55 billion in overseas acquisitions, 18% of Chinese companies’ total, and according to some, were instrumental in accelerating China's capital outflows over the same period.
Anbang first emerged in the public arena with its high profile 2014 acquisition of New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel. Subsequently, Anbang and its peers acquired such trophy assets as AC Milan, Legendary film studios and Hilton Worldwide.
Anbang alone made billions in acquisitions in such businesses as the Westin St. Francis, InterContinental Miami, Rabobank's mortgage portfolio and various other M&A targets around the globe.
However, it all ended with a thud in mid-June, when Anbang Chairman Wu Xiaohui was detained for questioning, while the policies fueling the company's growth have been all but banned by regulators. At this moment Anbang is merely a shell corporation, with virtually no new business creation, one whose massive debt load threatens to careen the company soon if it does not find sources of cheap liquidity and fast.
At a twice-a-decade conference on financial regulation convened by President Xi Jinping this month, policy makers pledged to rein in corporate borrowing and said that preventing systemic risk was an “eternal theme.”
Making matters worse is that Anbang’s rise in recent years was fueled by sales of lucrative wealth-management products that offered among the highest yields compared with peers, a key spoke of China's $$9 trillion shadow banking universe. China’s insurance regulator this year started clamping down on what it termed “improper innovation” and tightened rules on high-yield, short-term investment policies. Anbang and other aggressive insurers such as Foresea Life got caught up in the crackdown.
Where Anbang's death spiral could turn especially aggressive, is if Anbang customers start surrendering their policies and stop buying new ones, a feedback loop that would accelerate a continuing cash drain at the company, while forcing its existing product suite of wealth products to default, leading to the biggest risk facing China's economy: a shadow bank run.
One Anbang product, called Anbang Longevity Sure Win No. 1, boosted the firm’s life insurance premiums almost 40-fold in 2014 by offering yields as high as 5.8 percent. That helped provide fuel for the firm’s more than $$10 billion of overseas acquisitions since 2014 and equally ambitious investing in the domestic stock market.
If investors realize that not only China's M&A party is over, but that the shadow banking sector is facing a potential default cliff, the scramble to recover invested capital will be unprecedented.
For now, Anbang can delay the inevitable cash call by following Beijing's demands, and slowly - at first- begin liquidating its trophy offshore assets, and repatriating the proceeds, effectively inverting the outbound M&A surge that marked the past three years. The good news is that at least at this moment, there are plenty of willing buyers for the upcoming Anbang firesale.. |
4,059,509 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-22/banks-stocks-could-undperform-years-update | null | Banks Stocks could underperform for years (Update) | 90-days ago Joe Friday shared that if history was a guide, banks could under perform the broad market going forward. The chart below was shared on 12/23/16 (See Post Here). It highlighted that since the highs in 2007, when the Bank/SPY ratio became very over bought, banks lagged the broad market for a good while.
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE
Since the highs in the financial crisis, each time banks have attempted to out perform the S&P and momentum was very high, banks struggled going forward and the broad market didn’t have tons to brag about. Below looks at the performance of the S&P, Banks (XLF) and Regional Banks (KRE), since the Joe Friday post on 12/23/16.
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE
The post election “reflation theme” needs the banks to do well going forward, keep up with the S&P or out performing it. If banks would continue to under perform or decline in price, it will raise questions if the reflation theme has peaked out.
Really important what banks do going forward friends, keep a close eye on them! The reflation theme wants the Bank/SPX ratio (top chart) to breakout! If it would, positive price message for Banks and the bullish case for stocks.
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4,059,510 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-02/indian-banks-slash-interest-rates-cash-shortage-leads-manufacturing-contraction-econ | null | As Cash Shortage Leads To Manufacturing Contraction, Economic Shockwaves, Indian Banks Slash Interest Rates | Over 50 days after Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi stunned India's population when he announced on November 8 he would unexpectedly eliminate 86% of the existing currency in circulation in what was supposed to be a crackdown on the shadow economy, but instead has resulted in a significant hit to the broader, cash-based economy, overnight we noted the first official confirmation of how substantial the impact of Modi's demonetization has been, when the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index printed at 49.6 in December, the first contraction reading since December 2015, as the war on cash crippled demand.
According to the report, output and new orders fall for first time in one year; companies reduced buying levels and payroll numbers; Input cost inflation accelerated, while charges rose at softer rate.
Commenting on the report, IHS Markit economist Pollyanna De Lima said that “having held its ground in November following the unexpected withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 bank notes from circulation, India’s manufacturing industry slid into contraction at the end of 2016. Shortages of money in the economy steered output and new orders in the wrong direction, thereby interrupting a continuous sequence of growth that had been seen throughout 2016. Cash flow issues among firms also led to reductions in purchasing activity and employment.
Looking at the upcoming timeline of cash exchanges, she noted that "with the window for exchanging notes having closed at the end of December, January data will be key in showing whether the sector will see a quick rebound.”
As Bloomberg added, other recent data also mirror the stress. Motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto Ltd.’s total sales slipped 22 percent in December, the steepest fall in at least 21 months. Motorcycle sales, a key indicator of rural demand, declined 18%. India’s biggest automaker by volume, Maruti Suzuki Ltd., reported a 4.4 percent drop in domestic December sales, the first decline in six months, while overall sales fell 1 percent from a year earlier.
A continued slowdown will strip India of its position as one of the world’s fastest-growing big economies and risk a political backlash against Modi. On Wednesday another key economic report is due, when the Service PMI data is due before focus shifts to the government’s first official growth estimate for the year through March.
India’s economy, which until recently was expected to be the world's fastest growing, large economy, outpacing China...
... is now expected to grow 6.9% in the year through March, according to a consensus estimate. That’s well below the 7.3% predicted by a survey in November and the previous year’s 7.6% actual expansion. At this rate of deterioration, China, and its "goalseeked" 6.5% annual growth rate may soon regain the top spot among world economies.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to offset the slowing economy as a result of the Prime Minister's unprecedented demonetization gamble, overnight Indian banks, led by market leader State Bank of India, announced sharp cuts to their lending rates after the recent surge in deposits as ordinary Indians brought their cash to the bank for "safekeeping", raising hopes that lower borrowing costs will help spark credit growth in Asia's third-largest economy.
On Sunday, State Bank of India, India country's biggest lender by assets, said it had cut its so-called marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR) by 90 bps, while unveiling new products for mortgage loans, one of the fastest-growing areas. Other lenders including Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Dena Bank followed suit and also cut their lending rates by 45-90 basis points across tenures. Analysts expect more lenders to follow suit.
Banks have received 14.9 trillion rupees ($$219.30 billion) in old 500, and 1,000 rupees notes from depositors since Modi's cash overhaul. That had raised expectations banks would have room to cut lending rates, which is seen as vital to increase credit growth and spark a revival in private investments.
Cited by Reuters, Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman of SBI, said at a news briefing on Monday, the rate cuts were intended to "jump start" credit growth and could raise it by 100-200 bps in the year ending in March. Even if accurate, it remains to be seen if such credit growth will have an offsetting impact on economic growth.
SBI now expects credit growth for 2016/17 fiscal year to be 8-9%, Bhattacharya said, still lower than the lender's previous formal guidance of 10-12% growth. Any signs of a revival in credit could ease some of the worries from Modi's move, which has sparked a severe cash shortage that has paralyzed parts of the economy.
The rate cuts also come after Modi on Saturday warned banks to "keep the poor, the lower middle class, and the middle class at the focus of their activities," and to act with the "public interest" in mind.
Modi's comments were made in a special New Year's eve speech in which he defended his ban on higher-value cash notes and announced a slew of incentives including channeling more credit to the poor and the middle class.
Some have expressed optimism that the combined impact of banks cutting lending rates and subvention provided by the government to small businesses is likely to help turn around growth faster than expected in the next fiscal year," said Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist at Axis Bank, the third-biggest Indian lender. Many others remain skeptical.
For now, however, the immediate impact was on Indian Bonds, which rose after SBI's interest cutting announcement, pushing the yield on the sovereign note due September 2026 to 6.4% from 6.51%. If anything, this is the latest sign that in a world drowning in leverage, and whose economy is priced to perfection, any ongoing "tightness" and rising rates, will only lead to adverse consequences not only in Emerging Markets, but developed ones as well. |
4,059,511 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-23/americas-fake-stability-boobs-credit | null | America's 'Fake' Stability & Boobs On Credit | Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,
Do you ever hear something so startlingly mind numbingly ridiculous you realize it must be a sign things have gotten so fucked up something has got to give?
As I was driving to work yesterday morning on the Schuylkill Expressway a commercial comes on the radio from a plastic surgeon advertising for anyone looking for a better set of boobs. I had never heard a plastic surgeon commercial before, so I thought that was unusual. But, that wasn’t the best part. This plastic surgeon was offering no money down 18 month interest free financing on your new boobs.
I wonder if they are moving boobs with subprime debt the same way the auto companies have used subprime debt to move cars. Of course, when a deadbeat defaults on an auto loan the car is easily repossessed. What happens when a bimbo defaults on her boob loan? How narrow minded of me.
What happens when some dude who wants to be a bimbo defaults on his/her loan? I guess it was just a matter of time before breast enhancement met debt enhancement in this warped world of materialism, narcissism, financialization, and delusions.
Now that revolving credit has reached a new all-time high of $$1 trillion and total consumer debt outstanding has exceeded it’s 2008 peak at $$12.8 trillion, the Fed has completed its job of helping the average American again in-debt themselves up to their eyeballs. This is considered a success story in this twisted, perverted, bizarro world we call America today. The solution to an epic debt induced global financial catastrophe caused by Federal Reserve easy money, Wall Street fraud, and Washington DC corruption has been to increase global debt by 50% since 2007, with virtually all of it created by central bankers and the governments they control.
In what demented Ivy League educated academic mind would piling $$68 trillion more debt on the backs of taxpayers as a cure for a disease caused by the initial $$149 trillion of debt be considered rational and sustainable? It’s like having pancreatic cancer and trying to cure it with a self inflicted gunshot. And no one seems to care about or even notice the coming reset when this mass debt induced hysteria of delusion turns into the biggest financial collapse in the history of mankind.
This entire ponzi scheme edifice of debt is nothing but a confidence game. When people begin to realize they can’t repay their own debts, start to understand their governments will never honor their debt based promises, and realize central bankers are nothing more than pretend wizards behind a curtain, the confidence will evaporate in an instant and a collapse which will make 2008/2009 look like a walk in the park will ensue. That’s when civil and global war will engulf the world and teach people real lessons about the real world.
The boobs on credit commercial I heard this week is just another example of Wall Street and their Deep State crony co-conspirators completing their scheme to financialize every aspect of our lives and entrap us in chains of debt, beholden to these modern day Wall Street slave owners. When you see the record number of retail bankruptcies and store closings happening when GDP is supposedly rising by 3% and witness with your own two eyes the number of vacant storefronts and restaurants across our great land of materialism, you might wonder why revolving credit card debt is at a new all-time high.
The answer is Wall Street has successfully financialized virtually every aspect of our day to day lives. Consumer and taxpayer transactions which required cash or check ten years ago can now be paid with a credit card. You can pay your IRS bill with a credit card. You can pay your real estate taxes with a credit card. You can pay your utilities with a credit card. You can pay your school tuition with a credit card. You can pay your rent with a credit card. You can “buy” furniture and appliances without paying for seven years. And guess what? That’s what millions of average Americans are doing. In addition, they are driving “rented” $$35,000 automobiles on seven year nothing down payment plans.
This massive debt induced fraud of a recovery gives the appearance of normalcy and stability . The stock market is at all-time highs is used as the narrative of central banker success. We’ve experienced extremely low volatility as the central bankers around the world have coordinated their money printing/debt creating schemes to purposely elevate financial markets to give the masses confidence that all is well. Anyone with critical thinking skills knows all is not well. The longer this fake stability is maintained the greater the collapse. Success breeds disregard for the possibility of catastrophe.
So you can call me the boy who cried wolf, but our Minsky Moment is approaching.
Sometimes they do ring a bell at the top.
In this case they are shaking fake boobs at the top.
“Stability leads to instability. The more stable things become and the longer things are stable, the more unstable they will be when the crisis hits.” – Hyman Minsky |
4,059,513 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-19/evans-flips-hawkish-dovish-says-fed-could-wait-until-december-next-hike | null | Evans Flips From Hawkish To Dovish, Says Fed "Could Wait Until December" Before Next Hike | Earlier today, NY Fed president Bill Dudley sparked a hawkish storm in the markets, when in a bizarre statement he doubled down on the Yellen's "hawkish hike" rhetoric, and made it seem that easing is now perceived by the Fed as a bad thing:
FED'S DUDLEY: HALTING TIGHTENING CYCLE NOW WOULD IMPERIL ECONOMY
Then moments ago, today's second Fed speaker of the day, Chicago Fed's dovish, FOMC voter Charles Evans delivered a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde statement, where first, in his prepared remarks and during the subsequent Q&A in New York he sounded rather hawkish, while speaking to reporters after the event he flipped at emerged as his usual old dovish self.
First, here are the highlights from the dovish Evans:
“I think where we are with the funds rate right now is kind of in line with my outlook.”
"US fundamentals are good, no reason this won't continue"
Evans sees a "high threshold to change the Fed's balance sheet unwind plan"
Evans said there are only "small differences" in whether the FOMC hiked rates 2, 3, or 4 times in 2017.
Evans says he didn’t dissent last week because “we’re at a point where the real economy is really doing quite well”
Evans agreed with Yellen and others that the reductions in the balance sheet should gradual and like "watching paint dry".
“I can’t just sort of say, it’s without risk to continue with very accommodative low interest rates"
“Beginning to adjust the balance sheet is one of the easier, more natural things to do, soon, sometime this year"
He also said something which really doesn't make any sense, to wit: “I want to assure you that if we know things are going wrong we will act.” The statement is clearly meaningless because on countless occasions the Fed has said it has no way of seeing asset bubbles in advance, and since an asset bubble is the biggest risk facing global markets, one wonders just how the Fed could know that "things are going wrong."
And then as he was leaving, the dovish Evans we all know so well, made a surprise appearance:
“We could wait until December” and assess the data and still be able to get the three hikes in which are implied by the median dot in the latest quarterly Fed forecast
and assess the data and still be able to get the three hikes in which are implied by the median dot in the latest quarterly Fed forecast “I think it’s going to be important to see several months of markedly better inflation data.”
“I think that it’s about the policy path from here that is the risky part. Now, it could be that we’ve already gone too far. I don’t think that’s the case”
“I think if we were to race to a higher funds rate too quickly without seeing improvements in inflation, that could be quite a concern. And it’s that part that I think where we need to stop and kind of go, you know -- I just think the message out of the conservative central banking story was, we need to get inflation to 2 percent”: Evans
His non-committal conclusion was that “we’re at a point where we’d be well- served to meaningfully monitor the data.”
During his speech, the dollar initially strengthened, then weakened, but since the end of his speech it has resumed its autopilot move higher as Dudley's comments clearly take presedence, bizarre as they may have been. |
4,059,514 | satire | us.blastingnews.com | 2017-11-27 | http://us.blastingnews.com/tech/2017/07/xiaomi-redmi-pro-2-cancelled-to-be-replaced-by-x1-device-001826289.html | Blasting News, Robert Sobel, Amra Ibrahimbegovic, Asmir Pekmic | Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2 cancelled; to be replaced by X1 device | Xiaomi hasn't provided any confirmation regarding its heavily-speculated Redmi #Pro 2 #Smartphone ye, but that certainly hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning away. Alleged images of the Redmi Pro 2 emerged on Chinese social media website Weibo. Now, there are several shocking reports that claim that the Chinese tech giant might have decided to cancel the possible successor to last year's Redmi Pro.
A new flagship smartphone
According to a report by GSMArena, the company has been rumored to be planning to replace its Redmi Pro 2 line-up with another smartphone called "Xiaomi X1." The major highlights of this smartphone will be its bezel-less design tagged along with special features.
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The report further goes on to clarify that the questionable Xiaomi X1 will come in two variants. The first variant will feature a bezel-less design, while the other one will pack a regular display. Talking about the normal model, the Xiaomi X1 smartphone is expected to pack a 5.5-inch full-HD display with a screen resolution of 2,160 x 1,080 pixels. Furthermore, the smartphone will most probably be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 processor.
Rumored specs and features
The regular variant of the Xiaomi X1 will offer 4GB of RAM coupled with 64GB of internal storage. On the camera front, the Xiaomi X1 smartphone is expected to flaunt either IMX362 or IMX386 dual-camera set-up. There will also be a fingerprint sensor located on the rear panel of the device. As far as the connectivity options are concerned, the smartphone will most definitely feature a 3.5mm audio jack along with other basic facilities.
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As far as the pricing of the aforementioned smartphone is concerned, it will vary from storage variant to storage variant. While the 64GB Xiaomi X1 is expected to be priced at 1,999 Yuan (approximately Rs 19,049), the 128GB Xiaomi X1 will start at a base price of 2,499 Yuan (approximately Rs 23,847).
As noted by several reports, the bezel-less variant of Xiaomi's X1 will be higher in terms of price. The device is expected to arrive in two storage options: 6GBRAM/64GB ROM that will most probably be priced at around 2,299 Yuan and the 6GB RAM/128GB ROM that will be priced at around 2,799 Yuan. However, none of the above-given information has been officially confirmed by the company as yet. Therefore, readers are advised to consider the most of the information as rumors. In fact, a separate report even claimed that Xiaomi will be launching both X1 as well as Redmi Pro 2 smartphones. #Xiaomi Redmi |
4,059,515 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-12/disappointing-3-year-auction-prices-highest-yield-2010-lowest-bid-cover-2009 | null | Disappointing 3 Year Auction Prices At Highest Yield Since 2010, Lowest Bid To Cover Since 2009 | The result of today's 3 Year auction, coming at a time when the When Issued was printing above auction stops since April 2010, would be closely watched as a critical test of demand, particularly foreign demand, following selloff sparked by U.S. presidential election, strategists quoted by Bloomberg said. At the same time, they added that the condensed auction schedule, December seasonality, proximity to the Dec. 14 FOMC decision and today’s oil-driven UST selloff, which helped push UST yields above last year’s highs for the first time, may muddy the analysis.
“This month’s supply could be somewhat more challenging to underwrite relative to recent averages,” JPM strategist Jay Barry said in note
Further factors limiting foreign demand could be the recent USD strength, which has widened the cross-currency basis swap, increasing hedging costs for foreign private investors, Citi strategist Jabaz Mathai said in note. Positives for the auctions include repo value as both the 3Y and 10Y have recently traded special, indicating a short base which may support demand.
With that out of the way, here are the results as reported moments ago by the US Treasury.
The high yield on the 3Y auction printed at 1.452%, 0.1bps higher than the 1.451% When Issued, and as expected, the highest since April 2010, indicating further weakness into the auction despite the substantial short base.
The internal were just as poor, with the Bid to Cover sliding from 2.685 in November to only 2.653, the lowest since July 2009, and well below the 6 month average of 2.808.
Demand by foreigners, on the other hand, did not disappoint, with Indirects taking 42.6%, in line with last month's auction, even if well below the 49.9% 6MMA. Directs took down 9% of the auction leaving 48.5% for Primary Dealers.
Overall, a modestly disappointing auction which came in as expected, and which was likely impacted by this week's event calendar. And now, all eyes on both the 10Y auction later today, as well as the FOMC decision on Wednesday. |
4,059,516 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-19/bofa-has-fed-become-concerned-about-surge-stocks | null | BofA: "Has The Fed Become Concerned About The Surge In Stocks?" | In a unexpectedly gloomy note from BofA's Chief strategist David Woo, titled "Sell before it's too late", the analyst writes that this is "a market with risk off written all over it" largely as a result of a string of weaker-than-expected US data over the past week, which "has only strengthened our view that the US economy is losing momentum" and adds that the culprit is the lack of progress in tax reform in Washington.
As Woo explains, the reason for his gloomy economic view is that companies after companies across the country have been telling the bank lately that they are withholding major decisions on hiring and investment until there is greater clarity on tax reform, which he says "should come as no surprise."
Running a business without knowing what taxes you will be paying, whether interest and labor costs will be tax deductible, how long you have for capital expenditure depreciation is like driving at night without headlights. If you can't see, you slow down ? the increased uncertainty around tax reform has become a damper on economic growth. The data are bearing out this wait-and-see attitude. Core durable goods orders have been flat for three consecutive months and the three-month moving average of nonfarm payrolls slowed in May to the most sluggish pace since the Eurozone crisis in 2012
What did surprise Woo is that against a backdrop of a rolling over economy, the Fed doubled down on its hawkish tone and wonders "what it sees ("solid" job gains, businness fixed investment that "continues to expand", risk to the economy being "roughly balanced") that we do not."
His answer: "Can it be the case that its hawkishness was prompted by something other than its reading of the economy? For example, is it possible that the Fed has become concerned about the recent surge in the equity market, especially tech stocks that has been feeding off low interest rates and low volatility? According to our equity strategists, the P/E of the tech sector (19x) is currently at its highest levels post-crisis while the EV/Sales ratio is at the highest sinec the Tech Bubble"
Woo adds that whether the Fed's hawkiness was indeed intended as a warning shot to tech stocks or not, momentum behind the recent tech rally was already fading even before the FOMC meeting. The fact that large cap active funds have never been more overweight the tech sector in the history of our data and the possibility that there could be a bigger correction ahead make us think that the balance of risks for both US rates and USD/JPY remains on the downside (notwithstanding the Fed's plan to hike one more time and to start shrinking its balance sheet this year).
It's not just tech however, because as the BofA strategist also notes, "the price action in the energy market is also raising a red flag in our eyes. In the face of continued inventory build and increasing rig count (Chart 2), WTI front month contracts fell to a two-month low last week.
BofA's commodity team maintains its view that supply/demand balance points to a deficit of 830 thousand b/d over 2H2017 but is becoming concerned that hedging ratios among North American producers for 2018 are only a quarter of their normal levels. As Woo warns, if WTI breaks below $$44 per barrel (it is currently at $$44.68), $$38-40 levels could be in play.
To be sure, today's hawkish comments by Dudley in light of last week's increasingly disappointing economic data suggest that the Fed is indeed focused on "other things" although if Yellen is hoping to mute the relentless grind higher in stocks, one look at today's market action shows that she and the Fed will both have to try much harder... |
4,059,517 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-18/china-central-bank-injects-record-1035-trillion-bank-liquidity-week | null | China Central Bank Injects A Record 1.035 Trillion In Bank Liquidity This Week | Heading into the Chinese Lunar New Year, local banks are suddenly starved for liquidity like never before. On Tuesday China’s benchmark money-market rate jumped the most in two years, with unprecedented cash injections by the central bank being overwhelmed by demand before the Lunar New Year holidays.
Demand for cash in China tends to increase before the Lunar New Year holidays, when households withdraw money to pay for gifts and get-togethers. Month-end corporate tax payments are adding to the pressure this time, with the break running from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2. At that point the PBOC usually steps in with liquidity "injections" in the form of reverse repos. However, what it has done this year is literally off the charts.
On Wednesday, the People’s Bank of China put in a net 410 billion yuan ($$60 billion) through open-market operations, the biggest daily "injection" on record. Despite this massive boost in liquidity, the interbank seven-day repurchase rate still jumped 35 basis points, the most since December 2014, to 2.76 percent, according to weighted average prices. Yesterday, the overnight repo rate rose 10 basis points to 2.50 percent, the highest since April 2015, according to weighted average prices.
So, with liquidity still scarce, moments ago on Thursday morning, the PBOC added another net injection of 190 billion consisting of 100Bn in 7-day repo and 150BN in 28-day repos, offset by 60bn yuan in previous loans maturing.
As a result, the PBOC has injected a net of 1.035 trillion yuan via reverse repos so far this week, an all time high.
It was unclear if the rise in 7-day interbank repo rate had continued to rise.
“The PBOC aims to ensure that the liquidity situation remains adequate, while the 28-day reverse repo is apparently targeted at covering the holidays,” said Frances Cheung, head of rates strategy for Asia ex-Japan at Societe Generale SA. “There could also be preparation for any indirect tightening impact from potential outflows.”
Liquidity conditions are under pressure also because loans are due to mature under the Medium-term Lending Facility, according to Long Hongliang, a trader at Bank of Hebei Co. in Beijing. There are 216.5 billion yuan of MLF contracts maturing this week, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The PBOC offered 305.5 billion yuan of loans to lenders using the tool on Jan. 13, compared with 105.5 billion yuan due that day.
As Bloomberg notes, China’s central bank has been offering more 28-day reverse repos than one-week loans in the past two weeks, while curbing the injection of cheaper, short-term funds amid efforts to lower leverage in the financial system. It drained a net 595 billion yuan in the first week of January, before switching to a net injection of 100 billion yuan last week as the seasonal funding demand started to emerge. However, this week's injection so far of over CNY 1 trillion suggests that there may be something more to the banks' liquidity needs than simple calendar action. |
4,059,518 | satire | us.blastingnews.com | 2017-11-27 | http://us.blastingnews.com/showbiz-tv/2017/08/video/avatar-2-james-cameron-discusses-possibilities-to-release-movie-in-vr-004650857.html | Blasting News | ‘Avatar 2’: James Cameron discusses possibilities to release movie in VR | Cancel
‘Avatar 2’: James Cameron discusses possibilities to release movie in VR A lot of fans are expecting to see 'Avatar 2' on the big screen via virtual reality but James Cameron is not sure if this will be the case. 24 August 2017 |
4,059,519 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-06/chinese-volatility-explodes-yuan-tumbles-most-one-year-after-biggest-2-day-rally-eve | Hokumytrader, Not Verified | Chinese Volatility Explodes: Yuan Tumbles Most In One Year After Biggest 2-Day Rally Ever | While China's unprecedented currency moves have quickly become the main talking point across global markets which otherwise have started off 2017 in an eerily calm fashion, it is the sudden surge in two-way volatility that has emerged a major threat to global market stability.
Case in point, the offshore Yuan fell as much as 1.1% to 6.8623 a dollar in Hong Kong, the most in exactly one year, after a record 2.5% surge over the past two sessions. This took place as a result of conflicting signals, as on one hand China continued to drain liquidity and sent overnight deposit rates into all time high territory, yet on the other the PBOC raised its fixing less than projected, but still the most since 2005, and Goldman Sachs advised its lients that the best time to short the yuan are just after interventions - like the recent one - which flush out bearish positions, or when China concerns were off traders’ radar screens.
China’s central bank raised its daily reference rate by 0.92% to 6.8668 per dollar on Friday the biggest rise since unpegging from the US dollar in 2005, following a 1 percent drop in a gauge of the greenback’s strength overnight. The offshore yuan was trading 0.8 percent weaker at 6.8457 per dollar as of 5:23 p.m. in Hong Kong, paring its weekly gain to 1.9 percent, the most in data going back to 2010. The onshore rate slumped 0.6 percent. Friday’s fixing was weaker than Mizuho Bank Ltd.’s prediction of 6.8447 and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.’s estimate of 6.8456.
As we observed on Thursday evening, Yuan short sellers were once again squeezed in Hong Kong this week after interbank borrowing rates soared, and the dollar weakened as Bloomberg News reported that Chinese policy makers were preparing contingency plans to support the exchange rate even as they prepared for trade war with Donald Trump.
The three-month yuan interbank rate in Hong Kong, known as Hibor, surged to a record high, while the overnight rate jumped 23 percentage points to 61 percent, the highest since last January’s cash crunch. Rising interbank rates can make some short positions prohibitively expensive.
The move widened the offshore yuan’s premium over the onshore rate to 1.6%, the most since February last year. While borrowing rates in Hong Kong remained elevated on Friday, a broad recovery in the U.S. currency eased some of the pressure on bears.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Roy Teo, senior currency strategist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Singapore said that “The offshore yuan is sinking because there is some recovery in the dollar, perhaps the unwinding of short-yuan positions has mostly been done, and it’s closing the gap with the onshore currency.” The yuan is likely to weaken this year as capital outflows continue and the U.S. Federal Reserve increases interest rates, Teo said.
As shown in the chart below, in wildly volatile swings, the gave back much of its gains after a week that echoed the short squeeze in January of last year. That abrupt reversal marked the beginning of a nearly 5 percent rally lasting two months.
Chinese policy makers have several reasons to engineer a stronger or stable yuan in the short term. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office, while the exchange rate came close to breaking through the psychologically-important level of 7 per dollar earlier this week. Policy makers also want to avoid a flood of capital outflows as citizens’ annual foreign-exchange quotas reset for the new year.
Meanwhile, Goldman warned that the Yuan will probably drop to 7.3 per dollar by December, emerging-market strategists led by Kamakshya Trivedi in London predicted in a note dated Thursday.
“The squeeze will have a temporary impact,” Luke Spajic, head of emerging Asia portfolio management at Pacific Investment Management Co., said in Hong Kong. “But I don’t think it necessarily changes the challenge, and the challenge is they still have to worry about the $$50 billion to $$60 billion a month of outflows and what they’re going to do about the value of their currency. And they have to face the fact that the U.S. is probably going to keep hiking rates.”
Benjamin Fuchs, chief investment officer at the $$2 billion hedge fund BFAM Partners (Hong Kong), said China’s moves to repeatedly tighten capital controls risk eroding confidence in its currency. The dollar’s advance against the yen and other currencies has also increased competitive pressure on China to let the yuan depreciate, he said.
“We’re starting to see more and more of a negative cycle being created,” Fuchs said. China’s attempts to curb outflows are “just making people want to take money out quicker, and make companies change their behavior.”
The biggest problem, however, is that this volatility is starting to spillover into other currency, and asset markets, and as a result of the Chinese interventions even the dollar is starting to backoff from its recent 13 yearhighs.
Finally, in what may be a mockery of what traders observe every day, moments ago the PBOC said that China will keep the Yuan exchange rate "Basically Stable." It added that it "will continue to improve yuan exchange rate formation mechanism this year" according to a statement after PBOC annual meeting on 2017 work.
Among other PBOC focuses:
To improve policy framework, infrastructure for global yuan: PBOC
To maintain prudent, neutral monetary policy: PBOC
To keep liquidity basically stable: PBOC
Considering that China has failed abysmally at all three so far, markets are increasingly concerned that the worst possible outcome may be inevitable: China losing control over the currency. The global consequences would be severe. |
4,059,520 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-07/boring-equity-action-masks-devastating-eurodollar-unwinds-after-dudley-speech | null | Boring Equity Action Masks "Devastating Eurodollar Unwinds" After Dudley Speech | On the surface, and in equities, it was a painfully boring day.
Stocks tumbled overnight after yesterday's Syrian airstrikes, then as it emerged that the conflict will likely be contained, futures ground higher and not even the worst jobs report in nearly a year managed to put a damper on today's rebound, as the narrative shifted to the drop in the unemployment rate, which dropped to 4.5% on the back of a 400K+ increase in employment according to the BLS' Household Survey.
A sharp bounce in the dollar/USDJPY/treasury yield complex during Bill Dudley's speech around noon tried - and failed - to inspire a levitation in the S&P ...
... which ended up closing the day small in the red, despite so much earlier drama.
And yet, while on the surface things appeared calm, below the surface, and especially in the Eurodollar complex there was a surge in activity, courtesy of the abovementioned Bill Dudley remarks.
What happened?
Recall the previously discussed Eurodollar 2018 (EDZ7/EDZ8) spread, which as we showed yesterday, had finally broken below a key support level...
... and was threatening to pull the technical support for the 10Y.
In fact, with the 10Y dropping as low as 3.28% in early trading during the overnight, risk-aversion phase, the reflation trade appeared all but dead.
That's when Bill Dudley took the podium. This is what he said:
“Some people misconstrued what I said last week. I said a little pause. A pause is pretty short already, and I think a little pause is even shorter than that. Presumably at the time that you make the decision on the balance sheet you might want to forgo the decision on short-term rates just to make sure that the balance-sheet decision doesn’t turn out to be a bigger decision than you thought you were making. So, I would emphasize the words ’little pause.’”
While those words were largely ignored by equity traders, momo chasers and various algos, they meant all the difference to Eurodollar traders, and anyone who had assumed that following Bill Dudley's comments last week, that the Fed would "pause" its rate hikes during the balance sheet runoff phase.
We'll start with the result, and show just how big the move in the EDZ7/EDZ8 trade was: what the chart below shows is that as a result of Dudley's hawkish comments, the Eurodollar spread spiked to the highest level since the FOMC Minutes, where as a reminder the Fed's balance sheet unwind was a primary topic.
So what happened? As RBC's Charlie McElligott expains, Dudley delivered the “clarification heard ‘round the (global macro trading) world,” as Dudley, in a mid-Friday afternoon interview, sought to alter the market’s initial interpretation of his massively impactful comments made last week, in turn disrupting thematic trades across the macro landscape.
Those comments about the likelihood of a “little pause” in the Fed’s hiking trajectory as-and-when the FOMC begins the process of balance-sheet normalization sent shockwaves through the front-end of the US rates complex, forcing devastating stop-outs / unwinds in MEGA popular macro “reflation” trades like Eurodollar redpack shorts / EDZ7EDZ8 steepeners and the EDZ7-8-9 butterfly and a LOT pain at various and unconstrained funds over the course of the past week.
As McElligott adds, the pain seemingly-culminated in this morning’s Syria strike / NFP headline clunker / Stockholm terror attack trifecta, which sent markets into their initial ‘risk off’ spiral, driving a major UST bid. Even as stocks recovered over the course of the morning (as per my note this morning), rates remained pinning near the high-profile psychological 2.30 level nearly all day. Seemingly, the mix of new longs (after the momentum in the ‘short rates’ trade reversed 3 weeks ago) and capitulation from legacy shorts was behind the strength. And then, Dudley “dropped the bomb” in his above-quoted “clarification.”
Essentially, Dudley said that the Fed will NOT be substituting B/S policy tweaks for Fed hikes, which as noted had quickly become the new market narrative in short-order. He was clearly taken aback by the market reaction to his comments and viewing them as a statement on the Fed looking to reduce the scale of the overall 2018 hiking landscape. In turn, the price-action via the stop-outs and unwinds in the front-end trades over the past week were violently reversed this afternoon.
Indeed, as the chart below shows, the vollume in the Eurodollar spread was the highest since election night!
Some other aftereffects: nominal yields turned sharply higher. Breakevens turned off their worst levels too. UST curves flattened. The US Dollar screamed higher against everything from G10 to EM (everybody’s recent ‘fave’ high-yielding longs as it seemed the Dollar was ‘stuck’).
In equities, the higher rates dynamic reinvigorate “cyclicals” and “value” factor, while “defensives” / “low volatility” / “anti-beta” factor market-neutral rolled over. And as I’ve been pointing-out, “growth” logically settled-back too, as it had become a hyper-crowded “hiding-place” over the course of the year as investors sought stocks which could perform without fiscal policy and interest rate exposure. Thus, FAANG and PANE (FB, AAPL, AMZN, NFLX, GOOGL and PCLN, AMZN, NFLX, EXPE story stocks in tech / consumer discretionary) lagged broad index on the day. Thus ‘momentum’ market-neutral reversing lower on the day too.
McElligott's conclusion:
As such, I’m getting sudden jolts of confidence from the last of the ‘reflation hold-out’ clients, now feeling really emboldened. And for the folks who didn’t cover their rates shorts or unwind their ED$$ curve trades, there are now STATUES being built for Dudley in various fund offices around midtown. The one RISK that I see right now for ‘risk’ is this: that we are seeing the largest move TIGHTER in ‘real rates’ since the day post-March Fed hike. This idea of “tightening faster than we are growing” / “inflating faster than we’re growing” continues to be a concern to monitor.
Bloomberg opined also, noting that Dudley comments benefited a fresh wave of hawkish Eurodollar Bets. Re-established downside options positioning across eurodollars unexpectedly benefited from Dudley comments Friday as focus shifts to clarity from Yellen on Monday. Signs are emerging that traders are looking to re-establish eurodollar put positions across 2018 maturities, potentially a sign that the rally in reds -- triggered by Dudley’s comments a week ago -- may have been overdone. Friday’s CME open interest changes rose in June 2018 eurodollar puts by 106k contracts; largest gains across 9762 (+25k), 9800 (+30k) and 9812 (+48k) strikes consistent with downside trades initiated Thursday.
While open interest is starting to build again across June-18 eurodollar puts, there has been a sharp drop in Jun-17 open interest, reflecting position liquidation. Latest CFTC positioning data, covering week ending April 4, shows speculators adding $$1.8M/DV01, to record eurodollar shorts. Earlier this week, a purge of eurodollar positions saw heavy losses, one of which included a trade liquidated Wednesday for a $$15m hit, across Jun/Sept./Dec mid-curve eurodollar spreads from March 1. The purge came as a result of a collapse in eurodollar spreads, along with the Fed probability term structure which inverted as the rate-hike probability edged higher for June 2017 but then fell further out after Dudley’s comments last week.
If all of this sounds overly technical for regular equity traders, don't worry it is, however the implications for the yield curve, and thus the reflation trade, or what's left of it, are substantial.
It also means that as we pointed out yesterday, suddenly focus has intensified on Janet Yellen, who’s scheduled to speak at 4pm Monday at University of Michigan, taking questions from the audience and Twitter. What she says may roil if not the equity market, then certainly lead to a new set of big headaches for eurodollar traders. |
4,059,521 | satire | us.blastingnews.com | 2017-11-27 | http://us.blastingnews.com/showbiz-tv/2017/05/photo/photogallery-jennifer-lawrence-not-apologizing-for-being-caught-pole-dancing-in-tabloid-video-1334373.html | Blasting News, P. Ghose, M. . Meehan, C. Preston, M. Minnicks, S. Johnston | Photogallery - Jennifer Lawrence not apologizing for being caught pole dancing in tabloid video | Back to article: Jennifer Lawrence not apologizing for being caught pole dancing in tabloid video |
4,059,523 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-03/despite-dismal-jobs-data-dollar-jumps-feds-williams-headlines | Not Verified, Lowerslowerdelaware_Lsd | Despite Dismal Jobs Data, Dollar Jumps On Fed's Williams Headlines | Disappointing earnings growth this morning seemed to convince traders that The Fed would likely be on hold through March (and The Fed's statement earlier in the week did nothing to help_ but after tumbling all morning, the dollar is now jumping higher because The Fed's John Williams says he "sees some arguments to raise rates in March."
The Fed is clearly in panic mode that they have lost contro of the narrative...
*WILLIAMS SAYS MARCH IS ON THE TABLE, DECISION DATA-DEPENDENT
*FED'S WILLIAMS SAYS ALL FOMC MEETINGS ARE LIVE
*FED'S WILLIAMS: INFLATION MOVING BACK TO 2%
*WILLIAMS SAYS MARCH IS ON THE TABLE, DECISION DATA-DEPENDENT
*WILLIAMS SAYS 3 HIKES `REASONABLE GUESS’ FOR FED RATES IN 2017
*FED’S WILLIAMS SAYS NOT WORRIED ABOUT U.S. ECONOMY STALLING
*WILLIAMS: INFLATION WILL BUILD UP IF WE PUSH ECONOMY TOO HARD
*FED'S WILLIAMS SEES SOME ARGUMENTS TO RAISE RATES IN MARCH
And sure enought the algos buy it!! |
4,059,524 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-06/cudmore-its-now-matter-when-not-if-markets-break-down | Space Shitle, Not Verified | Cudmore: "It's Now A Matter Of When, Not If, Markets Break Down" | After yesterday's sudden last hour swoon, in which the DJIA tumbled over 200 points after the FOMC Minutes, the biggest intraday reversal in 14 months, suddenly the bears - especially those who until recently were on the fences - are getting more vocal, such as Mark Cudmore, Bloomberg's former FX trader who this morning writes that "it’s now a matter of when, not if, markets break down into a proper bout of risk-aversion." As for timing, he sayd that "we’re debating the hour rather than the week."
His full note:
The Markets Have Made Their Negative Feelings Clear
It’s now a matter of when, not if, markets break down into a proper bout of risk-aversion. As for timing, we’re debating the hour rather than the week.
The catalyst might be headlines from the Trump-Xi summit, or the ECB’s comments, or it might be the labor report tomorrow, or something else entirely. It doesn’t matter. Markets have made clear which way they want to go, they just haven’t picked which catalyst they’ll blame.
It’s not about where assets are priced today -- the key levels have still not broken -- it’s the path they followed to arrive there. After the strong ADP jobs report, equities rallied, Treasuries fell, the yen slumped, etc. The moves were powerful enough to squeeze out weak risk-asset bears and breed complacency among bulls.
Then the Fed minutes were delivered. The reversals were sharp and just at the moment when nobody was thinking of the downside to risk assets. This means the market will have to chase these moves. But not aggressively quite yet -- most traders will now be nervously watching the ranges and counting on them to hold again.
The key remains the 2.3% yield level in 10-year Treasuries. With the Fed intimating that balance sheet reduction may come sooner than investors expected, thereby potentially reducing the pace of rate hikes, that market is fundamentally fragile as well.
It’s tempting to argue that, no matter all that has been thrown at markets in recent months -- from a Fed hike to the failure of the health-care bill -- the ranges still hold. It’s this attitude that has only raised their relevance and increased the likely volatility when they cleanly break.
I’d be surprised if the levels survive Thursday, let alone until the weekend. The tide has already turned and we’re soon going to see who is swimming naked. |
4,059,525 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-15/deutsche-fed-has-created-universal-basic-income-rich-and-now-it-cant-get-out | null | Deutsche: The Fed Has Created "Universal Basic Income For The Rich" And Now It Can't Get Out | Two weeks after Aleksandar Kocic highlighted the moment in 2012 when the market stopped caring about newsflow and reality, and, in a word "broke" with pervasive complacency setting in regardless of macro uncertainty...
... Deutsche Bank's post modernist master of stream-of-consciousness narrative is back with a new essay dissecting his favorite topic, the interplay between the Fed and markets, the so-called "umbilical limbo" that connects the two in the form of ultraeasy monetary policy and QE in general, and more importantly, the narrative that the Fed has spun over the past ten years, which while supportive of risk assets, has concurrently resulted in what Kocic calls a "permanent state of exception" from normalcy as a result of the Fed decision to defer the financial crisis indefinitely.
It is the unwind of this exceptional state, created symbiotically between the Federal Reserve and the markets, that is the source of consternation for markets, and manifests itself in the upcoming "tricky" renormalization of both the global rate structure, and the unwind of central banks' balance sheets and trillions in monetary stimulus. And, quick to revert to his favorite philosophical abstraction, Kocic notes that more than anything the Fed is hardly eager to "disown" the power it has been exercising for years in its attempt to avoid, or at least delay the next crisis:
The Fed (and central banks in general) carries an implicit responsibility for orderly re-emancipation of the markets, which makes stimulus unwind especially tricky. This highlights the deep dichotomy of power: While a state of exception is an exercise of power, there is a clear tendency to disown that power. And the only way to avoid facing the underlying dilemma is to never give up the power. This creates a new status quo -- a permanent state of exception.
In practical terms, this confirms what we have been warning about for years, namely that the Fed is increasingly "acting as a non-economic actor" - and a price-indescriminate one at that - whose "communications with the markets (“removal of the fourth wall”), excessive accommodation, unconditional support for risk, convexity supply to the market, etc. in place, its role is aimed more and more at achieving “social” and not necessarily financial goals."
In some ways, this was to be expected at a time when the traditional defender of social goal, key among them stability - the government - is increasingly unable to perform its duties due to a record and growing ideological chasm between the left and right, which has forced the Fed to resort to preserving the social order through the only "monetary channel" under its control: pushing asset prices to ever higher nosebleed levels, in hopes of boosting the confidence of the general public that "all is well, just look at the S&P", a trope most recently adopted by none other than Donald Trump.
Stock Market at new all-time high! Working on new trade deals that will be great for U.S. and its workers! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2017
At its simplest, this boils down to merely perpetuating the capital markets' status quo, or as Kocic calls it "Monetary policy continues to be supportive for stocks, bonds and USD at the same time."
This has been a radical departure from traditional relationships across different assets (in the long run, the two can only rally if the third one sells off). These correlations are the gift to the market. In the past years, owners of US risk assets and bonds (as a “hedge”) have been enjoying persistent positive externalities allowing them to make money on both stocks (the underlying) and bonds (the “hedge”).
To market participants who observe the lack of solid economic growth coupled with a global market cap that just hit a new all time high, this divergence creates a sense of deep confusion, yet one which few are willing, or able, to challenge in keeping with the mantra of "don't fight the Fed."
Still, problems are increasingly emerging, most recently from Bank of America, which in a note yesterday urged the Fed to finally "take that punch bowl away"...
... and warning that the longer the Fed's status quo persists, the greater the risk of a violent renormalization, i.e., crash.
If we are wrong and central banks do not take away the punch bowl, things will get much messier eventually. “Bubbles” may form that will eventually burst, leading to much higher volatility than necessary. Keeping rates low in response to persistent positive supply shocks that keep inflation low could lead to imbalances, with a painful eventual correction. Central banks did this mistake before the global crisis and kept monetary policies too loose as inflation was low, ignoring very easy financial conditions, excessive and sometimes irresponsible credit expansion and a housing price bubble. We do not believe, or at least we hope, they will not repeat the same mistake twice.
Amusingly, BofA was hopeful that central banks had learned their lesson from "making this mistake before the global crisis" adding that "we do not believe, or at least we hope, they will not repeat the same mistake twice." And yet, last week's events cast significant doubt on this "hope."
There are other problems with perpetuating a "permanent state of exception",not least among them the fact that the market will remain broken via an "indefinite suspension of traditional market exchange" which also means that the Fed must reinforce its control over risk prices every day through a "continuous uninterrupted exercise of power."
In essence, it is all about diluting the possible downside of stimulus unwind -- an attempt to have an option to obfuscate without losing one’s credibility. With traditional market rules and relationships breaking down, central banks appear to be chasing the illusive target, which means that victory and the final goal are not well defined, which in turn insures the persistence of the “battle” and indefinite continuation of the state of exception. This implies indefinite suspension of traditional market exchange, which means continuous uninterrupted exercise of power that must be won every day.
Kocic previously touched on this topic, calling it a state of market "metastability", in which the "persistence of low volatility causes misallocation of capital. This is how complacency leads to buildup of risk – it is the avalanche waiting to happen."
He continued:
Complacency is a source of metastability. It has a moral hazard inscribed into it. Complacency encourages bad behavior and penalizing dissent – there is a negative carry for not joining the crowd, which further reinforces bad behavior. This is the source of the positive feedback that triggers occasional anxiety attacks, which, although episodic, have the potential to create liquidity problems. Complacency arises either when everyone agrees with everyone else or when no one agrees with anyone. In these situations, which capture the two modes of recent market trading, current and the QE period, the markets become calm and volatility selling and carry strategies define the trading landscape. But, calm makes us worry, and persistent worrying causes fear, and fear tends to be reinforcing.
Fast forward to Friday, when in his latest tangent he points out that in order to minimize the "fear" experienced by market participants caught in the metastability trap, they have no choice but to be comforted each and every day by the central bank exercising its "power" by perpetuating the "indefinite suspension of traditional market exchange", something it can only do if the motives of all actors - central banks and investors - are aligned:
Everyone is incentivized to participate in the reinforcement of the state of exception, while various forms of contestation of the power are inhibited. For example, attempts at shorting bonds are penalized by a steep curve, protection against volatile unwind is discouraged through wide vol calendars, negative carry etc.
And yet this daily interference leads to the abovementioned build up of imbalances, which for a Fed now focusing on its "social" role results in a layering of paradoxes:
The fuzziness of its objectives, as seen through obfuscation of the objective function and metrics (a.k.a. moving the goalposts), has become a policy tool that undermines the power of a reality check. Collapse of short-dated volatility is a referendum on the near-term power of central banks, and softening of long-dated (and forward) vol represents first signs of acceptance of its extension and possible permanence.
Therefore, when going back to the original postulate, the discontinuity between existing and future policy, it is clear why the Fed is concerned, especially at a time when as the Deutsche Bank strategist writes, QE has become nothing more than "universal basic income for the rich."
The accommodation and QE have acted as a free insurance policy for the owners of risk, which, given the demographics of stock market participation, in effect has functioned as universal basic income for the rich. It is not difficult to see how disruptive unwind of stimulus could become. Clearly, in this context risk has become a binding constraint.
Putting it all together, Kocic - perhaps not surprisingly - urges his readers to revert to a state of learned helplessness, to borrow a term, and effectively not fight the Fed, at least as long as the Fed remains dovish:
In our view, as long as the Fed remains dovish, there is little upside in holding gamma. Although the market is vulnerable to event shocks, in the absence of additional information, it would be difficult to endure the time decay of a long gamma position. If anything, reshaping of the curve is likely to lead to steepeners and more curve volatility. Curve gamma is currently trading at all-time lows and could be perceived as a better value as a potential hedge against event risk.
Yet while the current episode of metastability appears firmly entrenched - in fact the longer it persists - the more volatile the outcome, although here in a surprising relent, even Kocic appears to have given up and and suggests that the "permanent state of exception" may indeed be... permanent:
"Vega is a different story. Given the continued tension between the Fed and the market, from this vantage point, higher vol in the future looks almost inevitable, but given a possibility of a (semi-) permanent status quo and the state of exception, this might be a long shot."
Still, not everyone has thrown in the towel: as BofA's Michael Hartnett wrote two weeks ago, "monetary policy will have to tighten to raise volatility, reduce Wall St inflation, and reduce inequality. There are two ways to cure inequality: you can make the poor richer, or you can make the rich poorer. The Fed will reduce its balance sheet in the hope of making Wall St poorer."
At this moment, whether or not Hartnett is right, is the most important question for both the market and Janet Yellen.
* * *
Kocic' full note below
|
4,059,526 | satire | us.blastingnews.com | 2017-11-27 | http://us.blastingnews.com/tech/2017/05/new-instagram-updates-again-copy-from-snapchat-001703417.html | Blasting News, Robert Sobel, Amra Ibrahimbegovic, Asmir Pekmic | New Instagram updates again copy from Snapchat | #Facebook may have been one of the leading platforms of social media in the 21st Century, but even they are not above cribbing a few things from the other online services out there and giving these their own spin. Nowhere else is this more evident perhaps, than with photo-sharing application of #Instagram, which they acquired in 2012. Social media regulars have been noticing a trend wherein Facebook has been introducing new features in the Instagram app that are near copies of features from another image-sharing platform, #Snapchat. Following several amazingly Snapchat-like updates for Instagram over the course of the past several months, Facebook has done it once more.
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‘Copycat’ features
No sooner had Snapchat introduced a new option for their photo and video sharing to become “infinite” when Instagram announced Tue, day May 16 that they have a bunch of new features. A quick once-over of these upgrades however shows quite a resemblance to the things Snapchat users have been able to do already. Just over a year and a half ago Snapchat introduced filters for images on their platform that added special effects like adorable animal ears on people’s heads, or rainbow-colored “puke” spilling out of their mouths. Instagram’s got it now too.
Now users of the Facebook subsidiary have a choice of (initially) eight image filters to put stuff like glasses and tiaras on the face or head of not just one but multiple people in an Instagram photo.
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This feature is accessible through a new “face” icon on the bottom right corner of the platform interface. Once a filter has been selected, users can merely take a picture, a video, or a clip via Boomerang, the Instagram sub-app that helps create short video loops. Previews of the new filters in action look very promising but it’s nothing Snapchat hasn’t done before.
Snapchat fires back
It needs to be said, however, that Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, is very upset with the stunts Facebook has been pulling for Instagram. The most blatant copying occurred in August of last year when Instagram launched its “Stories” function, near identical to Snapchat’s core image sharing schtick that has the photos or video disappearing after 24 hours. Shortly after Instagram Stories took off, Snapchat daily active users began to slow down. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel summed up his feelings on this “plagiarism” last week in a statement saying, "If you want to be a creative company, you have got to be comfortable with and basically enjoy the fact that people copy your stuff."
Other new Instagram features are a “Rewind” button that reverses a video footage prior to sharing, and a “magic eraser” tool that for once, doesn’t do the same thing as the same-named Snapchat version. It simply erases any color fill obscuring the image. |
4,059,528 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-02/chinese-interbank-lending-freezes-government-bond-trading-halted-after-massive-pboc- | King Tut, Not Verified, Hrh Feant, Hokumytrader | Chinese Interbank Lending Freezes; Government Bond Trading Halted After Massive PBOC Liquidity Drain | Earlier today, we were surprised to note that having aggressively drained liquidity from the interbank funding market, on the first trading day of 2017, the PBOC not only fixed the Yuan well lower (sy 6.9498 vs 6.9370 on the last day of 2016, even if this was well stronger than the Offshore Yuan), but the People's Bank of China withdrew even more liquidity. It did that by injecting CNY20 billion via 7-day reverse repos and another CNY20 billion via 14-day reverse repos in its open-market operations Tuesday, according to traders, while continuing to skip 28-day reverse repos.
The move resulted in a net drain of CNY155 billion for the day, and followed a substantial drain of a net CNY245 billion last week - the first removal of liquidity in three weeks. We promptly followed up with a warning:
PBOC drains a net CNY155 billion for the day. Keep an eye on overnight SHIBOR/ HIBOR/ Repo — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 3, 2017
Just over an hour later, it appears our warning was warranted, because according to the latest daily fixing of the Treasury Market Association, as a result of the PBOC's massive liquidity drain which soaked up a nearly a third of a trillion Yuan in the past two weeks, the interbank market is freezing again as follows:
1-month yuan interbank rate in Hong Kong rises 1.16ppts to 13.01%,
3-month CNH Hibor +89bps to 10.02%;
Most importantly, the overnight CNH Hibor rate soared 4.95% to 17.76%, the highest since September, andconfirming of yet another daily freeze in interbank lending simply so that the PBOC can punish all those who are still short the Yuan.
The good news: at least the UCDCNH tumbled by as much as 200 pips on the session. The bad news, it is unclear how much more of this daily volatile punishment Chinese and Hong Kong banks can take.
But wait, because the interbank freeze was not all, and in a repeat of two weeks ago when China's halted the trading of its government bond future, the Shanghai Stock Exchange announced that Shanghai halted trading of the 3.99% government bond due May 2065 after "abnormal fluctuations." It was not exactly clear what that particular phrase meant aside from "aggressive selling" as per the chart below.
According to a statement, trading was set to resume at 11:06 am after being halted at 10:36am, but not before the exchange called on investors to "remain rational and reminded them of trading risks." In other words, please don't sell, especially when the central bank just yanked a near record amount of liquidity from the market. |
4,059,529 | bias | veteranstoday.com | 2017-11-27 | https://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/03/10/iran-military-and-technical-cooperation-after-sanctions/ | null | Iran: Military and Technical Cooperation After Sanctions | …from SouthFront
Iran has one of the Middle East’s largest militarys. While its military is strong enough to prevent any plans of an intervention in the republic, the conditions of the Iranian military equipment and used technologies aren’t the best. The long period of sanctions have prevented Tehran from effectively upgrading its arms and military equipment, leaving it behind regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates which have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on some of the most advanced weaponry on the international market.
Decades of sanctions have also made it difficult for Iran to source spare parts to repair and maintain its existing military equipment, particularly the air force and navy. According to reports, about 80% of the Iranian Air Force needs repair works, about 20% of the Iranian Air Force isn’t not operationally ready. Tehran has proved remarkably adept at maintaining their weaponry and machinery relying on domestically sourced modifications and upgrades. However, maintaining aging equipment from multiple origins in unfriendly environment has been a complicated task.
In the past Iran has relied on the size of its military and its developed asymmetric capabilities. Now, It is reasonable to expect Iran will seek to restore a more conventional balance of capabilities in its military by procuring better weaponry. Estimating Iran’s domestic industry, Tehran will need outside sources to improve its military capabilities. Even with renewed access to the international market, Iran has a little chance to procure any significant amount of defense equipment from Western countries. Continued policy differences and opposition from regional rivals effectively block Iranian access to U.S. and European defense markets.
Russia and China are the only countries that can provide the advanced weaponry that will compare with that of Iran’s neighbors. And Moscow looks well positioned to become the primary supplier for Iranian defense needs. Russia holds an edge over China in key areas such as surface-to-air missile technology and air superiority fighter aircraft. And in Syria, everybody has seen a live demonstration of Russian equipment in battlefield operations.
Tehran is already in significant negotiations with Moscow. A S-300 surface-to-air missile system deal has recently been made and the system appears to be on the verge of being delivered. There are also reports about the talks between Tehran and Moscow on supplying Russian-made Su-30 fighter jets T-90 tanks to Iran. The both systems are used in Syria.
Both Russia and Iran will benefit from the military cooperation. Iran needs to upgrade its conventional weaponry, and Russia is looking for new arms markets. If a strong relationship between Tehran and Moscow become a fact, rapidly, the technological gap between Iran’s military and its regional rivals will narrow shifting the regional balance of power. |
4,059,530 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-24/dollar-shortage-goes-mainstream-when-will-fed-confess | King Tut, Not Verified | Dollar Shortage Goes Mainstream: When Will The Fed Confess? | Last week we posted the report by ADM ISI's Paul Mylchreest “Dollar Liquidity Threat is Getting Critical and the Fed is M.I.A” which summarized some of the key points in the ongoing, second phase of global dollar shortage, profiled here first in the start of 2015 and validated recently by the BIS. We discussed the bitter (and all too predictable) irony that the Federal Reserve doesn’t “get it”, having recently declared that that liquidity in financial markets was “adequate.”
It isn't.
More than 68,000 hits later, we suspect that many ZH readers are tracking the dollar liquidity crisis (and Fed ignorance) via the negativity in Cross Currency Basis Swaps (CCBS). The 3-month Yen/Dollar CCBS has made a new low of 81.75 bp (swapping Yen into dollars for 3 months costs 81.75bp annualised above covered interest parity) implying that the structural dollar shortage is deteriorating.
While we’ve been writing about dollar shortages since the GFC, Mylchreest traced the timeline of the current shortage back to the first RMB devaluation in February 2014. He noted that it’s the one thing that even the central banks struggle to control… think Swiss Franc peg (SNB), impact on carry trade and the Yen (BoJ) and the severe weakness that we’re seeing in the RMB (PBoC). Indeed, a “glaring omission” is the failure of the Fed to set-up a dollar swap arrangement with the PBoC.
Mainstream economists and media are playing catch-up. For example, Carmen Reinhart referenced the “dollar shortage” last month, as did Bloomberg, citing a new report by former Fed economist Zoltan Pozsar which summarizes everything we have said for years.
In his latest “Global Money Notes” report, “From Exorbitant Privilege to Existential Dilemma”, Credit Suisse’s Zoltan Pozsar argues that “an FOMC determined to normalise interest rates has no choice but to become a Dealer of Last Resort in the FX swap market and provide qunatitative Eurodollar easing (“QEE”) for the rest of the world through its dollar swap lines.”
According to Pozsar, Basel III and the money market reforms are tightening dollar funding markets causing an “existential trilemma” for the Fed in which “it is impossible to have constraints on bank balance sheets (restraining capital mobility in global money markets), a par exchange rate between onshore dollars and Eurodollars, and a domestically oriented monetary policy mandate. Something will have to give. It’s either the cross-currency basis, the foreign exchange value of the dollar or the hiking cycle. It’s either the Fed’s regulatory and monetary objectives, or control over the Fed’s balance sheet size. It’s either quantities or prices…”
In terms of CCBS, Pozsar expects “Cross-currency bases will have to go more negative before the Fed steps in, and -150bp on the three-month dollar-yen basis is not an unlikely target”, which would probably lead to a severe bout of Yen weakness from here. The three month dollar-euro basis swap has declined to -43.9bp, closing in on its recent low of -58.8bp during the Deutsche Bank panic nearly two months ago. As an aside, it’s telling that fears about European banks still cause a scramble for dollar liquidity in a deja vu all over again.
Pozsar, like Mylchreest, highlights how a dollar funding crisis tightens monetary policy for the rest of the world and could shred the RMB as it means “tighter financial conditions for the rest of the world. In turn, tighter financial conditions point to slow, not faster global growth as foreign banks pass on higher costs to their customers or worse: de-lever their books…If the Fed leaves the intermediation of all of the rest of the world’s marginal dollar needs to American bank’s constrained balance sheets, offshore financial conditions may tighten and the dollar may strengthen to the point where they are no longer consistent with the path envisioned for the funds rate: rounds of RMB devaluation would follow which also won’t help interest rate normalization.”
So, the rest of the world is left to hang around, waiting to see if the Federal Reserve wakes up to what’s happening to dollar liquidity, and the threat it poses to the global economy and to its own (glacially slow) tightening cycle.
And now that they may be finally catching on, we would like to see some economists or journalists sit Janet Yellen down and interrogate her about dollar funding markets. Although we doubt that they could extract a confession, it might be entertaining to watch. |
4,059,531 | bias | veteranstoday.com | 2017-11-27 | https://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/12/15/iran-sanctions-bill-becomes-law-without-obama-signature/ | null | PressTV: Iran sanctions bill becomes law without Obama signature | US President Barack Obama has declined to sign a bill renewing existing sanctions against Iran, but allowed the legislation to become law, in an apparent effort to alleviate the Islamic Republic’s concerns that Washington is backtracking on the nuclear agreement.
The US Senate passed a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) on December 1, sending the measure to the White House for Obama to sign into law.
The House of Representatives voted 419 to 1 last month to reauthorize ISA, which was first introduced in 1996 to punish investments in Iran’s energy industry based on accusations that Tehran was pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Under the US Constitution, the president has 10 days after Congress passes legislation to sign it, reject it or do nothing.
The White House had said that the US president was expected to sign the bill into law, but Obama did not approve the measure as the Wednesday midnight deadline passed.
In a statement late on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the president had decided to allow the legislation to become law without his signature.
“The administration has, and continues to use, all of the necessary authorities to waive the relevant sanctions” lifted as part of the nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 group of countries, Earnest said.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France as well as Germany – reached a landmark nuclear agreement last year, under which Tehran agreed to limit some aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.
The two sides began implementing the deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on January 16. However, members of Congress said they wanted ISA to be extended for another decade to send a strong signal that any US president would have the ability to “snap back” sanctions on Iran.
“This administration has made clear that an extension of the Iran Sanctions Act, while unnecessary, is entirely consistent with our commitments in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” Earnest said.
“Consistent with this longstanding position, the extension of the Iran Sanctions Act is becoming law without the president’s signature,” he added.
“Ensuring the continued implementation of the JCPOA is a top strategic objective for the United States and for our allies and partners around the world,” the Earnest statement said.
Iran had vowed to respond strongly if the sanctions were renewed, saying they violate the nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 group.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iran had warned that the approval of the ISA would amount to a breach of the nuclear deal.
The Obama administration has expressed reservations about the utility of the legislation, yet American lawmakers argued that renewing the law was critical to maintaining pressure on Iran, claiming that Iran would be unaffected by the renewal, as long as it continues honoring the nuclear deal.
US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a press conference after a meeting in Paris on December 10, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday he had told Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that “to ensure maximum clarity,” the State Department had issued new, redundant waivers exempting Iran from sanctions lifted under the nuclear agreement.
“Extension of the Iran Sanctions Act does not affect in any way the scope of the sanctions relief Iran is receiving under the deal or the ability of companies to do business in Iran consistent with the JCPOA,” Kerry argued. |
4,059,532 | satire | us.blastingnews.com | 2017-11-27 | http://us.blastingnews.com/gaming/2017/10/video/an-overwatch-guide-to-fighting-in-junkertown-004694161.html | Blasting News | An Overwatch guide to fighting in Junkertown | Cancel
An Overwatch guide to fighting in Junkertown Junkertown is still a newly added map and a lot of players don't know how to effectively attack on it 18 October 2017 |
4,059,533 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-13/connecticut-capital-hartford-downgraded-junk-moodys | null | Connecticut Capital Hartford Downgraded To Junk By Moody's | Just two days after S&P downgraded Hartford to junk, Moody's has piled on, pushing the Connecticut State capital below investment-grade due to "the increased likelihood that the city will pursue debt restructurings to address its fiscal challenges."
One week ago, Illinois passed its three year-overdue budget in hopes of avoiding a downgrade to junk status, however in an unexpected twist, Moody's said that it may still downgrade the near-insolvent state, regardless of the so-called budget "deal." In fact, a downgrade of Illinois may come at any moment, making it the first U.S. state whose bond ratings tip into junk, although as of yesterday, credit rating agencies said they were still reviewing the state's newly enacted budget and tax package. The most likely outcome is, unfortunately for Illinois, adverse: "I think Moody's has been pretty clear that they view the state's political dysfunction combined with continued unaddressed long-term liabilities, and unfavorable baseline revenue performance as casting some degree of skepticism on the state's ability to manage out of the very fragile financial situation they are in," said John Humphrey, co-head of credit research at Gurtin Municipal Bond Management.
And yet, while Illinois squirms in the agony of the unknown, another municipality that as recently as a month ago was rumored to be looking at a bankruptcy filing, the state capital of Connecticut, Hartford, no longer has to dread the unknown: following S&P's downgrade to junk on Tuesday, Moody's just shifted Hartford's GOs to B2 from Ba2, with a negative outlook.
Excerpted Moody's note:
Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the City of Hartford, CT's general obligation debt rating to B2 from Ba2. The outlook is negative. The rating was placed under review for possible downgrade on May 30, 2017. The par amount of debt affected totals approximately $$550 million. The downgrade reflects the increased likelihood that the city will pursue debt restructurings to address its fiscal challenges. Last week, the city hired a law firm to advise it on debt restructurings. City management has made public statements indicating they will need to have discussions with bondholders about restructuring its debt regardless of the outcome of the state's biennial budget as debt service costs escalate sharply leading to budget deficits over the next five years. The rating also reflects the city's challenging liquidity outlook in the current fiscal year and weak prospects for achievement of sustainably balanced financial operations. The city currently projects a fiscal 2018 deficit of $$50 million and is seeking incremental funding from the state to close that gap. The state has not yet adopted a budget specifying aid for the city for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Even if the state's biennial budget allocates sufficient funds to address the current and following years deficits and create a fiscal oversight structure, the budget is still unlikely to provide a pathway to structural balance over the longer term. City deficits, partially attributable to escalating debt service costs, are projected to grow to $$83 million by 2023, making the city's weak financial position vulnerable to further deterioration. Rating Outlook The negative outlook reflects the possibility that the city will restructure its debt in a way that will impair bondholders. The outlook also incorporates uncertainty over state funding in the current fiscal year and beyond and the associated impact on reserves, liquidity and the ability to achieve sustainably balanced operations.
In short: the capital of America's richest state (on a per capita basis), will - according to both S&P and Moody's - be one of the first to default in the coming months. |
4,059,535 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-27/deutsche-faces-60mm-derivative-loss-inflation-bet-gone-bad | null | Deutsche Faces $$60MM Derivative Loss For Inflation Bet Gone Bad | Just two months after Deutsche Bank was fined $$165 million for not only still rigging FX when its currency traders were found to still be participating in banned chat boards, but for violating the Volcker rule, the chronic German recidivist bank, whose endless criminal activity cost the jobs of the entire previous management team... has violated the Volcker rule one again. And this time the bank faces a double whammy of not only breaching the terms of its latest settlement with the Fed, but is also facing a $$60 million derivative loss for a TIPS-linked trade gone bad, which also happened to frontrun its clients!
As Bloomberg reports, citing "people familiar", DB made a bet on U.S. inflation that puts the firm on course to lose as much as $$60 million, While the specifics of the trade are not available, it appears to have been a TIPS-linked bet on inflation rising. As everyone, and certainly the Fed knows, precisely the opposite has happened, and it is now another humiliating mark on the face of new CEO John Cryan, as he has to explain not only why the bank broke the terms of its consent order with the Federal Reserve, which stated, and we quote...
The consent order requires Deutsche Bank to improve its senior management oversight and controls relating to the firm's compliance with Volcker rule requirements.
... but because the loss also apears to be in major breach of that particular unit's VaR limits, suggesting not only a Volcker Rule violation but also a general lack of risk oversight. Bloomberg confirms as much, reporting that the bank has "been examining whether Deutsche Bank traders breached risk limits on the deal" and adds that "a risk limit violation could indicate a weakness in the bank’s oversight of its traders in a business that earned about $$270 million in the first quarter. "
Such a loss would be a setback for Chief Executive Officer John Cryan,
who has been trying to improve the lender’s risk and operational
controls that have drawn scorn from regulators around the world.
In what appears to be a laughable explanation why the prop trade was not a prop trade, Deutsche Bank reportedly "made the trade in anticipation of how clients were going to transact and isn’t expecting the bet to reverse." So not only was it a prohibited prop bet, i.e., not a hedging trade which to our knowledge is the only Volcker loophole allowed, but Deutsche bank also was actively frontrunning its clients.
That's not all.
According to Bloomberg, "in a separate case, the bank last year began a review into whether it misstated the value of derivatives used to bet on inflation, known as zero-coupon inflation swaps." We assume that will be another several hundred million hit (oddly, never a benefit) to the books when it has to be unwound.
In the first quarter, DB's fixed-income pretax profit was the result of €2.3 billion in revenue, an 11% increase on the year earlier, and as the German bank said, revenue from products tied to interest rates was “significantly higher.” The question now - as happens virtually every quarter for Deutsche Bank - is how much of its was also illegal. |
4,059,536 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-05/deutsche-bank-takes-out-full-page-ad-apologize-its-market-rigging-misconduct | Run Boy, Not Verified | Deutsche Bank Takes Out Full-Page Ad To Apologize For Its Market-Rigging Misconduct | Deutsche Bank took out full-page ads in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Saturday, in which the country's biggest lender apologized for (getting caught) engaging in market manipulation and misconduct that has cost the company billions. In the ad, signed by CEO John Cryan on behalf of the bank's top management,the bank said its past conduct "not only cost us money, but also our reputation and trust."
The ad said "we in the management committee and bank leadership as a whole will do everything in our power to keep such cases from happening again."
While Deutsche Bank's transgressions culminated most recently with a December $$7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its RMBS dealings in the years leading up to the financial crisis, other "misconduct" cases have included rigging Libor, the precious metals market, as well as money-laundering violations involving trades Russia.
As reported last Thursday, Deutsche Bank reported a larger than expected €1.9 billion Q4 loss, driven by ongoing legal settlements costs, declining equity-trading revenue and surging client redemptions from its asset management business. Cryan also offered an extensive apology at the news conference.
Deutsche Bank is in the midst of a wrenching restructuring, cutting costs and shedding riskier assets to meet tougher regulation aimed at preventing another financial crisis. In the latest aftershock from the relentless litigation against the bank, Deutsche Bank reportedly was set to announce layoffs of as much as 17% of staff in its equities unit and reduce fixed-income headcount by as much as 6%, while scrapping 2016 bonuses for as many as 90% of bankers.
Of course, the best gauge of whether Deutsche has "learned its lesson", is to watch its actions in the coming months. With a repeal of the Volcker Rule looking increasingly likely under Donald Trump, the largest German bank may find it difficult not to engage in the same prop trading behavior that got it in serious trouble during the financial crisis. |
4,059,537 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-05/crushing-50-trillion-sideline-cash-conundrum | Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch, Not Verified | Crushing The $$50 Trillion Sideline Cash Conundrum | Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Blackrock estimates there is a whopping $$50 trillion in cash “sitting on the sidelines”.
Bloomberg writer Lisa Abramowicz calls it the $$50 Trillion Conundrum.
As most Mish readers understand, there is no conundrum. Let’s go over why, one more time.
There’s been a lot of discussion about how much cash investors are holding these days. BlackRock puts the figure at more than $$50 trillion, a figure that includes a host of different metrics, from central-bank assets to financial-firm reserves and consumer savings accounts. Other measures show a similar trend. Private-equity firms are amassing great piles of liquid securities, with Blackstone saying that nearly one-third of its assets are in cash. Fund managers in general have boosted reserves as a share of their portfolios to levels that match the highest since 2001. So what is the meaning of this trend toward bigger cash cushions? Several weeks ago, my response was to say that all this money will support asset values going forward. That may have been too simplistic. Just because there’s more cash in the financial system doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s available to buy securities, nor that it’ll prevent a repricing of debt and equities that have been propped up by years of unconventional monetary policies. In fact, it could even indicate more risk out there, as one reader astutely noted. Fund managers may be holding more cash to offset a bigger pool of leveraged derivative bets, which may or may not be sufficient to compensate for the risk.
Sideline Cash Silliness
Barring trivial exceptions, sideline cash can never support asset prices for the simple reason for every buyer of equities there is a seller.
Money cannot flow into stocks or bonds. If $$50 trillion in sideline cash purchased equities and bonds, there would still be $$50 trillion in sideline cash.
The minor exception to the rule there is a seller for every buyer are new or secondary offerings, trivial in comparison to the alleged sideline cash theory.
Sideline cash is a function of Fed printing and the ability of banks to borrow money into existence.
Statement 1: Several weeks ago, my response was to say that all this money will support asset values going forward. That may have been too simplistic.
Wrong
Statement 2: Just because there’s more cash in the financial system doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s available to buy securities, nor that it’ll prevent a repricing of debt and equities that have been propped up by years of unconventional monetary policies.
Better, but still wrong, and missing a key point: In aggregate it cannot be used to buy securities.
Just because there's more cash in the financial system doesn't mean that it's available to buy securities. https://t.co/dMqf3aZXGX — Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) November 3, 2016
No Conundrum
Sideline cash will keep rising as long as debt expansion and Fed printing continues, but not a penny of it can come into the markets, except for new or secondary offerings.
There is no conundrum. Nor is there any such thing as “sideline cash”. Someone has to hold every penny printed into existence, at every point in time until reverse repos drain the cash. |
4,059,538 | conspiracy | zerohedge.com | 2017-11-27 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-15/confused-whats-going-china-goldman-answers-all-your-questions | null | Confused By What's Going On In China? Goldman Answers All Your Questions | One day after China's rate policy unexpectedly decoupled with the Fed, and in light of recent developments in China's loan market discussed last night, Goldman's MK Tang writes that the firm has "received a number of inquiries on yesterday’s China money and credit data, as well as recent PBOC rate actions." To answer all lingering questions, Tang has published the following handy Q&A "to link these issues together by answering some of the key questions."
China: Q&A on money and rates
Q1. Didn't the PBOC suggest that its interest rate policy was partly tied to the Fed policy?
Yes, but it does not have to be. The PBOC did not raise rates on open market operations (OMOs) today (and also kept 7-day repo rate fixing broadly stable at 3.44%), despite the Fed hike overnight. This is in contrast to March 16, when the PBOC raised OMO rates by 10bp immediately following the increase in Fed funds rate.
Although the PBOC cited the Fed hike as a reason for its move on that occasion, domestic conditions (e.g., growth, inflation, financial leverage) seem to have been more important factors for its actual stance on interbank liquidity. Given the recent growth moderation from the very strong pace at the start of the year, announcements of tighter prudential policies from other agencies, and advancement in financial deleveraging (more on this below), the PBOC has in recent weeks signaled a less hawkish policy stance. In any event, we already expected an incrementally easier PBOC stance given the credit headwinds in the pipeline (see here) (Exhibit 1).
Another reason why the PBOC may feel less pressure to hike is that the pace of FX outflow has slowed partly on tighter capital control. This increases the scope for China’s interest rate policy to be independent (as a reminder: according to the “impossible trinity” thesis, a less open capital account allows a country to maintain an independent monetary policy even without a flexible exchange rate regime). We also note that the abrupt RMB appreciation two weeks ago as well as the USD soft patch could also help reinforce RMB sentiment and mitigate potential outflow pressure driven by higher USD rates, in lieu of a corresponding rise in domestic rates.
Exhibit 1: Interbank interest rates have trended down in the last several weeks
Source: CEIC
Q2. What is "financial leverage"? How is this different from shadow banking?
While there is no universally adopted definition on these concepts, it is useful to distinguish two types of leverage in China.
1. One is credit extended to the real economy (i.e., non-financial corporates and households). This includes i) transparent forms of financing (e.g., bank loans, corporate bonds), ii) traditional shadow banking credit (e.g., trust loans, entrusted loans, undiscounted bank acceptance bills), and iii) newer form of shadow credit (e.g., credit extended by funds and brokers’ special purpose vehicles but booked as equity investment). The first two components are included in the official credit data (TSF), while the third one may not be. In light of this, last year we introduced our "money-implied" credit measure which should also capture this last credit component. In recent months, policy tightening has prompted a much more rapid slowdown in this shadowiest credit component than those reflected in TSF, as we recently discussed (Exhibit 2).
2. The other type of leverage is related to financial institutions borrowing money to invest in financial assets such as bonds, and this is often referred to as “financial leverage”. This is different from the first form of leverage in that the borrowing does not directly go toward supporting the real economy (see our note here for more discussion). This is not reflected in either TSF or our own money-implied credit measure (both of which are intended to include credit extended to the real economy only). There is no comprehensive data on this sort of leverage, though one proxy could be the amount of interbank repo borrowing by fund institutions (Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 2: The part of credit to the real economy not captured in official data seems to have slowed particularly rapidly in recent quarters
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Exhibit 3: Fund institutions have borrowed heavily in the interbank repo market , suggesting high financial leverage
Source: CCDC
Q3. Why was M2 growth so weak in May? Is it because of financial deleveraging?
Yes, but not entirely. At 9.6%yoy, M2 growth in May was even slightly weaker than the previous lows in early 2015. And indeed, M2 data had also surprised on the downside in the previous two months. In a statement yesterday, the PBOC suggested that the M2 weakness was to a large extent due to a moderation in financial leverage (the second type of leverage discussed in question 2 above). In particular, M2 held by NBFIs (non-bank financial institutions) grew at a very slow 0.7%yoy, vs. 10.5%yoy growth in M2 held by the real economy.
The PBOC statement is in line with our assessment that the worst of financial leverage growth is probably behind us. Judging from the recent rate spreads in the interbank market (R007 minus DR007; i.e., general average repo rate less repo rate applied to banks only) and bond market (bond yields minus swap rates), liquidity pressures faced by NBFIs and the scale of bond positioning seem to have been meaningfully reduced in the past several weeks (Exhibits 4 and 5).
Exhibit 4: Premium paid by NBFIs to borrow in interbank has narrowed and become less sensitive to underlying liquidity conditions
Source: WIND
Exhibit 5: Bond valuation (relative to swap) has also become less over-valued
Source: CEIC
That said, financial deleveraging does not seem to have been the only major reason for the slow M2 growth. A slowdown in liquidity accrued to the real economy (i.e., the first type of leverage discussed in question 2) also seems a likely key contributor (Exhibit 6). In particular, our proxy for M2 held by the real economy has been trending downward since late 2016 and probably fell much further in May, given information from the PBOC statement (our proxy is the sum of cash in circulation, and household and non-financial corporate deposits). The weakness in M2 held by the real economy is a particularly strong signal for slower credit extended to the real economy, because some other key forms of the real economy's financial savings (e.g., wealth management products, insurance products) are apparently also under pressure, given various regulatory tightening measures. Conceptually, a lower level of the real economy’s total financial savings (deposits plus non-deposit financial savings) is a likely reflection of less credit extended by the financial system to the real economy. This suggests that the trend of overall credit (including also credit not captured in TSF) extended to the real economy might have been softer than suggested by official credit data (we do not have sufficient data to update our money-implied credit measure beyond Q1 yet). If so, this would be a continuation of the pattern from Q1 and in line with our view for continued drag on credit given the past rise in market rates.
Exhibit 6: M2 held by the real economy has been decelerating since late 2016, and probably slowed further in May
Source: PBOC, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Q4. What is the outlook for interbank rates?
We continue to expect interbank liquidity to be kept at a fairly stable level as in recent weeks, given slower growth momentum, material progress in financial deleveraging and a tightened capital control that can limit outflow pressures from higher US rates. Moreover, on a forward-looking basis, we expect the past increase in market rates to continue feeding through to actual lending rates (Exhibit 7), which could slow credit further. This argues for slightly easier interbank rates (as what we have already seen in the last few weeks) to pay for insurance against the credit headwinds in the coming months.
On the other hand, given the cyclical strength in export demand, less leakage via FX outflow as well as an apparently stronger politically-driven willingness of local governments to support demand, economic activity could continue to perform fine despite the ongoing credit slowdown. For commodity demand in particular, our commodity team colleagues have suggested that bank loans (which have remained solid) may matter more than other forms of credit (which has slowed more rapidly). Overall, in our view, significant pre-emptive accommodation seems unlikely—we may not have any major monetary easing unless weakness in growth materializes.
Exhibit 7: Market interest rates tend to lead bank lending rates by roughly 6 months
Source: PBOC, CEIC, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research |
4,059,539 | bias | veteranstoday.com | 2017-11-27 | https://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/08/09/lockheed-martin-stocks-rise-as-trump-threatens-fire-and-fury/ | null | Lockheed Martin Stocks Rise as Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’ | [Editor’s note: Fiery rhetoric and beligerent posturing comes naturally to Donald Trump, one of the few things he has managed to do with any degree of competence since squeezing his bloated, bloviating orange form into the big chair.
Trump aims to line the pockets of his billionaire buddies that own the big defence contractors, therefore expect no cessation of his belligerence in foreign affairs. Ian]
__________
TeleSUR
Lockheed Martin Stocks Rise as Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’
U.S. government demand for Lockheed Martin weapons and intelligence systems accounts for roughly 70 percent of its total revenue.
The Pentagon’s top weapons supplier, the Lockheed Martin Corporation has experienced a sharp rise in their stock shares since threats of a potential “military option,” or in the words of U.S. President Donald Trump, “fire and fury,” have increased.
Stock market shares of the military and security corporation has risen nearly 8 percent since July 4th, when the DPRK tested its first lon-range missile. Since last year at this time, shares have risen a whopping 20 percent for the company that specializes in producing war and security machines.
The Vice President of Lockheed Martin’s Air and Missile Defense sector, Tim Cahill, told Reuters that demand for missile defense systems is on a sharp rise as global threats of war increase.
“The level of dialogue around missile defense is now at the prime minister and minister of defense level,” Cahill said.
Lockheed Martin is a private contractor, however its demand and production is heavily determined by the needs of the U.S. government, which accounts for over 70 percent of the corporation’s total revenue. Less than 30 percent of the company’s profit derives from international sales.
They produce a wide range of advanced weapon and security technology, such as ships, missile systems, planes, security and intelligence products which are purchased by the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and NASA.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently threatened the DPRK with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” should they continue to make “threats.” |
4,059,540 | satire | us.blastingnews.com | 2017-11-27 | http://us.blastingnews.com/gaming/2017/07/street-fighter-v-trailer-confirms-the-arrival-of-fourth-character-of-season-2-001854861.html | Blasting News, Erwin Cruz, Sergida Dolores Baez, Akio Kishimoto | Trailer: 'Street Fighter V' confirms the arrival of fourth character of Season 2 | Just before taking the wraps off the top 8 finals for "Street Fighter 5," Capcom unveiled the mystery character that is headed straight to its popular fighting video game. A new character is on its way to 'SF5.' Taking the center stage at the Evo 2017, the game developer announced the arrival of Abigail in the sixth installment of its hit "Street Fighter" series. For those unaware, the character hails from Capcom’s side-scrolling beat-'em-up video game dubbed, "Final Fight."
It can be recalled that Abigail was originally one of the members of the bulky bruisers in the Mad Gear crew in "Final Fight," but players were highly unlikely to cross paths with the giant until towards the conclusion of the game.
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Other characters
Polygon reported that in addition to Abigail, another Mad Gear gang member, Hugo, marked his debut in the "Street Fighter" series with "Street Fighter 3: Second Impact." While Hugo was without an iota of doubt massive, Abigail seems to be the biggest character to make an appearance in "Street Fighter" to date. As seen in the recently rolled out trailer, Abigail is roughly about twice the height of Ed.
"Street Fighter 5" season two pass comprises six DLC (downloadable content) characters and Abigail is character number four. Until now, Capcom has brought in Ed, Kolin, and Akuma for the game's second season.
Abigail with his stage Metro City Bar Area will be up for grabs on July 25. Here's the "Street Fighter 5" Abigail gameplay trailer, which gives us a brief glimpse of the Metro City Bay Area stage as well.
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Other recent announcements
There have been myriad "#Street Fighter V" related revelations this week, during the unveiling of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour stage. Among other announcements, it was revealed that the famed Suzaku Castle stage would make a comeback on July 25. While the team behind the popular game refrained from making any additional announcement on Sunday, July 16, it's obvious that players will have a lot to delve into later this month as the game developer is still bent on building "SFV" as a platform.
Players can get their hands on Abigail either by shelling out in-game fight money or along with "FF5" second season character pass, which will come bearing a price tag of $$29.99 and features the other downloadable characters for season two. A large number of players abandoned "Street Fighter V" following a rugged season one. Have you too given up playing the game or are you still counting on the arrival of new playable characters including Abigail? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. #Street Fighter V second season character pass #Street Fighter V characters |
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Dataset Card for "Fake News Opensources"
Dataset Description
- Homepage: https://github.com/AndyTheFactory/FakeNewsDataset
- Repository: https://github.com/AndyTheFactory/FakeNewsDataset
- Point of Contact: Andrei Paraschiv
Dataset Summary
a consolidated and cleaned up version of the opensources Fake News dataset
Fake News Corpus comprises 8,529,090 individual articles, classified into 12 classes: reliable, unreliable, political, bias, fake, conspiracy, rumor clickbait, junk science, satire, hate and unknown. The articles were scraped between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 from various news websites, totaling 647 distinct sources, collecting articles dating from various years leading to the 2016 US elections and the year after. Documents were classified based on their source, based on the curated website list provided by opensources.co using a leading to a high imbalanced class distribution. Their proposed source classification method, was based on six criteria:
- Title and Domain name analysis,
- “About Us” analysis,
- source or study mentioning,
- writing style analysis,
- aesthetic analysis and social media analysis.
After extensive data cleaning and duplicate removal we retain 5,915,569 records
Languages
English
Dataset Structure
Data Instances
An example record looks as follows.
{
'id': 4059480,
'type': 'political',
'domain': 'dailycaller.com',
'scraped_at': '2017-11-27',
'url': 'http://dailycaller.com/buzz/massachusettsunited-states/page/2/',
'authors': 'Jeff Winkler, Jonathan Strong, Ken Blackwell, Pat Mcmahon, Julia Mcclatchy, Admin, Matt Purple',
'title': 'The Daily Caller',
'content':'New Hampshire is the state with the highest median income in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report on income, poverty and health insurance',
}
Data Fields
id: The unique article IDtype: the label of the record (one of: reliable, unreliable, political, bias, fake, conspiracy, rumor clickbait, junk science, satire, hate)- 'scraped_at': date of the original scrape run
- 'url': original article url
- 'authors': comma separated list of scraped authors
- 'title': original scraped article title
content: full article text
Data Splits
| Label | Nr Records |
|---|---|
| reliable | 1807323 |
| political | 968205 |
| bias | 769874 |
| fake | 762178 |
| conspiracy | 494184 |
| rumor | 375963 |
| unknown | 230532 |
| clickbait | 174176 |
| unreliable | 104537 |
| satire | 84735 |
| junksci | 79099 |
| hate | 64763 |
| total | 5915569 |
Dataset Creation
Source Data
News Articles from various sites
Who are the source language producers?
News Articles, Blogs
Annotations
Who are the annotators?
Journalists
Other Known Limitations
The dataset was not manually filtered, therefore some of the labels might not be correct and some of the URLs might not point to the actual articles but other pages on the website. However, because the corpus is intended for use in training machine learning algorithms, those problems should not pose a practical issue.
Additionally, when the dataset will be finalised (as for now only about 80% was cleaned and published), I do not intend to update it, therefore it might quickly become outdated for other purposes than content-based algorithms. However, any contributions are welcome!
Licensing Information
This data is available and distributed under Apache-2.0 license
Citation Information
tbd
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