Bits Bucket for December 11, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here. Please visit my Youtube channel which you can also find here:
http:tinyurl.com/http-hbb-com
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
April 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
Oh no…not another blow to the Chinese stock market!
China’s Fosun halts trading amid reports its chief is missing
By AT Editor on December 11, 2015 in China, Top News
(From AP)
The Chinese conglomerate that owns Club Med suspended trading of its shares Friday following a news report that its chairman, one of China’s most prominent business leaders, is missing.
Fosun International employees were unable to contact Guo Guangchang beginning at midday Thursday, the magazine Caixin said on its website. It cited what it said were messages on social media that Guo was last seen with police at an airport in Shanghai.
Guo’s disappearance comes in the midst of a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping in which dozens of executives at state-owned companies have been detained or questioned. Business people in previous investigations have been held for weeks for questioning with no public notice.
Fosun and its pharmaceutical unit suspended trading of their shares in Hong Kong. They cited the pending release of an announcement with “inside information.”
Phone calls to Fosun’s media and investor relations departments weren’t answered.
Guo, 48, is one of China’s biggest investors abroad. Fosun, which he co-founded in the 1990s, has businesses in real estate, steel, mining and retailing.
…
Trumps the only one speaking out on China also.
What does he say about China?
(and IMO Trump is having the time of his life, what with all the attention).
This:
How We Got Here: Washington Politicians Let China Off The Hook
In January 2000, President Bill Clinton boldly promised China’s inclusion in the World Trade Organization (WTO) “is a good deal for America. Our products will gain better access to China’s market, and every sector from agriculture, to telecommunications, to automobiles. But China gains no new market access to the United States.” None of what President Clinton promised came true. Since China joined the WTO, Americans have witnessed the closure of more than 50,000 factories and the loss of tens of millions of jobs. It was not a good deal for America then and it’s a bad deal now. It is a typical example of how politicians in Washington have failed our country.
or
Just as he started our failed “War on Drugs,” Richard Nixon was also the godfather of our failed “Free Trade” policies, starting with China, which began sending us manufactured goods, while Pepsi was the first American product sold in China. While Nixon was probably paid handsomely by industry for this—we know of his bribe-taking from the dairy industry, for example—he tried to sell so-called “free trade” to us as a way of ending Communism in China.
As he wrote in his book Seize the Moment in 1992, “If we remain in China, we can play a critical role in helping the private economy gradually eclipse the state sector. In this respect, the most counterproductive thing we could do would be to revoke China’s most-favored-nation trade status. … If we want to have an impact on the changes occurring in China, we should not pull the plug on trade. Increasing economic progress will bring progress on human rights.”
Thus began the destruction of American manufacturing. And ironically, once again the “evils” of China are being evoked to push more of our factories out of the United States via the TPP, as President Obama recently told us that if we don’t “write the rules of trade” with Asia, “China will.”
It was a bad idea in 1972 when Nixon first started all this in a big way, and it’s a bad idea now. We’ve lost over 60,000 factories just since 2000.
Our $500 billion trade deficit is so bad that foreigners now own fully one-seventh of all assets in the United States and we’ve lost two-thirds of the factories we had when Nixon went to China.
WPA is simply a moron. Proven many times over.
(FXP) if you think the China crash is playing out. get off the sidelines.
No Near-Term Upside for Chinese Stocks, Says Lygh Hedge Fund
Klaus Wille
December 10, 2015 — 2:00 PM PST
China’s stock market won’t see much upside during the first half of next year as the nation’s reforms of initial public offerings will spur a new supply of shares, and earnings growth will remain subdued, according to Singapore-base fund manager Lygh Capital Pte.
“I am cautious about this new supply coming to the market,” Grace Lu, managing director at Lygh and portfolio manager of the GH China Century Fund, said in an interview. “Stock markets will go sideways at best over the first half,” said Lu, who previously worked at a unit of Singapore’s state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte.
Lygh’s fund, which has more than 50 percent of its assets in cash, is treading carefully as more companies are expected to be listed in China after authorities have pledged to switch from an approval-based system of initial public offerings to a registration-based framework. The rising supply comes as investors have been burned by a rout in the markets this year. The Shanghai Composite Index slumped as much as 43 percent between mid-June and the end of August, before rebounding amid government stimulus.
…
China’s steel sector woes to continue amid domestic demand slump
Analysts see few catalysts for a turnaround in China’s steel industry
PUBLISHED : Friday, 11 December, 2015, 3:15pm
UPDATED : Friday, 11 December, 2015, 3:15pm
Laura He
Yuan weakens to close near four-year low as stock markets also fall
Cranes are seen above piles of steel pipes to be exported at a port in Lianyungang on December 1. Photo: Reuters
The outlook for China’s overcrowded steel industry will remain negative in the near term, as the sector is struggling with sluggish demand and excess inventory on the back of a sharp economic slowdown in China, analysts say.
In addition, potential anti-dumping investigations against China’s steel exports could also pose a key risk to the sector.
Steel output has declined this year alongside the dramatic fall in domestic demand.
According to China’s Iron & Steel Association (CISA) earlier this week, China’s daily crude steel output from 97 large and medium sized mills fell to 617 million tonnes per annum as of mid-November, down 2.1 per cent from early November levels.
Nationwide, CISA estimates that the daily production rate fell 1.6 per cent from early November level.
“At this run rate, we estimate steel demand fell 5.5 per cent for the first eleven months of this year,” said analysts from JP Morgan in a recent research report.
…
Would the new circuit breaker protect against a 40% drop that plays out over the course of many months?
Markets
China to Launch Stock-Market ‘Circuit Breaker’ Next Year
Mechanism would halt trading for 15 minutes if the market moves up or down by 5% before 2:45 p.m.
Investors follow stock information at a securities firm in Jiujiang, in China’s eastern Jiangxi province. Photo: Zuma Press
Updated Dec. 4, 2015 5:47 a.m. ET
China will launch a stock-index circuit breaker next year, regulators’ latest move to prevent the wild swings that accelerated this summer’s stock-market crash.
A 5% move up or down in the CSI 300 Index, a gauge of 300 stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, will trigger a 15-minute trading halt, according to a stock-exchange statement Friday. A movement of at least 7% will freeze trading for the rest of the day.
The circuit breaker will kick in for trading that takes place up to 15 minutes before the markets close at 3 p.m. local time.
Currently, China’s stock regulators halt individual stocks that rise or fall 10% during the day.
“When the market moves up or down by 7%, it usually means there is extreme volatility…and [the market] may face systematic risks,” said the statement, jointly released by the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and the China Financial Futures Exchange.
…
“The circuit breaker will kick in for trading that takes place up to 15 minutes before the markets close at 3 p.m. local time.”
Meanwhile the top-hats and umbrella-hoop dresses are climbing aboard the lifeboats.
sure, you can use your Yuan to buy or co’s and prime USA real estate, no manipulation there. uhg
Have you been investing in all the Wong places?
Markets Insight
December 10, 2015 9:13 am
Navigating the minefield of China’s retail investors
Jennifer Hughes in Hong Kong
International backers will struggle with Mrs Wong’s trading style
An investor smiles during her observing stock market at a stock exchange hall on July 9, 2015 in Fuyang, Anhui Province of China. Chinese shares rebounded to 3,700 points on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 202.14 points, or 5.76 percent, to close at 3709.33 points. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 469.45 points, or 4.25 percent, to 11510.34 points. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)
©Getty
We’ve told Sid, sought average Joes from Bloggs to Sixpack, and followed the investing adventures of Mrs Watanabe around the world. Archetypal retail investors serve the same purpose for market observers as pollsters’ voter stereotypes for politicians. So meet Mrs Wong, China’s contribution to the genre and the force behind its stock-market gyrations.
This has been the year when the wild swings of Shanghai and Shenzhen became too significant for any investor, anywhere, to ignore. With the biggest index providers laying out their approaches to including mainland stocks in the coming years, international investors have to start paying attention to Mrs Wong now, whether they like her investing style or not.
Even after the summer turmoil when Shanghai and Shenzhen lost a combined 45 per cent of their capitalisation over three months, the two together still represent the second biggest market in the world, worth half as much again as Tokyo, the number three bourse. Mrs Wong and her friends are responsible for about 80 per cent of China’s daily trading, although holding roughly only a quarter in capitalisation terms. Just 2 per cent of the overall market is held by foreigners.
Charles Li, head of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and a former China investment banker, offered a description of the Chinese retail trader at an industry conference earlier this month.
“You can be Mrs Wong, selling vegetables in the morning, and when the market opens you can go into a room and sit down and do your trades just like a Goldman Sachs guy trading on Wall Street,” he said.
…
Mrs Wong…LOL!
Mrs. Wong, meet Mr. Wright . . .
I’m livin’ on a Chinese stocks
All my best things are in hock
I’m livin’ on Chinese stocks
Everything is in the pawn shop
With apologies to The Ramones
first cassette I ever bought
Does it seem like oil prices are in a nasty death spiral?
4 reasons crude-oil prices are in a nasty death spiral—again
By Myra P. Saefong
Published: Dec 10, 2015 4:09 p.m. ET
Crude-oil prices have lost more than half their value since their peak in June 2014
As actor Daniel Day-Lewis can attest, oil can be a messy affair. There will be blood in the oil market.
Crude-oil futures have been facing severe headwinds since last year, when prices for the U.S. and global benchmarks shed more than half their value from the highs seen in June 2014. Now, crude oil faces another stunning unraveling.
The commodity has already lost a third of its value in 2015, staging what seems like a relentless drop toward multiyear lows.
On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate crude (CLF6, -0.14%) settled at $36.76 a barrel and Brent crude (LCOF6, -0.10%) finished at $39.73 a barrel, with both marking their fifth day of losses in a row. Prices for both grades settled at their lowest levels since February 2009.
But contrary to popular belief, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries isn’t the only reason for oil’s most recent downturn.
“The likelihood of rising OPEC production going forward” is certainly a concern, said Matthew Smith, a commodity analyst at ClipperData.
But strength in the U.S. dollar, resilient U.S. production and a continuing global supply glut are also among the key reasons why oil prices continue to fall, he said.
Here’s a detailed look at the key reasons behind crude-oil prices’ recent descent:
…
major liquidation but 36 bucks is sure a lot better than 150. Do you dare jump in and try and catch this falling knife?
How low can it go? 20?
15 Poet.
On the first day of christmas uncle fed sent to me, some more home EQ UIT Y!
Are you sure?
North Dallas, TX Housing Prices Tailspin 25% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/north-dallas-dallas-tx/home-values/
How come oil company stocks ain’t budging?
Probably demand from long-ball players, like me, who have time to hold oil for years or decades.
How did that work out for the long-haul holders of buggy whips?
long-ball players
Somehow I don’t think carrying a loss for many years makes it any better.
Marketwatch dot com
Oil sinks under $36, aiming for biggest weekly loss of the year
By Myra P. Saefong, Barbara Kollmeyer, and Jenny W. Hsu
Published: Dec 11, 2015 10:41 a.m. ET
Gloomy IEA report puts fresh pressure on oil prices
Relentless. OPEC oil keeps on coming.
Oil futures sank below $36 a barrel on Friday, holding ground at a nearly seven-year low and trading more than 10% lower for the week, poised for their largest weekly loss of the year.
Brent crude also looked ready to mark its lowest settlement since December 2008 as the International Energy Agency warned that the global crude-supply glut will continue to keep prices low.
…
Did you notice over $1 trillion in U.S. household wealth go POOF during the third quarter?
Household wealth falls $1.2 trillion in the third quarter
Published: Dec 10, 2015 2:26 p.m. ET
U.S. borrowing growth slows to four-year low ahead of rate hike
By Steve Goldstein
D.C. bureau chief
The Federal Reserve on Thursday reported slowing business debt accumulation.
The third quarter saw the lowest growth in borrowing in over four years, as businesses slowed their breakneck accumulation of debt, while the downturn in the stock market wiped away over $1 trillion in household wealth.
Domestic nonfinancial debt grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2%, the Federal Reserve said Thursday in its voluminous Financial Accounts of the United States report.
Business debt grew 4.7% in the third quarter, compared to 8.4% growth in the second quarter. That was the slowest pace of growth since the fourth quarter of 2013 and comes ahead of a likely rise in interest rates next week.
…
Is it time to wheel a fed member or another central banker across the pond cause the futures are down?
It is a good thing I have my home equity! We know that cannot disappear….
The wealth was never “there” to begin with. It’s all Fed Pixie dust anywho…
At least U.S. homeowners can rest assured that their home equity wealth continues to grow unabated.
free money via asset price appreciation is the american dream.
If you are not sitting at a slot machine you are not even in the game.
FOMO is one of wall streets most powerful tools to suck sheep back in.
Equity: I just said that PB. We’ve been hanging out together on the HBB far too much…….
Investing Guide
Copper, aluminum and steel collapse to crisis levels
by Matt Egan
December 9, 2015: 1:18 PM ET
Crude truth behind oil’s global boom
The last time raw materials like copper and oil were this cheap, an economic depression loomed just around the corner.
It’s no secret that commodities in general have had a horrendous 2015. A nasty combination of overflowing supply and soft demand has wreaked havoc on the industry.
But prices for everything from crude oil to industrial metals like aluminum, steel, copper, platinum, and palladium have collapsed even further in recent days. Crude oil crumbled below $37 a barrel on Tuesday for the first time since February 2009.
The situation is so bad that this week the Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a wide swath of raw materials, plummeted to its weakest level since June 1999.
“Sentiment is horrendous. It’s the worst since the financial crisis — and it’s getting worse every day,” said Garrett Nelson, a BB&T analyst who covers the metals and mining industry.
…
Vapor disappears wealth doesn’t.
Bulletin U.S. stocks open sharply lower Friday as oil rout intensifies; DJIA off 200
U.S. stocks open sharply lower as oil rout worsens
Published: Dec 11, 2015 9:36 a.m. ET
By Ellie Ismailidou
Markets reporter
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Friday, pointing to their fourth downbeat session of the week, as a continuing rout in oil prices weighed on the main benchmarks. Meanwhile, investors largely shrugged off slightly better-than-expected economic data on retail sales and wholesale prices. All three major indexes were firmly into negative territory a few minutes after the opening bell, with the Dow industrials posting three-digit losses. The S&P 500 (SPX, -1.40%) fell 22 points or 1.07% to 2,030. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, -1.54%) lost 201 points or 1.14%, at 17,519. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP, -1.30%) began the session down 54.32 points or 1.07%, at 4,992.
…
They shoulda got into Bitcoin. Up 33% over one year.
Sounds like another huge crash is on the horizon unless the Fed punts again on liftoff.
Marketwatch dot com
Opinion: Stocks are more overvalued now than at 2000 and 2007 peaks
By Mark Hulbert
Published: Dec 11, 2015 5:08 a.m. ET
Median NYSE stock’s current P/E and price/sales ratio sparks concern
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — The stock market currently is even more overvalued than it was at the bull market peaks of both March 2000 and October 2007 — according to not just one, but two, valuation measures.
That at least is the message of an analysis released earlier this week by Ned Davis Research, the quantitative research firm. What caught my eye in the firm’s analysis was that, unlike virtually all others that conclude that stocks are overvalued, this one was not based on the so-called Shiller P/E — the cyclically-adjusted P/E ratio championed by Nobel laureate Robert Shiller of Yale University.
That’s noteworthy, since there would be nothing new in reporting that Shiller’s P/E shows stocks to be overvalued. That ratio has been giving this same message for several years now, and skeptics have found many ways of wriggling out from underneath its bearish implications.
…
Comments section says it all, it’s different here, or so many believe.
Boston-area housing prices shock newcomers.
“It’s a story told over and over, as people from states with sane housing prices move to Greater Boston, the land of the one-two insult: Every place is overpriced, and you’d be lucky to get it.
Think of it as real estate porn for masochists. ”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/real-estate/2015/12/10/boston-area-housing-prices-shock-newcomers/hktVAksDGnQDt7O2YW6pJP/story.html?p1=Article_Trending_Most_Commented
I lived in Boston decades ago. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I found it rather depressing over time. I was definitely happy to leave. And driving there, fuhgeddaboudit.
El Chapo vs Isis! You can’t make this stuff up!
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/12/10/looks-like-it-on-chapo-guzman-threatens-war-on-isis-after-terrorists-destroy/
“In the Middle East, the cartel has become a major provider of cocaine, ecstasy and other so-called party drugs to oil-rich princes and businessmen throughout the region.”
It’s on like Donkey Kong!
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
In this case, which one is our enemy and which one is our friend? If we were to support one to go after the other which one should we support?
To do in ISIS it might help to support Chaco. To do in Chaco you should help support ISIS.
So, which should it be?
Heh, I have a feeling the Deep State has been been backing Chapo for years. War on Drugs and all that.
From Wiki …
“Opium production in Afghanistan”
“Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation, 1994–2007 (hectares)
Afghanistan has been the world’s greatest illicit opium producer, ahead of Burma (Myanmar), the “Golden Triangle”, and Latin America since 1992, excluding the year 2001.[1] Afghanistan is the main producer of opium in the “Golden Crescent”.”
(snip)
“Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since U.S. occupation started in 2001.”
Worth repeating: “Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since U.S. occupation started in 2001.”
“Based on UNODC data, opium poppy cultivation was more in each of the growing seasons in the periods between 2004 and 2007 than in any one year during Taliban rule. More land is now used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 92% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan.[2] This amounts to an export value of about $4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers.[3] In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers’ share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families.[4] In addition to opiates, Afghanistan is also the largest producer of cannabis (mostly as hashish) in the world.[5][6] In 2004, a fatwa was issued by Muslim clerics claiming that opium production is contrary to the sharia law and that opium producers would face punishments in accordance with the sharia.[
“The Spoils of War: Afghanistan’s Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade
“Washington’s Hidden Agenda: Restore the Drug Trade”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-spoils-of-war-afghanistan-s-multibillion-dollar-heroin-trade/91
Here’s what Chaco is doing in the U.S…
“The United States of El Chapo: DEA cartel map of America shows that the fugitive drug lord dominates almost the whole of the US”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3338976/The-cartel-map-America-DEA-reveals-drug-lords-command-states-fugitive-El-Chapo-s-sprawling-empire-dominates-US.html
Drugs and guns for EVERYBODY!
no questions asked - survival of the fittest!
So let’s see, we’ve got:
-The biggest Mexican drug cartel fighting ISIS
-Iran, Russia, and Syria fighting the Sunnis
-The Sunnis fighting the Shiites
-ISIS fighting Al Qaeda
-Putin fighting Erdogan
Again, I have to ask: Is Obummer the Greatest Chess Master Ever?
It is actually pretty simple.
It is a Shia-Sunni global war,
Shai - Iran, the government of Iraq, Yemen rebels, Syrian government, Hezbollah, etc.
Sunni - ISIS, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen government, FSA, western tribes of Iraq, most of Afghanistan, etc.
Non-Muslim Outliers - the Kurds, Christians, Yazidis, other minorities, etc. Pretty much all muslims hate them (Sunni and Shia). They will do what they need to do to survive,
It is a Shia-Sunni global war,
Isn’t that like FDR getting Japan to fight Germany?
That’s some serious chess-playing.
Shia and Sunnia have been fighting each other since the death of mad mo…
They occasionally team up to go conquer infidel lands and take slaves.
They occasionally team up to go conquer infidel lands
That’s what Chess Master Obummer is playing against. We don’t care if they kill each other.
‘We don’t care if they kill each other’
You’re a pretty disgusting person.
Just explaining realpolitik.
We also apparently don’t care if some place in America gets shot up by a loonie every other day, if that makes it more equitable.
We’re comfortable with violent killings, at home and abroad.
We have always been at war with Oceana.
We don’t care if they kill each other.
Actually, the Pentagon boys and their defense contractor buddies are dying to get in on the action. The revenue stream isn’t what it used to be.
‘We’re comfortable with violent killings’
I’m not and I bet most people aren’t. Do you think people around the world can’t read that our President bragged that he is good at killing people? Do you ever think about how that reflects on us? How that would influence attitudes towards us? This isn’t some game.
I thought the whole point of isolationism/mind our own business is to let them do whatever they want in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world. Worrying about some group or another getting whacked by some other group over there is none of our business. If it is, then that’s when we start sending in the troops.
If the Sunnis have been fighting the Shiites for centuries, it’s not our doing, none of our concern, and probably nothing we can stop.
‘it’s not our doing’
Yes it is.
We’re kind of talking past each other, Ben. I think we both favor getting our troops, in all forms, out of the Middle East, do we not?
And I think we both oppose meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, do we not?
But we have to recognize that if we do those things, there will be blood. Over there. If it’s our responsibility to stop such bloodshed, because we played some part in its set-up, then we’ll never get out of there. So that’s the difficult decision we are faced with.
Do you think people around the world can’t read that our President bragged that he is good at killing people?
I’m sure they did and are rightfully appalled. The things is when he said that, America shrugged and said “whatever”. I’m sure that more than a few actually approved (yes, to them it is a game). You know, we gotta kick butt, right?
Heck, not even the GOP is calling him out on that; probably because they would do the very same thing.
‘If it’s our responsibility to stop such bloodshed’
You do realize there were no suicide bombings in Iraq before the US invaded, right? There was no Al-Quad a in Iraq before the US invaded. There are now over 300,000 dead in Syria, because one man, our President, has decided Assad must go. Remember how the US was going to save all those people with a no-fly zone in Libya, which is now a jihadist paradise? Oh yeah, we’re spreading peace around the world, with one failed state after another.
So what do we do? Get out, or stay and try to fix it?
“We” are not Warshington. The inmates of Warshington like to say “That’s not who we are”. Well, I got news for them, THEY are not who “we” are.
‘not even the GOP is calling him out on that’
‘President Barack Obama is personally enamored with a recent essay written by neoconservative writer Bob Kagan, an advisor to Mitt Romney… Obama liked Kagan’s article so much that he spent more than 10 minutes talking about it in the meeting, going over its arguments paragraph by paragraph, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor confirmed to The Cable.’
‘National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will also discuss Kagan’s essay and Obama’s love of it Thursday night with Charlie Rose on PBS.’
Oh yeah, we’re spreading peace around the world, with one failed state after another.
Obama didn’t jail the banksters and followed the Bush doctrine of helping Wall Street recover by appointing Wall St./Bank insiders to fix the mess they themselves created. I’ll just bail myself out, thank you very much, no conflict of interest there. And Obama continues the Bush war in the middle east, the only difference being more drones and less troops. So much for Obama being the Marxist Muslim, he’s Republican Lite.
‘So what do we do’
There’s one thing we can all do on a personal level; stop perpetuating the lies by using the “official story” when we discuss these things:
‘2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State “in order to isolate the Syrian regime”
‘Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that for “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.
‘The DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Dept., and many others.’
‘The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.’
‘While a number of analysts and journalists have documented long ago the role of western intelligence agencies in the formation and training of the armed opposition in Syria, this is the highest level internal U.S. intelligence confirmation of the theory that western governments fundamentally see ISIS as their own tool for regime change in Syria. The document matter-of-factly states just that scenario.’
So then where are the death counts? Cindy Sheehan? Demonstrations? Articles that obama is responsible for all the evil in the world? Etc.
Lefties sure shut up pretty quick after obama was elected.
They only seem to equate Bush to obama when they can use it as an excuse for the actions of obama. Like he had no choice in the seven years…
‘The Obama/Clinton/Sanders/Cruz/Rubio/Pentagon/et al. solution – let someone else fight the ground war against IS – is based on what can only be called a delusion: that regional forces there believe in American goals (some variant of secular rule, disposing of evil dictators, perhaps some enduring U.S. military presence) enough to ignore their own varied, conflicting, aggrandizing, and often fluid interests. In this way, Washington continues to convince itself that local political goals are not in conflict with America’s strategic goals. This is a delusion.’
‘In fact, Washington’s goals in this whole process are unnervingly far-fetched. Overblown fears about the supposedly dire threats of the Islamic State to “the homeland” aside, the American solution to radical Islam is an ongoing disaster. It is based on the attempted revitalization of the collapsed or collapsing nation-state system at the heart of that region. The stark reality is that no one there – not the Gulf states, not the Kurds, not the Turks, not the Sunnis, nor even the Shia – is fighting for Iraq and Syria as the U.S. remembers them.’
‘Unworkable national boundaries were drawn up after World War I without regard for ethnic, sectarian, or tribal realities and dictatorships were then imposed or supported past their due dates. The Western answer that only secular governments are acceptable makes sad light of the power of Islam in a region that often sees little or no separation between church and state.’
‘Secretary of State John Kerry can join the calls for the use of “indigenous forces” as often as he wants, but the reality is clear: Washington’s policy in Syria and Iraq is bound to fail, no matter who does the fighting.’
I’m still not clear on whether you’re advocating that we stay in the Middle East but work with the right people, which we’re currently not doing, or GTFO?
I happen to think the neocons are wrong. Empire will bankrupt us, so I’d dismantle it. I like the way that great Canadian philosopher Elwood Blues put it:
‘All right people. The rest of the hard working all star Blues Brothers are gonna be out here in a minute, including my little brother Jake. But right now, I’d like to talk a little bit about this tune you’re hearing. This is ofcourse the Green Onions tune. It was a very big hit in the early sixties in this country. And ofcourse it was composed and recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, right here in the United States Of America. You know, people, I believe that this tune can be acquinted with the great classical music around the world. Now you go to Germany, you’ve got your Bach, your Beethoven, your Brahms… Here in America you’ve got your Fred McDowell, your Irving Berlin, your Glenn Miller, and your Booker T & The MG’s, people. Another example of the great contributions in music and culture that this country has made around the world. And as you look around the world today, you see this country spurned. You see backs turned on this country. Well people, I’m gonna tell you something, this continent, North America, is the stronghold! This is where we’re gonna make our stand in this decade! Yeah, people, I’ve got something to say to the State Department. I say Take that archaic Monroe Doctrine, and that Marshall Plan that says we’re supposed to police force the world, and throw ‘em out! Let’s stay home for the next ten years people! Right here in North America and enjoy the music and culture that is ours. Yeah, I got one more thing to say. I’m just talking about the music, people, and what it does to me. And that is, as you look around the world, you go to the Soviet Union or Great Britain or France, you name it, any country… Everybody is doing flips and twists just to get into a genuine pair of American blue jeans! And to hear this music and we got it all here in America, the land of the Chrysler 440 cubic inch engine!’
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/speeches/
Let’s stay home for the next ten years people! Right here in North America and enjoy the music and culture that is ours.
What about the immigration question?
As a fiscal conservative I think we should have never invaded Iraq. But we kicked the shite out of the bee hive.
Odd fellow doesn’t care about the ramifications (blowback and violence) caused by U.S. imperialism
http://www.alternet.org/world/35-countries-where-us-has-supported-fascists-druglords-and-terrorists
Forgot a good one:
-ISIS fighting the Taliban
When you look at ISIS’s enemies, you can see why half the Middle East thinks they’re our boys.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063172/
El Chapo vs Isis! You can’t make this stuff up!
Apparently, someone did make it up:
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/el-chapo-isis-drugs-hoax/2015/12/11/id/705392/
El Chapo vs. ISIS, drugs — this would make for a good sequel to Breaking Bad!
LMAO! That is priceless. Things are so crazy in bizarro world, it was actually believable.
Taste this rainbow for Trump:
Gun owners
Security moms
People against illegal immigration
People sick and tired of PC (which is shutting down dialogue by labeling someone racist or sexist or bigoted)
The 6 in 10 Americans who believe Hillary is a liar
People who want to make America great again
People who don’t like being steamrolled by China
Those AntiNAFTA
People who don’t beleive Caitlyn Jenner is courageous.
He’s an incredible campaigner. Truly amazing.
I admire his courage, too. Speaking out against Islamic terrorism has cost him dearly, unlike the politicians who prefer to bend over and kiss Gulf State behinds. From the get-go he’s been willing to put his nuts up on the table and risk getting them chopped off.
I don’t think it cost him anything except that those who would never have voted for him now really won’t. I think it nets him votes from those who are happy someone finally is willing to say something that at least starts to look at the problem in a realistic manner.
The left is terrified that he is going to break the seal on being allowed to consider someone’s group status in a realistic assessment of a problem.
Also another group that supports him are those who are sick and tired of obvious media bias for the left and the establishment.
Every time I turn on the news, so politician or wag or pundit gets on TV to have a conversation. Then they say “We need to have a real conversation” and then they just mumble some platitudes. And then they STOP. They know full well what would happen if they actually had starting conversing. They would get the treatment Trump is getting right now.
Trump is actually having that conversation.
San Bernardino Victim Fund from Muslim community raises $180K for victims. It will be interesting to see if the Jewish victims get part of the compensation? The hate runs deep.
Is it me, or is this a we’re not bad people, see look at what we did? I hope it is a sincere gesture, but I am somewhat unimpressed. The $ is peeing in the ocean for the victim’s families. Their lives were worth a priceless amt to those who loved them.
At least they acknowledge the issues now, and are taking the correct stand. That’s a start.
The 75 million people “not in the labor force” - as the regime praises the 5.5% unemployment rate….
Yeah no doubt. That one is over the top unreal. The reality?
An economy of schlepping $10 items to friends and family on Wastebook.
And getting paid to post on blogs like the HBB.
It’s big of you to own up to it.
You’re pitting your shants over tenure, which would disappear quick as wink if the ME student stream dried up.
BTW, prof, I thought you gave me the old JT there. Madeja look!
An economy of schlepping $10 items to friends and family on Wastebook.
Is that labor then?
A nation of digital shopkeepers.
Someones angry.
Also known as Amway/Quixtar.
Too bad for them that somebody invented Amazon.
They keep telling people that they can all become like Jeff Bezos by setting up their own websites to sell overpriced laundry soap (I know I know, IT’S CONCENTRATED so you use less, bla bla bla).
Those who want to say F U to the Republican establishment.
How are they going to feel when it occurs to them that they inadvertently helped President Clinton to victory?
They’ll say cramming a big middle finger up the establishments wazoo accomplished something. Inevitable Hillary is a leftist meme.
Closing America’s borders to all Muslims is a racist meme.
I find it appalling how quickly Republican bigots have lined up to roll back half a century of progress on civil rights in order to quell their collective irrationally-based fear of the planet’s one billion plus Muslims. Get over it. Imagining that all Muslims are terrorists is cowardly and dumb.
Are Republicans proud that their front running candidate has based his campaign on bigotry and fear mongering? Will they wear white hoods when they perpetrate hate crimes against innocent Muslims who have the misfortune to live in America during the Trump era?
For shame.
11 months till race card goes invalid
then the man bad mantra
Happy Friday!
keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyrank it up real high, sit back and count your pile o’ cash.
https://youtu.be/ymIwC4SLwsU
And here’s your favorite Lola
https://youtu.be/CS9OO0S5w2k
Sacramento Housing:
Sales up 12% YoY
Inventory Down 28% Yoy
Less than 10% of sales are distressed assets, the rest are equity sales. Demand is exceeding supply. We need home builders to get more homes into production. They are ramping up, building 3,500 hones in 2015, and probably 4,500 in 2016. We need about 8,000/year based on population growth of 1% annually.
Zillow: Sacramento, CA market is “Very Hot”
http://www.zillow.com/sacramento-ca/home-values/
Equity locusts from the Bay Area must be fueling part of this.
A major driver is simply lack of housing, and strong job growth. Equity locusts implies that people are cashing out of their expensive place closer to the coast, and moving that equity to Sacramento.
Let me clear something up. If someone has a house with equity along the coast, if they are cashing out and moving, it’s not going to be to Sacramento.
Sacramento is doing well because rents are jumping in the Bay Area, and there is little to purchase that is affordable, so they are driving farther and farther away from their job to find something they can afford.
It’s a pattern that repeats most cycles.
Actually, we do see some bay area people buying in Sacramento.
1 = retired people selling their $2,000,000 place in $F and buying a Sun City retirement home in the foothills for $500,000 …….
& 2 = young couples with young kids and transferable skills coming to buy in the suburbs. They can buy a better asset for $500,000 all cash than they get in San Mateo for $2,000,000 w $500,000 down!
Let the data decide my friends….. let the data decide.
Sacramento, CA Housing Prices Crater 6% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/east-sacramento-sacramento-ca/home-values/
Wait for a lame duck session to push this down America’s throat?
—————-
McConnell crushes hopes for TPP vote before the elections
The Hill | 12/10/15 08:00 PM EST | Vicki Needham
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday crushed any hope that Congress could pass a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement before the 2016 elections.
McConnell, who has expressed concerns about the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and has yet to take a stance, said President Obama is risking defeat of his signature trade deal if he tries to push for passage before a lame-duck session next year.
“It certainly shouldn’t come before the election,” McConnell told The Washington Post in an interview. “I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There’s significant pushback all over the place,” he said.
Obama is already facing a slim margin of support in each chamber.
Another Trump demographic, those who are sick and tired of back room deals like this and Obamacare and the Gang of Eight.
And that’s another reason the American people should be thanking Trump, he brought attention to the trade issue. If he hadn’t, McConnell would be ramming it through right now.
I like to bow my head before every meal and give thanks to Trump.
Nothing like banning Constitution and civil rights rights without due process.
“Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Kinda cool…”
And just why isn’t the “no fly list” a “prosecute now list?”
A faceless bureaucrat can put ANYONE on this “watch list” for any reason and it is nearly impossible to get off the list.
Brought to you by the same people who uses the IRS to go after their political enemies.
—————–
Connecticut will ban terror suspects from buying guns because Congress won’t do it
nydailynews.com | december 10, 2015 | dannell malloy
If we don’t take action against gun violence, then we are complicit in it.
That’s why on Thursday I announced my intent to sign what would likely be a first-in-the-nation executive order, pending federal government approval, to ban those on government watch lists from buying guns in Connecticut.
We have a moment in America to do the right thing. And we in Connecticut are seizing it.
It’s become routine to watch so many families across the nation hold their breath, hoping - and praying - that loved ones come home. It often feels like these are daily, yet life-changing, tragedies. Yet, so many elected officials sit idly by.
It needs to end because what’s equally tragic to these almost daily acts of lunacy in cities across America is our inability to stand up to do the right thing. We need to ensure that those who shouldn’t have guns don’t get them.
The public shouldn’t be fooled into thinking we are powerless. All we need to do is to use our common sense.
FBI data show that between 2004 and 2014 those on the terrorism watch list tried to buy guns and explosives 2,233 times, they succeeded 2,043 times, or 90% of the time.
“And just why isn’t the “no fly list” a ‘prosecute now list?’”
Some no fly list trivia (from Wiki):
“The No Fly List is a list, created and maintained by the United States government’s Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. The list has also been used to divert aircraft, not flying to or from the U.S, away from U.S. airspace. The number of people on the list rises and falls according to threat and intelligence reporting. There were 10,000 names on the list in 2011, 21,000 in 2012, and 47,000 in 2013.
“The list—along with the Secondary Security Screening Selection, which tags would-be passengers for extra inspection—was created after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The No Fly List, the Selectee List and the Terrorist Watchlist were created by the administration of George W. Bush and retained by the administration of Barack Obama. U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in May 2010: “The no-fly list itself is one of our best lines of defense.”[1] However, the list has been criticized on civil liberties and due process grounds, due in part to the potential for ethnic, religious, economic, political, or racial profiling and discrimination. It has also raised concerns about privacy and government secrecy. Finally, it has been criticized as costly, prone to false positives, and easily defeated.
“The No Fly List is different from the Terrorist Watch List, a much longer list of people said to be suspected of some involvement with terrorism. The Terrorist Watch List contained around 1,000,000 names by March 2009.”
Sure is hard to argue in favor of letting people on the terrorism watch list be able to buy guns. Seems like the problem lies with the list itself, how it’s maintained, and by whom.
Seems like the problem lies with the list itself, how it’s maintained, and by whom.
By a faceless bureaucrat who has orders to go after political enemies without any due process.
Seems like a BIG problem.
IS this the power you want to give a President Trump?
By my anti war posts on Facebook I expect to not get through TSA and make my holiday flight to the PNW.
my holiday flight to the PNW.
Where ya headin, Bill? Coming to visit us soggy Seattle folks?
I’ll say in a few weeks. Schoolmarm is reading these messages.
By my anti war posts on Facebook
Do you also tell everyone there about your PM and Bitcoin stash?
LOL, Colo. Made me laugh.
I will ask you then. How much of each do I have? You imply i tell everything so you tell me.
I’ll say in a few weeks. Schoolmarm is reading these messages.
Well, if you’re heading up my way let me know — would be interesting to meet up and have a drink!
I will ask you then. How much of each do I have? You imply i tell everything so you tell me.
Didn’t you list the percentage of your net worth that is in stocks, the % in gold, etc. just a few days ago?
percentage is not amount. There is nothing impressive about percentage. I might have the same percent of my net worth in stocks as Donald Trump. Does that make me as rich as him?
You also stated your total net worth around two years ago. It was about $1.7 million. I think that you may have been supplied more digits, maybe $1.732 million. Given that we know how you’ve got that money invested, we can probably come up with a pretty good estimate of what you have now.
You can either brag about how much money you have, or you can keep that information a secret. You can’t do both.
SnowFlake,
He can do whatever he wants.
No, there are certain things that no one can do.
Anything SnowFlake.
You still don’t kno how much crypto currency I have. And I may have bought some precious metals the last two years. You don’t know the mix because I do not just buy gold.
You just made the list buddy.
Don’t tell me none of this stuff is Fascism. More of the same:
https://news.bitcoin.com/french-govt-mulls-blocking-public-wifi-tor-state-emergency/
In a major city, such as Paris, there are many public WiFi locations. According to official statistics, there are nearly 300 free and public WiFi places throughout and around the city itself.
Sounds more like shutting down gov’t supplied free wifi than Fascism.
COP21: Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘Go part-time vegetarian to protect the planet’
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says people should go meat-free one or two days a week to protect the climate.
Meat-eating was an environmental problem, with farming creating an estimated 28% of global greenhouse gases, the body-builder and movie star told BBC News.
Asking people to go totally vegetarian would be too demanding, he said.
It would better to suggest giving up meat once or twice a week, he added.
When asked how young men would achieve a body like The Terminator - the cyborg assassin in the film of the same name - without steak, he said many successful body-builders avoided meat.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35039465
I agree. All you Lola’s should go meatless.
Can’t go any more meatless than they already are, lol.
You first Ahhnold.
MSM Loves the Donald
CBS Chief Cheers Trump: “Go Donald! Keep Getting Out There!”
Les Moonves, the chief executive of CBS Corporation, cheered on Donald Trump during an investor presentation Monday.
Speaking about the expected flood of campaign advertising dollars, which he described as “phenomenal,” Moonves said that he is glad to have so many Republicans competing for the nomination.
“The more they spend, the better it is for us and: Go Donald! Keep getting out there!” Moonves said. “And, you know, this is fun, watching this, let them spend money on us, and we love having them in there. We’re looking forward to a very exciting political year in ’16.”
The call took place right around the same time Trump announced his intention to bar Muslims immigrants from entering the United States, suggesting the CBS chief didn’t know about that yet.
Still, Moonves’ remarks came after months of similar rhetoric from Trump, including claims that the Mexican government is sending rapists into the U.S. and statements supporting a registration system for Muslim Americans.
As we’ve previously reported, major broadcasting companies have celebrated the triumph of big money in American elections, largely because that money is mostly spent on television, internet and radio advertising. Experts say the 2016 presidential election alone could cost as much as $5 billion.
Trump in particular has formed a symbiotic relationship with the media. Although he hasn’t paid for many ads yet, the real estate mogul’s bombastic comments and hateful rhetoric have provided record-shattering ratings for news networks, which have in turn provided non-stop coverage for his campaign.
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/10/cbs-chief-cheers-trump-go-donald-keep-getting-out-there/
And yet every single one of his reporters and news programs constantly run hit pieces on Trump full of lies and spin and deliberate misrepresentation trying to take him down.
Don’t for a minute believe that because the whorehouse owner takes the whore’s money that he likes the whores.
He loves the whores, but probably doesn’t treat them too well.
And yet every single one of his reporters and news programs constantly run hit pieces on Trump
And Trump thanks the media for those hit pieces. It should be obvious by now: Trump is like a child who is given candy in reward for bad behavior. For every bigoted statement he makes, he is rewarded with a boost in the polls. Trump and the media are locked in a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Bigoted statement = speech I don’t agree with.
You are clearly in denial about your own bigotry.
Rage for the TrumpMonkeys! When they can’t get their fill on Fox, they’re cruising NPR and Salon for fuel.
Despite all their rage, they’re each just a rat with one vote. A vote for Trump will get them the same as a vote for any clown in the car… president Hillary.
Rage Against the Lizard Queen!
Trump must be the whore in this analogy.
Speaking of demagogues:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428337/barack-obama-american-demagogue
California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez said on Wednesday that “between 5 and 20%” of Muslims “have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible,” including the use of terrorism.
“But certainly, we know that there is a small group, and we don’t know how big that is — it can be anywhere between 5 and 20%, from the people that I speak to — that Islam is their religion and who have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in anyway possible, and in particular go after what they consider Western norms — our way of life,” Sanchez said on “PoliticKING with Larry King.”
Sanchez, who is running for Barbara Boxer’s open Senate seat, added that this group of Muslims was “willing to use and they do use terrorism.”
Like I said yesterday.
Hispanics are sick of muslims.
Trump is going to win more Black and Hispanic votes than any other Republican in history….
He will lose the white male metrosexual vote.
Oh, gawd, that vote is totally personified by that WH mouthpiece Josh Earnest. A real drooling noodle. These guys have to slither because they got no backbone.
The Pajama Boy ideal the Masters of the Universe were holding up for emulation hasn’t really caught on among bona fide members of the male species, although the Pineapples are undoubtedly enthralled.
Trump is 6 to 1 to win the election. Are you putting your money on him?
“Hispanics are sick of muslims.”
When it comes to Jesus ‘ya can’t top the Hispanics.
‘Hispanics are sick of muslims’
Well aren’t we so exceptional today? Maybe we can give some weapons to the Mexicans so they can kill some Muslims? And not just any Mexicans, only the really crazy ones that cut off heads and stuff.
Do you talk like this in public? Do you realize Muslims read online and can see what you are saying?
Ben,
Muslims believe in a philosophy that is based of cruelty to the unbeliever infidels.
Their founder was a paedophile, rapist, slave trader, slave master, sex slave trafficer, mass murderer, a thief and a liar.
This is all documented in their koran or hadith. And yes, I have read them.
Allowing in hundreds of thousands of unvetted muslims will results in the deaths of thousands of Americans in violent terrorist attacks in order to subdue the infidel.
Those attacked Americans include those of Hispanic decent who are as a much infidels to muslims as any white American.
Rubio and Trump are at a bar discussing WW III. A regular Joe comes in and sits down says ‘wow, so great to meet you both, what are you guys talking about?’
Trump says ‘discussing WW III and how to take out 140,000 Muslims and one pretty blonde.’
Regular Joe responds ‘why do you have to kill the blonde?’
Trump turns to Rubio and says ‘See, I told you no one cares about the Muslims.’
2banana
find any violence in the Bible?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788
Consider the Book of 1 Samuel, when God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites: “And utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them,” God says through the prophet Samuel. “But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
You’re the only person who uses his real name. The rest of us are free to malign any group.
But…….I thought the plan was to prevent Hispanics from voting, being “takers” and all.
He will lose the college graduate vote, white, black, brown and yellow.
We are being overwhelmed by the dummies.
I’ve noticed a new trend in hairstyles lately. It seems everyone around me is sporting a new haircut.
Strange…
What, you mean the shaved head walking penis look is over? Guys actually have hair to cut again?
Well, the Pineapples are proudly sporting their new Kim Jung-Un haircuts as the Dear Leader commanded of his socialist minions. Forward, Soviet!
Will President Trump make us shave our heads and wear bizarre blonde toupees?
Someones jealous.
Geez, I am REALLY slow on the uptake today. I just now realized what your post meant.
I always thought Trump was wearing a piece until he started lifting the front of his hair on TV, both in interviews and at rallies.
he had nasty surgery, they flapped it over! google it
The Yul Brynner look is far less ridiculous than e Kim Jung-Un look. I know a couple of Asians who do that.
FoxNewsHate rallies the base and reports how grabbers gonna grab:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/12/11/obama-administration-reportedly-readies-executive-order-expanding-background-checks.html
“What they do
Gonna ban the AK
My sh*t wasn’t registered
Any f*ing way” — Ice Cube
If I was Trump.
The very next day I would “violate” this EO.
And dare obama to arrest him.
And what obama Gestapo would even have the authority to arrest an imprision people?
And as we know, nothing in America says “peace on earth, good will toward your fellow man” like giving an AK or AR for Christmas.
Paid for by putting it on the Visa card, at 20% interest.
“Later in the camps we burned never realizing that one day the dictator would turn his wrath against us, his loyal supporters.”
Lesson: don’t support dictators on their way up.
But it is just so darn efficient finally having the polical beliefs I want finally become law…
so darn efficient finally having the polical beliefs I want finally become law…
Trump will make Mexico build the wall! He’ll round up the muslims and illegals and run ‘em out!
And so it begins….
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/12/11/junk-bond-fund-implodes-investors-stuck-focused-credit-fund-by-third-avenue/
When in Rome, do as the Romans.
If you were a Mulim woman living in America, would you wear a hijab?
How about if you were an American Caucasian woman living in Syria?
Id put my fat hairy azz in a Speedo, and give them something really worth banning.
What is the Sharia law punishment for that?
Your back is shaved with a sword and you are forced to live on mutton for a week.
“What is the Sharia law punishment for that?”
A mirror. And a thousand virgins laughing their azzes off at you.
Maybe they’re not all liars after all.
San Francisco Housing Market In Trouble As It Gets In A Bubble
http://www.realtytoday.com/articles/60805/20151210/san-francisco-housing-market-trouble-gets-bubble.htm
Zillow recently conducted their Home Price Expectation Survey and most of the nation’s housing experts have one word to describe San Francisco Bay Area’s housing market - bubble. Mark Calvey of San Francisco Business Times reports on the details of the survey.
….In the result, also facing bubble talks, but way behind the Bay Area are New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego.
Zillow’s survey results however come as a surprise given the reluctance in the end of housing experts and just about anybody else to recognize a possible bubble market when everyone’s still having a field day.
“A handful of markets - especially the Bay Area - are very hot right now, and it’s possible home values may actually begin to fall somewhat in these places as more residents are priced out amidst rising affordability concerns, especially when interest rates rise,” said Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell. “Whether those local conditions constitute a ‘bubble’ is up for debate, even among economists.
Eventually all the real estate pimps will jump on board with bubble warnings and try to claim credit for calling the bubble. It’s part of the crash cycle.
Someone must have been sent to his rage cage.
San Diego in a housing bubble?
By Phillip Molnar | 3:32 p.m. Dec. 10, 2015
Rich Toscano has a web site called Piggington.com that provides a statistical analysis of the San Diego Housing market and its potential pitfalls. Rich Toscano has a web site called Piggington.com that provides a statistical analysis of the San Diego Housing market and its potential pitfalls.
David Brooks / Union-Tribune
Your home might be overvalued, but it doesn’t mean we’re in a housing bubble.
In a study released this week from online real estate listing Zillow, a majority of analysts said San Diego’s market is not in a bubble and would likely not be in one in the near future.
The last time a bubble burst in San Diego, median home prices went from $517,500 in November 2005 to $280,000 in January 2009.
San Francisco is another story with the majority of analysts saying it is in a bubble. Other markets where analysts say bubble conditions exist are Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and Seattle.
A bubble assumes housing prices are very overvalued. San Diego County home prices increased 6.6 percent in the last 12 months, said the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, but it has had much larger jumps in the past few years. From August 2012 to August 2013, prices rose 21.5 percent.
In the Zillow study, 13 out of 35 analysts said there was no significant risk of a San Diego bubble in the next five years.
Eleven said there was a significant risk in the next 3 to 5 years, six said there was a significant risk in the next 12 months and five said San Diego County was already in a bubble.
“The last bubble was caused, in great part, by sub-prime mortgages, where people actually bought homes they probably shouldn’t have because they weren’t able to afford them,” said Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell. “This time around, people are getting homes with fairly high down payments and have to go through very rigorous checks to get approved for that mortgage.”
…
In the meantime, to get into the Christmas spirit, gotta go to the gun range for “Full auto with Santa” day.
And later, go to the Nativity scene with “Zombie Baby Jesus”
Please don’t voilate any obama gun control EOs comrade…
Did Auntie Fed kill the Santa Claus rally?
Could the current stock market weakness result in the Fed punting again?
How about the junk bond crash? Could that give the Fed a reason to delay liftoff yet again?
Or is it the very prospect of liftoff that is driving all these simultaneous asset price crashes (except for U.S. housing, of course, which is of course not in a bubble)?
Bulletin Dow industrials down more than 300 points as stock losses accelerate
Why the junk bond selloff is getting very scary
Published: Dec 11, 2015 12:53 p.m. ET
High-yield bonds have led previous big reversals in S&P 500
Everett Collection Inc.
Junk bonds are like the boogeyman for stock market investors.
By Tomi Kilgore
Reporter
The junk bond market is looking more and more like the boogeyman for stock market investors.
The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond exchange-traded fund (HYG, -2.50%) tumbled 2.4% in midday trade Friday, putting the ETF (HYG) on course for the lowest close since July 2009. Volume as of 12 p.m. Eastern was already more than double the full-day average, according to FactSet.
While weakness in the junk bonds — bonds with credit ratings below investment grade — is nothing new, fears of meltdown have increased after high-yield mutual fund Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund (TFCIX, -2.86% TFCVX, -2.70%) on Thursday blocked investors from withdrawing their money amid a flood of redemption requests and reduced liquidity.
…
To the Goon:
This might explain a bit more about scripting a narrative……
http://humansarefree.com/2015/12/the-illusion-of-choice-90-of-american.html
Conform, Consume, Obey
No Brake and No Disclosure on Media Owners’ Interests
The Times on Saturday carried an article on ISIS’ oil interests, Syria and Turkey. Nowhere does it inform its readers that the owner of the newspaper, Rupert Murdoch, has a vested interest in this subject through his role and shares in Genie Energy, an Israeli company granted oil rights in Syria by the Israeli government. Dick Cheney and Lord Rothschild are also shareholders.
No, they really are. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is a conspiracy.
That Israel should grant oil rights within Syria is of course a striking example of contempt for international law, but then that is the basis on which Israel normally operates. Of course Genie’s share value will be substantially boosted by the installation of a neo-con puppet regime in Damascus which can be bought to underwrite the oil concession granted by Israel. Contempt for international law has been the single most important defining characteristic of neo-conservatism, and the need to uphold international law the recurring theme of this blog. I never thought the UK government would make the withdrawal of its support for the concept of international law explicit, as Cameron has done by removing the obligation to comply with international law from the Ministerial Code. That is truly, truly disgraceful.
http://www.philosophers-stone.co.uk/?p=6442
East coasters and midwesterners, enjoy your record warmth this weekend.
http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc2004/pub/includes/columns/newsstory/2015/650×366_12110411_page-3.jpg
Temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees above normal in many states. Nope, there’s no climate change, no global warming. The climate is perfectly normal! This is not a sign of anything unusual, not at all. Nothing to see here, move along…
I’m dreaming,
Of a warm Christmas,
Just like the ones we never knew.
Where the swimming pools glisten,
And children listen,
For the sound
Of flip-flops in the dew…
Sounds like Florryduh, actually.
Well, look on the bright side. They can’t blame the weather for a lousy holiday shopping season.
The apparel people hate a warm winter.
Yep - never in history has there been a warm December.
There is only one possible solution.
Bigger and bigger government
More and more regulations
Higher and higher taxes.
Hey, I was just up in Buffalo. There were thinking back quite unfondly of the record cold and six feet of snow they had just one year ago at this time…
never in history has there been a warm December.
If records are broken as expected then no, there never has been a December this warm in history at those specific locations.
Heh, it’s ironic that the warming caused by the fossil fuel producers will undercut demand for heating oil and natural gas. What goes around comes around…
Record warmth is a good thing. Milder, shorter winters means lower fuel costs. Considering the collapsing prices of oil, its a win-win.
You’ll lose your savings in the summer when you have to run your A/C longer than normal.
A/C is optional.
Besides, kW/hour prices are falling thanks to to falling oil and gas prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels.
“enjoy your record warmth this weekend”
Oh, are we all going to die?
It’s nothing extraordinary Pineapple, merely marvelous variability. I was hunting in a T-shirt in the 70s around this time a few years ago. This weekend will hopefully be in the 60s. My neighbor is glad to get some painting done on his depreciating asset.
Meanwhile in Orange County it was downright chilly today. Rained mid morning. I eyed some duraflame logs at the grocery store this evening but was feeling too rundown to bother with my fireplace. What sheep haven’t learned is that the warm/cold weather events are usually reverses out in the southwest versus northeast. This has been easily noticeable for decades. It is called “watching the national weather forecast.”
I thought MightyMike really nailed it yesterday when he made this trenchant observation, regarding the difference between “good” muslims and muslims.
The only winner in the HOLY war is going to be the atheists.
Comment by 2banana
2015-12-10 15:40:12
The vast majority of muslims ignore most of the koran and the life of mad mo.
But you never know when a muslim will wake up one day and become a good muslim.
Comment by 2banana
2015-12-10 15:40:12
The vast majority of muslims ignore most of the koran and the life of mad mo.
But you never know when a muslim will wake up one day and become a good muslim. Which is code for being radicalized.
Comment by MightyMike
2015-12-10 18:12:42
I guess that the guy who shot up the clinic in Colorado Springs would say the same thing about Christianity. He’s a good Christian who acted to save the lives if innocent babies. The other 99.99999% of American Christians who never engage in such violence are bad Christians.
their taliban = our taliban
Same sh!t, different place.
I love when lefists try to equate a nut in an abortion clinic to the meme:
“See muslims and christains are equally bad. All religion is bad.”
Becuase nothing says “love thy neighbor” and “turn the other cheek” and “give of your time, talent and treasure to help the poor” and “thou shall not murder’ like crashing planes into the WTC or shooting an abortion clinic.
Reading comprehension is hard…
That’s your opinion. The guy in Colorado has a different. The reading comprehension must be fairly challenging in this case. Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many different churches with different views of what Christianity is.
And all that Christian beheading and taking of slaves going on too.
Very confusing…
What the do…
Wrong.
Christian loonies are as bad as Islamic loonies.
You can be an atheist and still opposed to buckets of bloody body parts. I heard the guy claim such opposition, but has he professed anything about being a Christian?
Yeah, it was in the paper last week.
This is a quote form an ex-wife:
“He claims to be a Christian and is extremely evangelistic, but does not follow the Bible in his actions,” Ms. Micheau said in the court document. “He says that as long as he believes he will be saved, he can do whatever he pleases. He is obsessed with the world coming to an end.”
from the same article:
He frequented marijuana websites, then argued with other posters, often through heated religious screeds.
“Turn to JESUS or burn in hell,” he wrote on one site on Oct. 7, 2005. “WAKE UP SINNERS U CANT SAVE YOURSELF U WILL DIE AN WORMS SHALL EAT YOUR FLESH, NOW YOUR SOUL IS GOING SOMEWHERE.”
…
One person who spoke with him extensively about his religious views said Mr. Dear, who is 57, had praised people who attacked abortion providers, saying they were doing “God’s work.” In 2009, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concerns for the privacy of the family, Mr. Dear described as “heroes” members of the Army of God, a loosely organized group of anti-abortion extremists that has claimed responsibility for a number of killings and bombings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/us/robert-dear-planned-parenthood-shooting.html
Good post Mike. This makes him seem more crazy than religious, kind of like one of those people who beleive they are Jesus.
Do the Muslims have crazy people who believe they are Mohammed?
I would say that he’s both crazy and religious. I don’t know if those San Bernardino mass murderers left behind any written material, but if they did and we could read it, they might seem crazy as well.
You remind me of this, written a couple of weeks ago.
Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –
Reprint edn.
1. White terrorists are called “gunmen.” What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn’t that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, “terrorists.”
2. White terrorists are “troubled loners.” Other terrorists are always suspected of being part of a global plot, even when they are obviously troubled loners.
3. Doing a study on the danger of white terrorists at the Department of Homeland Security will get you sidelined by angry white Congressmen. Doing studies on other kinds of terrorists is a guaranteed promotion.
4. The family of a white terrorist is interviewed, weeping as they wonder where he went wrong. The families of other terrorists are almost never interviewed.
5. White terrorists are part of a “fringe.” Other terrorists are apparently mainstream.
6. White terrorists are random events, like tornadoes. Other terrorists are long-running conspiracies.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/11/differences-between-terrorists.html
I get it Mike, white bad, nonwhite good. Christian bad, nonchristian good.
This guy from San Berdoo had a normal job and a 6 month old, not some nut job living in the woods. His mosque has been identified. What church did this nimrod go to? He’s practically a crazy homeless dude wandering the downtown streets.
when I said good post though, I meant it. I was not being facetious.
I get it Mike, white bad, nonwhite good. Christian bad, nonchristian good.
The list of ten items that I linked to indicates that many Americans have the opposite point of view. Also, a large portion of Americans who call themselves Christians rarely go to church.
Update: Dow Craters 300+ Points
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/DJIA
There’s a buying opportunity……… 11,000 points lower.
Exactly….it’s not a bargain until we’re back to 2009.
The air is just STARTING to leak out of the QE bubble.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yziGiVua0Dg
Please identify the video when you post one.
will do, it was for Mafia, Hillary saying all we need is love.
This from the Burning Platform.
This is a depiction of a nation of debt donkeys…….
“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
The lies we tell ourselves are only exceeded by the lies perpetrated by those controlling the levers of our society. We’ve lost respect for ourselves and others, transforming from citizens with obligations to consumers with desires. The love of mammon has left our country a hollowed out, debt ridden shell of what it once was. When I see the data from surveys about the amount of debt being carried by people in this country and match it up with the totals reported by the Federal Reserve, I’m honestly flabbergasted that so many people choose to live a lie. By falling for the false materialistic narrative of having it all today, millions of Americans have enslaved themselves in trillions of debt. The totals are breathtaking to behold:
Total mortgage debt – $13.6 trillion ($9.9 trillion residential)
Total credit card debt – $924 billion
Total auto loan debt – $1.0 trillion
Total student loan debt – $1.3 trillion
Other consumer debt – $300 billion
With 118 million occupied households in the U.S., that comes to $145,000 per household. But, when you consider only 74 million of the households are owner occupied and approximately 26 million of those are free and clear of mortgage debt, that leaves millions of people with in excess of $200,000 in mortgage debt. Keeping up with the Joneses has taken on a new meaning as buying a 6,000 sq ft McMansion with 3% down became the standard operating procedure for a vast swath of image conscious Americans. When you are up to your eyeballs in debt, you don’t own anything. You are living a lie.
The article fails to mention the actual value of those 130 million houses.
Clue: It’s not much.
George: “Rember Jerry, it’s not a lie if you believe it.”
I just knew somebody somewhere would go there: a conspiracy theory that San Bernardino was a false flag attack.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/12/06/holes/
and Alex Jones too.
Now since geopolitics has become increasingly cut-throat and brutal, one cannot completely rule out the possibility of Deep State clandestine false flag attacks to sway public opinion. If you don’t think there’s state-sponsored violence by CIA or NATO or Mossad, well that’s naive. A false flag theory is ridiculous on its face for San Bernardino, it’s just not credible to think this attack was orchestrated as a clandestine operation, too messy, too complicated, not at this location, etc.
1400 years of islamic terror is just too obvious…
Doesn’t really matter at this point… long before we find out what happened in San Berdoo, we’ll be on to the next mass shooting. Will the shooters be shooting for Jesus, Mohammed, or just the joy of mowing down their neighbors?
It’s on the program though.
Put them all on the no fly list.
Yeah, not to many subscribe to the “…Love thy neighbor…” meme anymore.
Today it’s “do unto others… and run” and get shot.
Shoot first and make a run for it.
Love thy neighbor as myself is a slogan from my slogan Christian neighbors. Meanwhile they are all back stabbing pos to each other. I prefer the philosophy of kindness. You are what you say and do. Period. This life after death thing has f**ked too many up.
It’s a concept lost on a F-book nation.
Oil….Stocks….It’s just another Crater Tater Friday!
How Low Can It Go? Oil Crashes To $35 Handle
Puggs:
Something else is going on here - who is trying to pulverize who into dust?
Great question. We may end up partying like it’s 2009.
Even DEMOCRAT HISPANICS are starting to get it…
Let me do some math here.
obama wants to let in at least 100,000 unvetted muslims into America next year.
Say 10% are the jihad type - that is 10,000 muslims who are ready and willing to “radicalize” and kill/rape/enslave some infidels for the greater glory of islam.
And you wonder why Trump is going to win record numbers of black and hispanic voters in this upcoming election…
—————–
Loretta Sanchez: Five to 20 percent of Muslims ‘have a desire for a caliphate’
The Sacramento Bee | December 10th, 2015 | By Christopher Cadelago
California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, said as many as 20 percent of Muslims desire to form an Islamic caliphate, “to institute that in any way possible,” and go after Western norms, “our way of life.”
“We know that there is a small group, and we don’t know how big that is – it can be anywhere between 5 and 20 percent, from the people that I speak to – that Islam is their religion and who have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible, and in particular go after Western norms,” Sanchez said on the program “PoliticKING with Larry King.”
“They are not content enough to have their way of looking at the world, they want to put their way on everybody in the world,” she added. “And again, I don’t know how big that is, and depending on who you talk to, but they are certainly, they are willing to go to extremes. They are willing to use and they do use terrorism.”
Islam is the world’s second-largest religion with an estimated 1.6 billion adherents, or 23 percent of the world’s population, according to the Pew Research Center. Taking Sanchez’s high estimate, that would be 320 million Muslims want to caliphate and are willing to resort to extremes and terrorism to satisfy their goal. Academics said the number is exceedingly difficult to know because there are no worldwide surveys but they questioned the range she provided as overly broad and likely too high.
Even if some Hispanics agree with Trump on Muslims, that doesn’t mean they will vote for him. They are mad about the wall, being called criminals, and bringing back Operation Wetback. And they will still be mad next November.
Hispanics being pizzed doesn’t matter. Republicans don’t want them registered to vote anyway.
I understand. I’m having trouble keeping track of the conflicts with logic myself.
The NBAA is on the warpath about “Air Traffic Control Privatization”. You would think the CEOs and 1%ers would be all for this, if for no other reason to be consistent with their “private sector always does things better than government” worldview.
You of course would be wrong.
ATC privatization = User fees
Nope, the NBAA is pushing the line that “the current system benefits everyone”. Sounds pretty damn socialist to me.
Can’t wait to see what happens when the US Muslim “caliphate” goes head to head with the “Libertarian/Evangelical Christian/My way or the Highway Caliphate” that has formed out here in BFE.
Trump never called all Hispanics criminals.
He was referring to illegal aliens.
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best,” he said during the announcement. “They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”
Some illegals are bringing crime, drugs and rapists. All provable facts.
He said some “are good people.”
And an illegals by definition are criminals the second they break immigration law by coming here illegally. Hence, “illegal”
Stop lumping Hispanics in to one monolithic group. There is a difference between illegal and legal immigrants and native born US citizens of hispanic decent. There is a difference in country of origin.
Stop lumping all “brown people” together as if they all think in lockstep. That’s very culturally insensitive and ignorant.
Cerner employees give up right to sue, in order to continue to be eligible for “merit raises”.
http://tinyurl.com/pxbaejm
Article says 93% of employees signed up for mandatory binding arbitration. Of course, I’m sure there is nothing in the contract that says binding arbitration will be cancelled, if the merit raises suddenly stop.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch. Most of them are Republican, Brownback-voters, who would NEVER get hosed over by the suits, because they are such talented, valuable employees.
As they sign up for this, someone needs to sneak up behind them and tape a “Kick Me” sign on their backs.
We’ll get back with them in five years, and see how this is working for them.
Sign this or you’ll never get a raise. Is a waiver valid if signed under threat or coercion? Questionable.
I think that all depends on labor and contract law in the state. I don’t remember the specifics, but such waivers of jury trials was altered in some way in CA a little while back (limiting such waivers to some extent).
Got bitcoin?
Wow, what a day, eh? Dow drops 300 pts and the Saudi Prince calls the Don a disgrace to America! Wow, that’s quite a compliment, coming from him:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-11/prince-beheading-champ-saudi-arabia-calls-trump-disgrace-america
what’s a disgrace is Warshington’s support for the regime.
LOL, the death throes of the petro-dollar.
Time to make nice with Venezuela. FAST!
No royal kissyface for the Donald.
They will need Bush/Cheney/Rummy as a stand in to hold hands and kiss their Saudi Lords.
http://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties/dp/0743253396
Lets make friends with Mexico. Time to buy Baja and develop it.
I agree buy Baja. Trade beachfront property for status. It would cause a massive crater to Ca coastal property though.
Saudi Lords indeed. Prince Bandar used to be the Washington minder. Now, it’s this character Otaiba who calls the shots.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/his-town/
Read it and weep.
We can and should cut ties with SA. Fast. At their behest, Warshington has laid waste to Afghanistan, Iraq, to Libya, to Syria and probably some others I’ve forgotten.
The Don is getting schooled in foreign policy and I think he’s learning some hard lessons. Because it’s just very interesting that Israel seems to have made common cause with SA, and for that reason Bibi rebuffed him. Don, don’t be a cuck. He’s just not that into you.
Saudi Arabia.
Where churches are illegal
Where Bibles are illegal.
Where there is the death penalty for anyone leaving islam.
And they get upset at Trump…
Why would you expect either the Saudis or the Donald to give a rat’s ass about the American Constitution?
Can Trump join the Carlyle Group? lol!
The GOP is imploding! what took so long?
Didn’t the Carlyle Group go bust or something? Like, recently?
Who arms I S I S? Shut them down! wait….
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal weighs in on the American presidential race and specifically Donald Trump, saying he’s a disgrace and should withdraw because he will never win.
Lets see who has more power, the Saudis or Trump’s army?
Massive merger. Massive layoffs coming. The effects of the commodities collapse are just getting beginning.
“Dow, DuPont set $130 billion megamerger…”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-dow-m-a-dupont-idUSKBN0TU1B220151211
Both of these giant houses are over a century old, and now merging for survival.
my Corning stock liked it.
start looking for a bankruptcy attorney my friend.
“Crushing The Auto-Makers’ Dreams (In 2 Depressing Charts)”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-11/crushing-auto-makers-dreams-2-depressing-charts
Manufacturer incentives are just cranking up. Sit tight and wait 6 months if you’re thinking of buying an auto.
I’m bullish on the economy u doom and gloomer.
And so it was that later
As Hillary told her tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale
Have the Republicans morphed into the party of angry old white man bigotry and hatred?
I see the posters who find this philosophy attractive espousing it daily here. Personally I find it repugnant and un-American, but it’s still a free country for now, so don’t let me stand in your way.
Commentary: Of course, most Republicans would be fine with President Trump
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pauses during an interview with the Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. (Andrew Harnik, AP)
Paul Waldman
The Washington Post
The question of the day is whether Republicans, particularly the Republicans running for president, would support Donald Trump if he were to become the party’s nominee. Much as they might hem and haw when they get asked — many insist that it’s a moot point since he won’t be the nominee — the real answer is simple: Of course they would.
Let’s put what’s happening right now in context. Periodically, the political press finds a question candidates (and sometimes other politicians as well) are having a difficult time answering, and so they ask it again and again. It’s not necessarily a “gotcha” in that it has no answer that won’t make the candidate look bad, but its attraction comes from the fact that the reporter knows it’s going to make the candidate squirm. That doesn’t mean it’s not substantively revealing, however. For instance, a couple of months ago all the Republican candidates were asked whether the Iraq War was a mistake, and their answers did tell us something about what they’ve learned from recent history. Hillary Clinton is often asked how her plans on one topic or another differ from what the Obama administration has done, which puts her in an awkward position but also forces her to be specific about what course she intends to pursue.
And now, as his statements grow more repellent and his opponents slowly become more willing to criticize him (very slowly in some cases), “Will you support Donald Trump if he is the GOP nominee?” is the question every Republican is getting.
It’s a natural question to ask. If you’re saying on one hand that he’s “entirely unsuited to lead the United States” (John Kasich), or that his plan to ban Muslims from coming to the country “is not what this party stands for. And, more importantly, it’s not what this country stands for” (Paul Ryan), or that he’s “unhinged” (Jeb Bush), or that he’s “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” (Lindsey Graham), then it’s awfully hard to say on the other hand that if he’s your party’s nominee for president, you’ll be right at his side.
Yet that’s exactly what Republicans are saying, even if not in so many words. I have yet to see a single prominent Republican say that they won’t support Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee.
As it happens, the presidential candidates promised their loyalty to the party’s nominee, whoever he or she might be, back in September — though the purpose of the written pledge the party circulated at the time was to get Trump himself to forswear a third-party run. But nobody should be surprised at this.
Let’s say you’re a Republican politician who is sincerely disgusted by Trump’s demagoguery. Here’s what you’d have to consider on the other side of the scale. If Trump becomes president, he’d inevitably fill the 3,000 or so appointed positions in the executive branch almost entirely from the Republican government-in-waiting currently camped out in think tanks and advocacy organizations; those people will then proceed to advance conservative goals in every agency of government. He’ll appoint conservative judges who want to overturn Roe v. Wade, undermine laws protecting worker and minority rights, and so on. He’ll carry out a pleasingly belligerent foreign policy. And perhaps most of all, he’ll sign most everything the Republican Congress delivers to his desk, which could be quite a lot; repealing the Affordable Care Act would be only the beginning.
It’s true that Trump presents something of a risk by being both ideologically unpredictable (genuinely so, unlike someone like Mitt Romney, who generated lots of suspicion among Republicans but would have been perfectly reliable) and just volatile. You never know when he might start a nuclear war, because that’s what winners do and he’s no loser. But on the whole, Trump would shower policy riches upon Republicans, ones they’ve been waiting seven years for.
And then there’s this: the alternative, if Trump is the nominee, is probably Hillary Clinton, with the possible exception of Barack Obama the single political figure Republicans most despise. So to reject Trump, they’d have to argue that everything Clinton would do from a policy perspective, and just by making them mad all the time, is preferable to a Trump presidency.
To be clear, I’m not saying this to excuse the tacit support nearly every Republican is giving Trump, nor the future support they’ll give him if he’s the nominee. Trump may be the most despicable politician we’ve seen in America in decades, someone who is explicitly encouraging Americans to nurture and act upon their darkest feelings of fear and hatred. Everyone who stands behind him ought to be tainted by that association for the rest of their careers.
…
The media unload on Trump
CNN Digital Expansion 2015 Dylan Byers
By Dylan Byers, CNN
Updated 1:31 PM ET, Thu December 10, 2015
Story highlights
– Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. has elicited strong responses from the media
– The willingness to use such language represents a watershed moment in the 2016 campaign
(CNN)Donald Trump’s latest controversy is unleashing condemnation from Democrats, Republicans — and journalists.
With Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, several of the nation’s most esteemed journalists and influential news outlets have set aside traditional notions of balance and given themselves license to label the Republican front-runner a liar, a demagogue, a racist and worse.
Tom Brokaw, the veteran NBC News anchor, has called Trump’s proposal “dangerous,” and likened it to the Holocaust and the Japanese internment. On its front page, The New York Times has said Trump’s idea is “more typically associated with hate groups.” Dan Balz, of The Washington Post, has called Trump’s rhetoric “demagogic,” while BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith has informed staff that it is acceptable to refer to Trump on social media as a “mendacious racist,” because, he said, those are facts.
…
Cool! It seems like lots of really smart real journalists agree with me alot more than they agree with the bigots who have recently cluttered the HBB with hate speech.
White supremacist groups see Trump bump
‘He has sparked an insurgency,’ Stormfront founder says.
By Ben Schreckinger
12/10/15 05:15 AM EST
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League warn that Donald Trump’s rhetoric is conducive to anti-Muslim violence. | Getty
The Ku Klux Klan is using Donald Trump as a talking point in its outreach efforts. Stormfront, the most prominent American white supremacist website, is upgrading its servers in part to cope with a Trump traffic spike. And former Louisiana Rep. David Duke reports that the businessman has given more Americans cover to speak out loud about white nationalism than at any time since his own political campaigns in the 1990s.
As hate group monitors at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League warn that Trump’s rhetoric is conducive to anti-Muslim violence, white nationalist leaders are capitalizing on his candidacy to invigorate and expand their movement.
“Demoralization has been the biggest enemy and Trump is changing all that,” said Stormfront founder Don Black, who reports additional listeners and call volume to his phone-in radio show, in addition to the site’s traffic bump. Black predicts that the white nationalist forces set in motion by Trump will be a legacy that outlives the businessman’s political career. “He’s certainly creating a movement that will continue independently of him even if he does fold at some point.”
…
Friday, Dec 11, 2015 03:00 AM PST
Donald Trump’s racism is as American as apple pie
Republicans keep saying Trump’s ban on Muslims goes against our values. Do they know anything of our history?
Chauncey DeVega
(Credit: AP/LM Otero)
The mainstream political class is aghast at Donald Trump’s bigoted statements about Muslims, Syrian refugees, Hispanics and other people of color.
They have proclaimed that Donald Trump is “un-American” and that his views do not represent “American values.”
No good can come when we lie to ourselves. We tell lies instead of truths because this allows us to emphasize who we would like to imagine ourselves as being instead of confronting who we really are.
Shorter version: The truth hurts.
Donald Trump’s racism, nativism and bigotry are as American as apple pie.
The United States Constitution was in many ways a pro-slavery and pro-Southern document. American empire was built on the genocide of First Nations people and the enslavement of blacks. The United States Constitution also limited citizenship to white property-owning men only.
In total, for 83 percent of its history—from slavery through to the end of Jim Crow—the United States practiced legal white supremacy and racism against African-Americans.
Until 1965, the United States used racist immigration and naturalization laws to maintain its status as a majority “white” country. As legal scholar Ian Haney-Lopez incisively argued in his book of the same title, the United States has historically been “white by law.”
These laws took many forms. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigration to the United States. This law also made it illegal for them to become citizens. In 1922, the United States Congress passed a bill that would take away citizenship from any (white) woman who married a person who was not eligible for that status, i.e., “non white.” Two years later, in 1924, the United States Congress would ban people from “less than desirable” races from the country except under a very narrow set of circumstances. And of course, the United States condemned thousands of its own citizens who happened to be of Japanese descent to internment camps in 1942.
…
Democracy in America
American politics
Just a regular guy
Donald Trump’s supporters reveal why they back him
Dec 11th 2015, 14:35 by LEXINGTON | ALEXANDRIA, Virginia
Timekeeper
HOW MIGHT Republicans stop Donald Trump? A gathering of twenty-nine Trump supporters this week in northern Virginia mostly offered lessons in how not to do it. The three-hour session on the night of December 9th was organised by Frank Luntz, a veteran Republican media consultant, for the benefit of CBS television and a dozen or so invited reporters, among them your columnist.
The Trump supporters—all of whom voted Republican in the 2012 presidential election, and who ranged fairly widely in income and education—were asked to rate a series of TV attack ads, pounding their hero as a liar, a hypocrite, a flip-flopper and a bully. The attacks were almost comically ineffective, as the group twisted itself into knots to avoid criticising the Republican front-runner.
One campaign spot showed old footage of Mr Trump voicing any number of conservative heresies: from defending legal abortion to praising Hillary Clinton. Another caused a few ripples of unease: a doomy, downbeat series of interviews with blue-collar folk and small contractors who had suffered when doing business with Mr Trump’s property empire, and blamed him for the loss of their jobs. “Did those companies perform?” a supporter asked, to murmurs of agreement. Perhaps all the facts were not known, said another—though one man did say he had become marginally less likely to vote for Mr Trump.
It was the same when group members were shown 15 crass or mendacious tweets sent out by Mr Trump, and were asked to pick the one that bothered them the most, when it came to choosing a future president. The winner, picked by 16 of the 29, was from April, when the property tycoon retweeted a supporter’s observation: “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?”
Still, the supporters fell over themselves to offer excuses. “He’s just a regular guy,” said one. “You don’t think Hillary Clinton says things like that in private?” said another.
…
Commentary: Republicans should dump Trump now
Donald Trump
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump gestures at a regional police union meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (Charles Krupa / AP)
Patrick T. Reardon
Enough is enough.
It is time — right now — for the Republican Party to expel Donald Trump.
If the GOP acts now, it will not only do the right and moral thing, it also will take the offensive against a man who has bullied and hatemongered his way into the heart of American politics.
If Republican leaders don’t move swiftly and decisively, Trump will continue to poison the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan — and poison this year’s presidential campaign. He will continue to call the shots, and the Republican Party will continue to dance to his tune.
Trump’s unfitness for the presidency has become painfully clear by his words and actions. He’s a bigot, calling for a ban on Muslims coming into the United States, and a liar, continuing to assert the discredited claim of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks. He has made fun of disabled people. He has belittled his opponents. He has denigrated women. He has demonized unauthorized Mexican immigrants as criminals and drug dealers.
Trump needs to be drummed out of the Republican Party. Right now.
Karl Rove will know how to do it. Fox News will promote it. The nation — except for Trump’s deluded followers — will applaud it.
…
Republican rival goes nuclear: ‘Trump’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot’
Colin Campbell
Dec. 8, 2015, 10:48 AM
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) absolutely unloaded on real-estate mogul Donald Trump during a Tuesday-morning CNN interview.
Graham, a lower-tier presidential candidate, called Trump, the Republican front-runner, a “bigot” — and much more.
The senator started by saying he was “disgusted” by Trump’s provocative new proposal to ban all Muslim immigration and tourist travel into the US until Islam’s terrorism “problem” is sorted out.
“I want to talk to the Trump supporters for a minute,” Graham began. “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why you like this guy. I think what you like about him: He appears to be strong, and the rest of us are weak. He’s a very successful businessman and he’s going to make everything great. He’s going to take all of the problems of the world and put them in a box and make your life better. That’s what he’s selling.”
He continued: “Here’s what you’re buying. He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
…
HEALTH WARNING:
If excessive laughter upsets your system, refrain from reading the following post.
FT dot com
December 10, 2015 6:16 pm
Donald Trump: history lessons on the great American texts
Robert Shrimsley
The controversial presidential candidate could possibly have a unique take on US history
Donald Trump…Abraham Lincoln Hat
As Donald Trump seeks to become the presidential candidate of the party of Lincoln, the Financial Times has found transcripts of the great speeches and text from US history as delivered by The Donald.
The Gettysburg Address
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. But let me tell you. They were not all created equal. Some of them were created Muslim and others were created disabled going “wa, wa, wa”; and some of them weren’t even created men at all. They were created women with blood coming out of their noses. Though some of them, like my daughter, are really hot. I mean seriously, if she weren’t my daughter . . .
We are engaged in a great civil war, a war of culture, a war you are not hearing about from the mainstream media. And today we are met on a great battlefield of war to dedicate a portion of this prime real estate as a final resting place for those who died here, fighting so the nation may live.
These men who died here were heroes, though they were not my kind of heroes because they died fighting for a bunch of loser slaves, guys who will never know what it is like to have a hot wife and a billion dollars. Personally I would have cut those slave guys loose, most of them don’t even pay their taxes and I tell you we would not let one of them into my many casinos. You want to talk about hallowed ground, those boys would not get past the doorman — although I want to say that I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.
But anyway, I don’t want to talk about that although I know you guys in the media would love me to. You know those guys in the media, they can’t stand that I’m still here. It doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, beautiful piece of ass by your side. And talking of ass, I’m standing here freezing mine off — global warming, I tell you we could use some — on this hallowed ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it even though they were sold out by our weak, cowardly, African president; a man not rich enough to be honest.
…
How many more angry white Christian male terrorist incidents will Trump willfully ignore before common sense compels him to propose the practical measure of closing America’s borders to all Caucasians?
‘Crazy man’: Muslims respond to Donald Trump’s ’shutdown’ plan
Keysar Trad
Keysar Trad, chairman of the Sydney-based Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, poses for a photo in front of his home in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 8, 2015. “Donald Trump’s statement is a desperate statement by a desperate man who knows that he’s clutching at straws and has no chance of winning the election,” Trad said. “So he’s trying to win it off the back of the Islamophobia industry.” (Rob Griffith, AP)
U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” immigrants and visitors alike, because of what he describes as hatred among “large segments of the Muslim population” toward Americans. The Associated Press is asking Muslims in other countries for their thoughts on his proposal:
– Aya, a 22-year-old college graduate in Cairo who declined to give her full name for fear of alienating her family:
“I was born to Muslim parents and wore the veil at a young age. Now I am an atheist, but I can’t tell anyone or take it off because they will probably kill me. My question to Donald Trump is: How do you know the Muslim you are banning is actually Muslim? Don’t you think an extremist can fake denounce Islam and enter as a Christian or an atheist and still blow up your country? This is not how you fight terrorism; this is how you fan it.”
– Bassem Youssef, former talk show host known as the Jon Stewart of the Middle East:
“I didn’t know Donald Trump was fluent in Nazi,” in a Twitter post.
– Tareq, 22-year-old college student in Cairo
“I don’t pray. I drink. I try to sleep around. All my friends do. I am about as Muslim as (Trump) is. Ban Muslims? Does he have any idea how many Muslims are just Muslims on paper?”
– Yara Faris, 23-year-old journalist in the West Bank. She hopes to study international journalism at Columbia University:
“The U.S. will always be the best place to study, and I don’t think the U.S. would deny Muslims entry just because they are Muslims. I see Trump as a crazy man. He always gives crazy statements and recently I read a report that shows that 60 percent of Trump’s statements were based on wrong information.”
– Usama Sallah, prominent Palestinian businessman in Jerusalem who lived in the U.S. for 14 years
“I think that these statements are a shame. This is not the United States that I knew, and I’m sure that the majority of the Americans don’t agree with it because it doesn’t represent American values. I will continue to visit the United States whenever possible because I know that America is a great country in which there is no place for such racist opinions. And for those who agree with him, I ask: How would you feel if Arab and Muslim countries decided to ban Americans from entering them?”
– Ahmed Jalajel, Palestinian journalist in east Jerusalem who visited the U.S. last year as part of a State Department-sponsored program:
“I’m sure that what I heard from Trump doesn’t represent the United States. In America, I have seen a democratic country, nice people who love life, a great country that is ready to receive people from all over the world and a country of great values that Trump certainly doesn’t represent. As a Muslim, I don’t think that Trump represents the United States; he only represents himself.”
– Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American business consultant who moved from Youngstown, Ohio, to Ramallah, West Bank, in the 1990s, called the comments “disgraceful” and “absurd.”
“The backlash is going to be against Muslims. The Muslim community understands the inherent racism in some pockets of U.S. political life. This makes the melting pot not melt at the end of the day.”
Bahour said relatives in the U.S. have been telling him “how they are hearing comments in the street, supermarkets, really racist comments. It’s not going to be the same being a Muslim in America, even once this passes.”
– Aziza Yousef, a computer science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
“He’s racist. … I think Trump is representing himself. I don’t think he represents Americans. Why is it that when there are crazy people who happen to be Muslim, they blame all Muslims? I will not be responsible for someone who commits a crime who happens to be a Muslim. I will not defend myself or defend Islam because a guy or person who happens to be Muslim did something stupid.”
…
Is it time for the Republicans to dump Trump?
crater