Monthly Archives: February 2018

He Said That? 2/28/18

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 3 comments

From Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), French poet and early leader of French Romanticism who also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare, Stello (1832):

We have also set up for them an edifying project for a continuous mitigation of their own tyranny, ascribing to them an unshakeable faith in the triumph of virtue, as well as in the moral justification of their crimes. These are the theories of well-meaning children who see everything in black or white, dream of nothing but angels or demons, and have no idea of the incredible number of hypocritical masks of every color and shape and size which men use to conceal their features when they have passed the age of devotion to ideals and have abandoned themselves unrestrainedly to their egotistic desires

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Street Artist Erects Three Billboards Over Hollywood: “Oscar for Biggest Pedophile Goes to …” by Paul Bond

Posted on February 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

There would be many unworthy contenders if an Oscar were given to Hollywood’s biggest pedophile. Abused kids don’t look as good on TV as abused starlets, and Hollywood is doing its best to sweep pedophilia under the rug. From Paul Bond at hollywoodreporter.com:The conservative provocateur who calls himself Sabo took aim at Hollywood days before the Academy Awards.

With a nod to the Oscar-nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, conservative street artist Sabo has hijacked three billboards in Hollywood to attack the entertainment industry for allegedly shielding pedophiles.

Reminiscent of the signage in the Martin McDonagh film, which is up for seven Oscars including best picture, with black text on a field of red, three consecutive billboards in Hollywood sprang up Wednesday, each calling out the industry.

“And the Oscar for biggest pedophile goes to…” reads one sign.

Another says, “We all knew and still no arrests.”

A third billboard reads: “Name names on stage or shut the hell up!”

Until the artist, who goes by the name Sabo, took over the signage early Wednesday, the billboards were legitimate advertisements. Sabo manufactured fake overlays measuring as large as 48 feet across by 14 feet high and hired a crew of six men to help with installation, he told The Hollywood Reporter.

The first of the three massive signs appeared near the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Hollywood and another was a few hundred yards north. Still another appeared a few hundred yards from that one, mimicking the arrangement in the film, where three signs appeared in a row alongside a highway.

Sabo has posted faux ads attacking Hollywood on other occasions, but he said he considers the hijacking of three giant billboards on a single day his largest mission yet. The last time he took over a billboard was in November when he altered a sign for The Greatest Showmanto make it appear like Sen. Al Franken was grabbing at Zendaya, who starred as a trapeze artist in the movie.

Franken has since resigned from the senate under allegations that he sexually harassed women, and nearly 100 other men in the entertainment industry also have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct since claims were made against Harvey Weinstein nearly five months ago.

Sabo says his signage is meant to criticize those who allegedly enabled sexual harassment with their silence, and to tell celebrities they should refrain from preaching during their Oscar acceptance speeches — for this one year, at least.

Sabo

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What’s Going Down in China is Very Dangerous – Part 1, by Michael Krieger

Posted on February 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

China’s government is tightening the screws. Sooner or later, that’s what governments do. The government’s financial situation must be worse than generally believed. From Michael Krieger at libertyblitzkrieg.com:

I’m sure all of you are aware of the dramatic power play pulled off over the weekend by China’s Communist Party to eliminate term limits for both the president and vice president. Prior to the move, Chinese leaders have stuck to two five-year terms since the presidency of Jiang Zemin (1993-2003), but that’s about to change as wannabe emperor Xi Jinping positions himself as indefinite ruler of the increasingly totalitarian superstate.

While the weekend announcement was illuminating enough, I found the panicked reactions by Chinese authorities in the immediate aftermath far more telling. The country’s propagandists took censorship to such an embarrassing level in attempts to portray the decision as widely popular amongst the masses, it merely served to betray that opposite might be true.

China Digital Times compiled a fascinating list of words and terms banned from being posted or searched on Weibo. Here’s just a sample of some I found particularly interesting.

  • The Emperor’s Dream (皇帝梦) — The title of a 1947 animated puppet film.
  • Disney (迪士尼) — See also “Winnie the Pooh,” below.
  • personality cult (个人崇拜) — Read more about the image-crafting campaign that has been steadily cultivated by state media over Xi’s first term.
  • Brave New World (美丽新世界) — See also “1984,” below.
  • my emperor (吾皇)
  • Yuan Shikai (袁世凯) — Influential warlord during the late Qing Dynasty, Yuan became the first formal president of the newly established Republic of China in 1912. In 1915, he briefly re-established China as a Confucian monarchy.
  • Hongxian (洪憲) — Reign title of the short-lived, re-established monarchy led by Yuan Shikai, who declared himself the Hongxian Emperor. After much popular disapproval and rebellion, Yuan formally abandoned the empire after 83 days as emperor.
  • Animal Farm (动物庄园)
  • N — While the letter “N” was temporarily blocked from being posted, as of 14:27 PST on February 26, it was no longer banned. At Language Log, Victor Mair speculates that this term was blocked “probably out of fear on the part of the government that “N” = “nterms in office”, where possibly n > 2.”
  • emigrate (移民) — Following the news, Baidu searches for the word reportedly saw a massive spike.
  • disagree (不同意)
  • Xi Zedong (习泽东)
  • incapable ruler (昏君)
  • 1984
  • Winnie the Pooh (小熊维尼) — Images of Winnie the Pooh have been used to mock Xi Jinpingsince as early as 2013. The animated bear continues to be sensitive in China. users shared a post from Disney’s official account that showed Pooh hugging a large pot of honey along with the caption “find the thing you love and stick with it.”
  • I oppose (我反对)
  • long live the emperor (吾皇万岁)

The full list is far more extensive and ridiculous, but the key point is that such a pathetic and panicked response from government censors highlights government insecurity, not strength.

To continue reading: What’s Going Down in China is Very Dangerous – Part 1

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“We’ve Got To DO Something About Syria!” Uh, No You Don’t. Please Don’t. by Caitlin Johnstone

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 1 comment

In the whole history of governments, probably less than 1 percent of them have adopted “doing nothing” as a strategy. Doing something is what government’s do, usually making the situation they’re doing something about that much worse. From Caitlin Johnstone at steemit.com:

“Kindly let me help you or you will drown,” said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree. ~ Alan Watts

“We’ve got to do something about Syria!” goes the common western refrain.

Actually, no you don’t.

“What? You’re saying we should just do nothing??” goes the common response.

Yes. Yeah that’d be great. Definitely please get as far away from Syria as possible, thanks.

Arguing that the western war machine is a good way to bring about peace and justice is like arguing that a bulldozer is a useful tool for brain surgery. Arguing that the western war machine is a good way to bring about peace and justice in Syria is like arguing that the gasoline which was used to start a house fire can also be used to extinguish it.

The cutesy fairy tale you will hear from empire loyalists is that what started out as peaceful protests slowly morphed into a battle between the Syrian government and various terrorist factions, with the west only backing the terrorists later on in the conflict. This is false.

Last October, former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani admitted on television that the US and its allies were actively involved in shipping weapons to violent extremist groups in Syria from the very beginning of the war there in 2011. In an article titled “The day before Deraa“, the American Herald Tribune‘s Steven Sahiounie documents how CIA-backed foreign mercenaries/terrorists were already in place ready to go prior to the outbreak of violence in Deraa in March 2011. It is now an openly admitted fact that the CIA and US allies have been arming known terrorist factions in Syria. If you know anything about the CIA and the western war machine, none of this will surprise you.

To continue reading: “We’ve Got To DO Something About Syria!” Uh, No You Don’t. Please Don’t.

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Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Intelligence, Military, War

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Our Fragmented Labor Markets Defy Outdated Conventions, by Charles Hugh Smith

Posted on February 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

This is not your father’s labor market. From Charles Hugh Smith at oftwominds.com:

There are hundreds of extraordinarily diverse labor markets in the U.S. economy, and it takes a much more granulated approach to make any sense of this highly fragmented and dynamic marketplace.
Conventional economists/media pundits typically view the labor market as monolithic, i.e. as one unified market. The reality is the labor market is highly fragmented. Thus it’s little wonder that conventional measures are giving mixed signals on employment, wage inflation, etc.
Here is a typical chart of the labor market: the annual rate of change in hourly earnings, going back to the late 1960s. I’ve annotated the chart to show that hourly earning rose sharply in the inflationary 1970s, but since then have only popped higher in asset bubbles–the dot-com era and the housing bubble:
Gneralized measures that lump all wage earners together give us a snapshot of trends, but they fail to describe the realities of today’s labor markets. The reality is much more complex, and thus beyond the outdated conventions that divide the labor force into broad sectors:
1. While most workers are receiving little in the way of wage increases, employers’ total compensation costs are soaring due to skyrocketing healthcare premiums and other labor-overhead costs such as workers compensation.
Economists puzzled by the lack of wage inflation in an era of “full employment” should look at total compensation costs instead of wages: the inflation is in the labor-overhead costs, not employee compensation.
2. Regions dominated by a handful of employers do not offer many opportunities for employees to jump to other employers for higher pay. This lack of competition enables dominant employers to suppress wage growth.
3. Scarcities of skills and experience that drive wages higher tend to be sector-specific and are often localized. Across the broad spectrum of basic skills and experience (for example, white-collar work performed by employees with non-technical college diplomas), there are few scarcities that could push wages higher.
4. Regardless of labor availability/scarcity, many small-business employers can’t afford to pay higher wages, given their soaring labor-overhead expenses. If wages rise, their options include selling out, closing down, or doing more of the work themselves. Paying higher wages will simply guarantee monthly losses. If you’re losing money operating an enterprise, why be in business?

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America’s Democracy Hypocrisy, by Thomas Knapp

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 1 comment

Do as we say, not as we do has long been a guiding tenet of US foreign policy. From Thomas Knapp at antiwar.com:

In late February, Venezuela’s government began accepting presidential candidate registrations and announced a snap legislative election for April. The country’s opposition denounces the process as a sham and Maduro as a dictator, both of which may be true.

Oddly, a third voice – the US government – also weighed in. Per US state media outlet Voice of America, “the United States, which under President Donald Trump has been deeply critical of Maduro’s leadership in crisis-torn and economically suffering Venezuela, on Saturday rejected the call for an early legislative vote.”

Given the perpetual public pearl-clutching over alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, that’s some major league chutzpah.

The US State Department wants “‘a free and fair election’ involving full participation of all political leaders, the immediate release of all political prisoners, credible international observation and an independent electoral authority.”

Let’s take that one at a time.

Participation of all political leaders? In some US states, it’s harder for a third party to get on a ballot than in, say, Iran.

The immediate release of all political prisoners? Last I heard, US president Donald Trump hadn’t pardoned (among others) Leonard Peltier.

Credible international observation? The US proper committed to admitting international election observers in the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe’s 1990 Copenhagen Document, but many US states forbid international observers or, for that matter, local observers who aren’t affiliated with one of the two ruling parties.

Electoral authorities? The two ruling parties control them all and routinely use them to suppress threatened competition, as do pseudo-private entities like the Commission on Presidential Debates, which makes giant illegal (but government approved) in-kind contributions to the Republican and Democratic candidates in the form of televised candidate beauty pageants which exclude the opposition parties.

Writing in The Atlantic, veteran election meddler Thomas O. Mela – formerly of the US State Department, the US Agency for International Development, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House – argues that election meddling is different when the US does it, because … well, “democracy.”

To continue reading: America’s Democracy Hypocrisy

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Silicon Valley Joins War On Cash: Tim Cook Seeks “Elimination Of Money”, by Tyler Durden

Posted on February 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

Eliminating cash is an idea whose time will never come. It’s anonymous, which is why governments hate it and people who want to maintain a semblance of their privacy like it. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Apple CEO Tim Cook has one big hope for the future – that he lives to see the end of money.

“…I’m hoping that I’m still going to be alive to see the elimination of money.”

Speaking at a meeting for Apple shareholders in Cupertino, California earlier this month, Cook made it clear that he is firmly on the side of the war-on-cash establishment.

“Because why would you have this stuff! Why go through all the expense of printing this stuff and then some people steal it, and you’ve got to worry about counterfeits and all these things,” he continued.

As Apple’s CEO talked about the downsides of cash, BI reported that he became more animated, revealing his real passion about the topic…

“We can provide a solution for the customer that’s simpler, more convenient, you don’t carry around a wallet with a bunch of cards in it, or a purse with a bunch of cards in it,”Cook said.

“And it’s more secure, if you’ve ever had your credit card ripped off, I’m sure a lot of you have, I have, it’s not a good experience.”

Until now, it has tended to be politicians and central bankers leading the call for a cashless society… for your own good.

The enemies of cash claim that only crooks and cranks need large-denomination bills.They want large transactions to be made electronically so government can follow them. Yet these are some of the same European politicians who blew a gasket when they learned that U.S. counterterrorist officials were monitoring money through the Swift global system. Criminals will find a way, large bills or not.

The real reason the war on cash is gearing up now is political: Politicians and central bankers fear that holders of currency could undermine their brave new monetary world of negative interest rates. Japan and Europe are already deep into negative territory, and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last week the U.S. should be prepared for the possibility. Translation: That’s where the Fed is going in the next recession.

To continue reading: Silicon Valley Joins War On Cash: Tim Cook Seeks “Elimination Of Money”

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U.S. Escalates Threat Against Iran After Russia U.N. Veto, by Tyler Durden

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 1 comment

It will be interesting to see what exactly, if anything, Trump and company end up doing to Iran. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

The United States has escalated international tensions with Iran, threatening unilateral action against the Islamic Republic on Monday after Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council motion to call out Tehran for allowing weapons to fall into the hands of Yemen’s Houthi group.

Nikki Haley

“If Russia is going to continue to cover for Iran then the U.S. and our partners need to take action on our own. If we’re not going to get action on the council then we have to take our own actions,” said U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley during a visit to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.

Haley did not specify what type of action she meant, however the Russian veto was a big blow to the United States which has been lobbying for months to hold Iran accountable at the U.N. – while also threatening to withhold waivers on U.S. sanctions unless the “terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal” are fixed.

“Obviously this vote isn’t going to make the decision on the nuclear deal. What I can say is it doesn’t help,”Haley said. “That just validated a lot of what we already thought which is Iran gets a pass for its dangerous and illegal behavior.”

President Trump warned European allies in January that they would need to commit to fixing the nuclear deal by May 12.

President Donald Trump warned European allies last month that they had to commit by mid-May to work with Washington to improve the pact. Britain drafted the failed U.N. resolution in consultation with the United States and France.

The initial draft text – to renew the annual mandate of a targeted sanctions regime related to Yemen – wanted to include a condemnation of Iran for violating an arms embargo on Houthi leaders and include a council commitment to take action over it. –Reuters

Russia has questioned the findings of January U.N. report which concluded that Iran supplied the Houthi group with weapons in a proxy war between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in what appears to be another attempted regime change in the region. 

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Treasury Department reports $1.2 TRILLION loss in 2017, by Simon Black

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 2 comments

The government’s own financial reports admit that the government’s financial position is bad and getting worse. From Simon Black at sovereignman.com:

Earlier this month, the United States government released its annual financial report for the year 2017.

This is something the government does every year, similar to how large companies like Apple, or Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, publish their own annual reports.

Unlike Berkshire and Apple, though, whose financial reports typically show strong, positive results, the US government’s financial statements are a complete horror show.

Right at the beginning of the report, the government explains that it’s “net loss” for the year was an unbelievable $1.2 TRILLION.

 Read that number again.

$1.2 trillion. That’s simply staggering.

It’s larger than the size of the entire Australian economy… and constitutes a loss of more than $2.2 million per minute.

This is not a conspiracy theory or irrational fantasy.

This is the Treasury Secretary of the United States of America publicly announcing that the federal government lost $1.2 trillion on page ‘i’ of its annual financial report.

What’s even more alarming is that 2017 was a great year.

There was no war. No recession. No epic financial crisis.

In his introductory letter, in fact, the Treasury Secretary proudly stated that “[t]he country enjoyed a pick-up in [economic] growth in 2017. Unemployment is at its lowest level since February 2001, consumer and business confidence are at two-decade highs, and inflation is low and stable.”

In short, everything was awesome in 2017.

Even the government’s overall revenue was a record high $3.3 trillion for the year.

Yet despite all that good news… despite all those positive developments and record revenue… they STILL managed to lose $1.2 trillion.

If the government loses $1.2 trillion in a GOOD year, how much do you think they’ll lose in a BAD year? How much will they lose when they actually do have a recession to fight? Or another war. Or a major banking crisis?

More importantly, how long can something so unsustainable possibly last?

 

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Posted in Collapse, Debt, Government, Money

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Comey’s FBI Was A Hotbed Of Sexual Misconduct: Official Report, by Tyler Durden

Posted on February 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

Inspector General Michael Horowitz investigated sexual improprieties at the FBI. Is anyone surprised that then Director of the FBI James Comey tried to thwart the investigation? From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

The Department of Justice’s internal watchdog sanctioned at least 14 FBI agents and officials over the last five years – most of which occurred under Former FBI Director James Comey’s leadership, reports Richard Pollock of the Daily Caller – which has reviewed documents from the agency’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz.

The acts entail inappropriate romantic relationships with a subordinate, outright sexual harassment, favoritism or promotion based on demands for sex, and retaliation against women who rebuffed male employee’s advances. –Daily Caller

Prior to Comey’s tenure as Director which began in September 2013, no sexual misconduct charges had been filed by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Most recently, an extramarital relationship between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page was revealed during Congressional investigations into the FBI, which had been uncovered by Horowitz through a search of text messages between the two agents.

Michael Horowitz

Perhaps the most shocking revelation, however, is that Comey attempted to thwart Horowitz’s investigation. 

As Horowitz explained in his March 2015 final report on how law enforcement agencies handle sexual-misconduct complaints, his office’s ability “to conduct this review was significantly impacted and delayed by the repeated difficulties we had in obtaining relevant information from both the FBI and DEA as we were initiating this review in mid-2013.”

After pulling teeth to try and obtain records from the FBI, Horowitz was finally presented with unredacted information that satisfied his requests – however it was “still incomplete.”

Of note, Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Comey fought Horowitz’s investigation into sexual misconduct charges.

Lynch supported Comey’s defiance of the IG via a July 20, 2015, memo from DOJ Office of Legal Counsel principal-deputy AG Karl Thompson. Thompson charged law enforcement agencies could redact information in its files and withhold information from the Inspector General. It was one of her first acts as Obama’s new Attorney General, who was sworn in to office on April 27, 2015. –DC

It was only after a multi-year battle with the Obama administration that Horowitz was finally able to obtain the information he sought after Congress passed the Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2016, restoring his office’s ability to access information without having to ask for it first.

Of note, Horowitz’s report on FBI malfeasance during the 2016 election is due out in several weeks – which many think will provide official confirmation that the top ranks of the FBI and DOJ engaged in a highly politicized hit-job on President Trump and his team in an effort to elect Hillary Clinton while undermining Trump.

To continue reading: Comey’s FBI Was A Hotbed Of Sexual Misconduct: Official Report

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