Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Julian Assange Addresses Public Concerns Regarding Riseup Canary Statement
After the drama of the past few months, Julian Assange could be forgiven for wishing that the world still communicated via passenger pigeon.
Seattle-based email provider Riseup’s “canary” expiration baffled the public for months and led to emotional, nonfactual accusations that Wikileaks had been “compromised” by state actors. But what is Riseup’s canary and how did an anomaly related to it cause so much concern? To explain that, it is necessary to outline the legal processes that made canaries necessary, how they work in relation to the law and what a canary is exactly.
Historically, canaries have been famously used in mines as a way to warn miners when oxygen levels are dangerously low. In the modern world, a “canary” is a method that programmers have devised as a way to get around legislation that allows intelligence and regulatory agencies to legally silence private individuals and organizations. Programmers and IT workers love metaphors. The main screen of one’s computer is called a “desktop” when it is clearly not, the device one uses as a pointer on a computer is known as a “mouse” when it is clearly not a rodent. A “canary” is no different and merely serves as a metaphoric way to describe how the entity functions.
I. The Laws And Secret Courts Which Made Canaries Necessary
Before explaining exactly how a canary works, it is necessary to explain why they are needed at all. In the United States, the canary was developed in response to the actions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which was founded under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). The Court has greatly expanded the power and control of U.S. intelligence agencies and has been accused by the New York Times of becoming “a parallel Supreme Court.” The FISC is generally what activists and whistleblowers refer to when talking about “secret courts” in the United States.
The FISC (and courts like it in other countries) are authorized to issue gag orders to individuals and organizations which can legally forbid them to talk about certain topics under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. The gag orders can also obligate individuals to surrender electronic devices to authorities or allow the devices’ programming to be altered by the state for various purposes (uploading malware to allow the state to spy on all customers for example). Any company or individual who refuses to cooperate and comply with these orders risks being sent to jail and having their business interests destroyed by the state. Even talking publicly about the fact that one has received a gag order is a violation of the law. In 2013, Edward Snowden’s email provider Lavabit shut down its operations to avoid having to comply with a gag order which they believed would force them to become complicit in crimes against the American people.
II. How Canaries Allow Private Parties To Subvert Gag Orders
So how does an individual or business tell their collaborators and the world …read more
Source: Julian Assange Addresses Public Concerns Regarding Riseup Canary Statement
Trader Warns "Trump’s First Week Could Keep Markets Busy" – What To Watch
By Tyler Durden
“May you live in interesting times,” really is a curse; and as Bloomberg's Richard Breslow warns, “I doubt things are going to get any less gripping… Whatever else markets are pricing in, risk premiums appear to be too low.”
Last week fell into three memorable parts…
The Trump trades were given a severe test, declared dead and held. A trend isn’t broken until it actually breaks. But nothing lasts forever.
More Fed speeches than you could shake a stick at, including two from Chair Yellen, told us little. They went for unity and upbeat assessments. Debate raged about whether she was more hawkish or dovish than expected. Even one day to the next. Take that as over analyzing. At the end of the day, no one is going to fully internalize a hawkish message nor remotely price three 2017 hikes unless they hear March is at least being debated. Until then, it’s a lot of noise. Thankfully, no speeches are scheduled this week.
And, of course, there was the inauguration. It really was a tale of two cities. While the Dow rose 100 points, you could hear jaws hitting pavements around the rest of the world.
What this week brings, no one knows.
I suspect trading is going to be time-zone specific in the near term as perception of policies, intent and outcomes are going to vary widely by locale. You could easily get into a pattern of risk-off mornings only to be followed by benign closes.
We’ll see more of the hundred-day plan. U.K.’s Theresa May, a vocal critic of campaigner Donald Trump, will fly to Washington on Friday to woo President Trump. Or as it’s been reported, for the two to recreate the Reagan/Thatcher mystique. Where’s Lloyd Bentsen when you need him? Chancellor Merkel is said to be poring over film and speeches to try to figure out just what makes this guy tick.
What To Watch..
- Monday will be the first real test of the market reaction after Trump’s inauguration. And awaiting new tweets. The dollar index closed at 100.74. For the trade higher to stay good, you really don’t want to see 100.25ish give way.
- Tuesday brings euro-zone PMIs, which are expected to be good. This will annoy the Germans and get no response from Draghi. You have your priorities and I have mine. Also the Turkish rate decision, with forecasts all over the map. The lira is going to move on this for sure. That’s no currency for the faint of heart.
- Oh, and don’t miss the long-awaited U.K. Supreme Court ruling on triggering Brexit talks. Sterling is right in-between two good moving averages.
- Thursday brings Swedish unemployment, which I only mention because long SEK is a hugely popular and crowded trade and, so far, EUR/SEK has yet to prove it can stay below 9.50, right where it closed last week.
<a target=_blank rel="nofollow" …read more
Source: Trader Warns "Trump’s First Week Could Keep Markets Busy" – What To Watch
‘SNL:’ Shirtless Putin addresses America
One day after President Trump was sworn in, ‘Saturday Night Live’ opened its show with Beck Bennett’s Vladimir Putin speaking directly to the American people. …read more
Source: ‘SNL:’ Shirtless Putin addresses America
French Socialist Primary Winner Proposes Tax On Robots, Universal Income, Right Of Foreigners To Vote
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
France24 reports Benoît Hamon and Manuel Valls take top spots in first round of left-wing primary in a field of seven candidates.
Let’s take a look at other reports, then we will look at Hamon’s amazing platform.
Bloomberg notes Valls, Hamon Qualify for French Socialist Primary Run-Off.
In the first round of voting Sunday night, Hamon was first with 35.2 percent with Valls on 31.6 percent, with about one-third of voting stations reporting, the primary authority said. Former Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg, who was third with 18.7 percent, endorsed Hamon saying that the primary shows that Socialist voters want more leftist policies.
The voters “have massively and seriously condemned” the government’s policies, Montebourg said. They “want the left to return to the path of the left.”
Benoît Hamon’s Platform
Benoît Hamon is a 49-year-old former education minister. Here is his platform.
- Universal basic income.
- Tax on robots.
- Progressive taxation of wealth.
- Reduction of tax loopholes.
- 32-hour working week.
- Legalization of marijuana.
- National conference on “environmental democracy”.
- 50% renewable energy by 2025.
- Differentiated VAT for the “most virtuous products”.
- Ban on pesticides.
- Better repayments for dental care.
- A “Sixth Republic”.
- Transformation of the Senate into “college of territories”.
- The right of foreigners to vote in local elections.
- “Humanitarian visa” and redo of France a land of asylum.
- Consideration of the white vote. If the white vote is a majority vote, the election must be postponed.
- Media antitrust law.
- Labor law repeal to provide additional protection to employees.
- Help facilitate the takeover of SCOP companies by employees.
- Recognize burn-out as an occupational disease.
That reads like it came from The Onion. However, it’s translated from Benoît Hamon, favorite of the primary: his very left program.
According to the Financial Times, “Mr Hamon’s proposals have been criticized as unrealistic and costly by rivals including Arnaud Montebourg”.
Now, Montebourg backs Hamon because voters “want the left to return to the path of the left.”
Amazing Twitter Performance
In a field of seven candidates, that platform got Hamon 35% of the vote. Amazing.
How did he get there? The new-fashioned way. Hamon has a huge following on Twitter.
Looking Ahead
Don’t rule out le Pen.
Should Hamon square off against Marine le Pen, I believe le Pen would win. Le Pen might also win in the widely-expected final match-up against François Fillon, the Republican winner and former Prime Minister of France.
Recent political events are such that anything could happen.
Lawsuit to claim Trump is in violation of Constitution
A group of ethics watchdogs is filing a federal lawsuit Monday that claims President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by accepting payments from foreign governments through his business empire. …read more
Source: Lawsuit to claim Trump is in violation of Constitution
Watch: Bigoted Turtleneck-Wearing Liberal Gets Tossed Off Plane For Harassing Trump Supporter!
By ZeroPointNow
File this under Justice Porn…
A miserable seething bitch and her browbeaten husband are the stars of a new video making it’s way around the internet after the woman, a horrible human being, decided to berate a Trump supporter on an airplane. First, here’s what happened from the guy it happened to:
The first flight attendant to deal with his bigot isn’t having any of her shit:
Attendant #1: “Is there going to be a problem?”
Woman: “There will be, I would like for him to change seats with somebody who did not put us all in harm’s way”
Attendant #1: “Well, you don’t have that right!”
[mic drop, goes to get other flight attendant]
When the second flight attendant breaks the news of her impending ejection, this ivory tower liberal starts throwing her dead mother in law out to try and gain some sympathy:
Woman: “I’m going home now. My mother in law, his mother in law, died. And we had to be here. I’m going home now, there is no way I’m getting off this plane.”
Attendant #2: “I’m terribly sorry for that, but that does not give you the right to treat people the way you’ve been treating them.
[indignancy intensifies]
Husband: “What if we trade seats and she quiets down? How would that be?”
Attendant #2: “Unfortunately the captain has already made the call…”
DENIED
Enjoy the show:
And a potato quality recording of her actually getting tossed:
Note the applause…
Source: Watch: Bigoted Turtleneck-Wearing Liberal Gets Tossed Off Plane For Harassing Trump Supporter!
Treasuries Besieged by ‘Idiot Money’: Record Shorts in Treasuries Paint an Ominous Picture for Bond Bears
By The_Real_Fly
As some of you might recall, in December of 2015, I went long treasuries, due to my belief that negative interest rates would wreak havoc across the investment landscape — bring with it a deflationary vortex that would consume all whole — especially equity holders. For the better part of 2016, this was the single best trade to be in — and I had it before anyone deemed it to be fashionable.
 
Then the elections came and a gigantic Trump induced squeeze commenced — helping rout bonds and buoy equities in record fashion. Looking back on that rally, it was a fucking month — literally nothing in the big scheme of things. Should bonds rally again, recapturing some of its former glory, no one will remember the faux inflation days of November-January — post Hillary annihilation.
 
Looking at the bond trade, it’s ripe for a reversion from the mean. After all, the most reprehensible people around, pavement apes and the like, are short bonds. These are the ‘Fast Money’ people — the same lads who bought mortgage bonds in 2007 and dot com hand grenades in the spring of 2000.
 
Via CFTC:
The amount of speculators’ bearish, or short, positions in
10-year Treasury futures exceeded bullish, or long, positions by
394,689 contracts on Jan. 10, according to the CFTC’s latest
Commitments of Traders data.
 
A week earlier, speculators held 344,931 net short positions
in 10-year T-note futures.
 
Net shorts in five-year T-note futures and Eurodollar
futures among speculators also climbed to record highs in the
latest week, while speculative T-bond net shorts rose to their
highest level since March 2012, according to CFTC data.
 
Net shorts in federal funds futures among speculators rose
to their highest since August 2015.
 
The rise in net shorts among these futures contracts
suggested this group of market participants believes bond prices
will resume their fall despite their rebound since mid-December.
 
Juxtaposing short data with actual yield action, proves, in fact, that the shorts are literally pavement apes — idiots devoid of reason — slaves to the base instincts that require zero thinking.
 
 
 
Yields on the 5 year treasury have doubled since our glorious leader, Donald J. Trump seized power, to 1.94%. Short contracts now outstrip longs by a record 1.1 million — making this Tower of Pisa trade indelibly lopsided.
In the end, “real money always wins,” said Tom di Galoma, the managing director of government trading and strategy at Seaport Global Holdings. “Speculators tend to get taken out. We’ve seen this occur several times in the last 10 to 15 years, where everybody thinks rates are too low.”
 
A shift back into Treasuries may already be starting. Fixed-income managers who oversee a combined $225 billion held 24.7 percent of their assets in U.S. government debt in the week through Jan. 17, according to Stone & McCarthy Research Associates client survey. That’s higher than the average of 24.2 percent in 2016.
 <br …read more
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Why Team Trump is ‘planting a flag’ in war on media
Kellyanne Conway’s use of a strange phrase, “alternative facts,” was reflective of something real — a new administration which feels, on day three, that it is already under siege from unfair reporters. …read more
Source: Why Team Trump is ‘planting a flag’ in war on media
"10 Things Learned From 3 Days In Washington D.C."
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com,
I have been in Washington DC for the last three days. The ostensible reason was to participate in a board meeting of a public company, Ashford Inc. (AINC). We manage hotel REITs that own three hotels here in DC, and the group decided to move our board meeting up a few weeks and hold it in DC during the inauguration. That gave me the opportunity to set up a few meetings to try to gain some insight into what the first 100 days, the first six months, and the first year of the Trump administration might look like.
This is going to be a short letter summarizing my impressions from the last few days. I think it might be easiest to present them in the form of a list.
1. If you listen to the media you might have the impression that the Trump transition team is in complete disarray. Talking with leaders of the transition team certainly didn’t leave me with that impression. They have broken the transition process down into over 30 departments and have created a “landing document” for each department. The analogy they are using is that this process is like planning an invasion, and they are going to hand the landing document off to the “beachhead teams” who will then execute the plans.
I was briefly allowed to look at (without actually being able to read) the plan for one cabinet-level department. It appeared to be about 100 pages plus of serious detail as to exactly what executive orders would need to be removed and added, what personnel would have to be replaced (both appointees and regular staff), what policies would need to be changed, and so forth.
I was told that this level of planning was being done for every department. My impression is that there are a lot of people from various think tanks and others with experience in the presidential transition process who are involved in directing the plan for each department. That level of detailed planning doesn’t happen in less than two months. My guess is that some of that thinking has been going on for years, and now it can be implemented.
That being said, we know that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy; and it was instructive to sit with Bill Bennett, who talked about his experience in trying to reform the Department of Education under Reagan. They were still dealing with personnel and policy issues a year later, and this was when the department was much smaller than it is today. And that is just one department.
When I asked a key person how much of the overall plan would likely come to fruition, I got a rueful smile and a shrug. “If we even get half of this done in the first few years, that will be major reform.”
2. There seem to be two general types of agency plans.
First, there are those where the culture of the department has to be …read more
Source: "10 Things Learned From 3 Days In Washington D.C."
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