By Tyler Durden
As previewed yesterday, today at 10pm ET, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange would be interviewed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity. For those who are unable, or unwilling to watch, Fox, here is a link to the full interview which will take place over the next hour, until 11pm ET.
Live feed after the jump
Source: Jullian Assange Interviewed By Sean Hannity: Fox News Live Stream
By Tyler Durden
The confirmation of former Goldman Sachs Partner Steven Munchin, who is Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, may have gotten just a little more problematic today, after Mnuchin declined to answer questions from Democratic senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio about his views on financial regulations, sanctions and his time as head of a bank accused of unfair foreclosure practices.
Brown, the top Democratic on the senate banking committee sent a letter on Dec. 21 asking Mnuchin to detail his position by Jan. 6 on issues that are under the committee’s purview, including fair lending laws and foreclosure-prevention programs. As Bloomberg reports, Mnuchin doesn’t plan to respond to the senator in writing, though several weeks ago he requested a meeting with Brown, who hasn’t yet accepted, according to Mnuchin’s spokeswoman Tara Bradshaw.
“Mnuchin will work with Senator Brown within the protocol of the finance committee – and will not be providing written answers in advance of a deadline yet to be established by the finance committee,” Bradshaw told Bloomberg on Tuesday in an e-mailed reply to questions.
Naturally, Brown was displeased by the very public snub by the former Goldmanite: “Senator Brown wants to have a substantive, productive conversation with Mr. Mnuchin, not just a quick handshake and hello,” according to an e-mailed comment from Brown’s office on Tuesday. Should Mnuchin, 54, further antagonize Brown, he may face daunting complications during his public hearing with the Senate Finance Committee members; he will also have to respond to follow-up questions in writing before they vote on his nomination. Brown also sits on that committee.
As Bloomberg notes, while Mnuchin can count on the support of the Republican majority in the Senate for confirmation, Democrats have signaled a tough fight. The former Goldman partner profited from the 2007-2008 housing market crash when he and a group of investors bought a failed mortgage lender that was later renamed OneWest Bank. It’s being investigated over allegations of unfair foreclosure practices.
Incidentally, it is Mnuchin’s actions at One West which are likely to be an incendiary topic during the confirmation hearing especially after today’s Intercept report, in which a leaked memo penned by the leaders of California’s state attorney general’s Consumer Law Section said they had “uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct” in a year-long investigation into Mnuchin’s One West Bank.
Some more details:
OneWest Bank, which Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, ran from 2009 to 2015, repeatedly broke California’s foreclosure laws during that period, according to a previously undisclosed 2013 memo from top prosecutors in the state attorney general’s office.
The memo obtained by The Intercept alleges that OneWest rushed delinquent homeowners out of their homes by violating notice and waiting period statutes, illegally backdated key documents, and effectively gamed foreclosure auctions.
In the memo, the leaders of the state attorney general’s Consumer Law Section said they had “uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct” in a yearlong investigation. In a detailed 22-page request, they identified over a thousand legal violations in the small subsection of OneWest loans …read more
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By Tyler Durden
Having gotten virtually none of his “surprise” forecasts for 2016 right – among which that the S&P will decline (after it was supposed to rise by 15% in 2015 when it closed red for the year), the 10Y will not rise above 2.50%, Hillary Clinton will defeat Ted Cruz in the presidential election, Democrats will gain control of the Senate, Chinese growth drops below 5% as the country’s banks “get in trouble”, crude oil remains in the $30s, and global growth falls to 2% (he did correctly predict just one rate hike, and the continuation of the European refugee crisis), today Blackstone’s Byron Wien issued his list of Ten Surprises for the coming year for the 32nd time.
Considering that Wien has been doing this since 1986, one would think he has gotten better at it, but alas no.
So after last year’s embarrassment, not surprisingly the 83 year old has flip-flopped back to optimistic, and in his latest set of forecasts for 2017 expects the S&P 500 to rally to 2,500 as corporate profits jump to $130 a share. Which is ironic because the “vice president of multi-asset investing at Blackstone Group” failed to see the 10% rally in U.S. shares last year, instead expecting a down year.
For 2017, he anticipates that yields on 10-year Treasury notes will approach 4% as gross domestic product expands at a rate of 3%. He also expects German Chancellor Angela Merkel to lose her bid for re-election. The upbeat forecasts set Wien apart on a day when other legacy voices from a past generation voiced caution, among them Larry Summers who said investors are overlooking the risks of Donald Trump’s policies, while analysts at Eurasia Group said Trump could contribute to a level of global instability not seen since World War II.
Perhaps, but what we do know almost for certain is that assumping the opposite of Wien’s forecasts has a hit ratio well above 50%. Which means: S&P crashes, 10Y yields tumble, the US economy enters a recession, but at least Merkel will keep her job.
According to Byron, a “surprise” as an event that the average investor would only assign a one out of three chance of taking place but which Byron believes is “probable,” having a better than 50% likelihood of happening. We call it something you read one year from today and laugh.
Below is the list of Byron’s Ten Surprises for 2017:
Source: After Getting Almost Nothing Right In 2016, Here Are Byron Wien’s "Ten Surprises" For 2017
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Rick Sterling via Strategic-Culture.org,
The U.S. establishment is not content simply to have domination over the media narratives on critical foreign policy issues, such as Syria, Ukraine and Russia. It wants total domination. Thus we now have the “Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act” that President Obama signed into law on Dec. 23 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017, setting aside $160 million to combat any “propaganda” that challenges Official Washington’s version of reality.
Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016. Power has been an advocate for escalating U.S. military involvement in Syria. (UN Photo)
The new law mandates the U.S. Secretary of State to collaborate with the Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence and other federal agencies to create a Global Engagement Center “to lead, synchronize, and coordinate efforts of the Federal Government to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining United States national security interests.” The law directs the Center to be formed in 180 days and to share expertise among agencies and to “coordinate with allied nations.”
The legislation was initiated in March 2016, as the demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia was already underway and was enacted amid the allegations of “Russian hacking” around the U.S. presidential election and the mainstream media’s furor over supposedly “fake news.” Defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton voiced strong support for the bill: “It’s imperative that leaders in both the private sector and the public sector step up to protect our democracy, and innocent lives.”
The new law is remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least because it merges a new McCarthyism about purported dissemination of Russian “propaganda” on the Internet with a new Orwellianism by creating a kind of Ministry of Truth – or Global Engagement Center – to protect the American people from “foreign propaganda and disinformation.”
As part of the effort to detect and defeat these unwanted narratives, the law authorizes the Center to: “Facilitate the use of a wide range of technologies and techniques by sharing expertise among Federal departments and agencies, seeking expertise from external sources, and implementing best practices.” (This section is an apparent reference to proposals that Google, Facebook and other technology companies find ways to block or brand certain Internet sites as purveyors of “Russian propaganda” or “fake news.”)
Justifying this new bureaucracy, the bill’s sponsors argued that the existing agencies for “strategic communications” and “public diplomacy” were not enough, that the information threat required “a whole-of-government approach leveraging all elements of national power.”
The law also is rife with irony since the U.S. government and related agencies are among the world’s biggest purveyors of propaganda and disinformation – or what you might call evidence-free claims, such as the recent accusations of Russia hacking into Democratic emails to “influence” the U.S. …read more
Source: The War Against Alternative Information
By Tyler Durden
Migrants and asylum seekers at a refugee center in Cona near Venice, Italy set fires inside the facility and blocked the gates, forcing social workers to barricade themselves inside their offices, after a protest broke out over living conditions following the death of a young woman, Reuters reported.
A 25-year-old woman, later identified as Sandrine Bakayoko from the Ivory Coast, was found unconscious in the bathroom and was believed to have died because of an alleged delay in medical assistance. The town mayor, however, told La Repubblica TV that she had of natural causes on Monday afternoon. Her fellow migrants reacted angrily, and started rioting, cutting off the electricity supply to the centre, setting fires and barring the exit, leaving 25 staff members barricaded inside, local media said.
Protest in the refugee camp of Cona after the death of an Ivorian woman
Shortly after, riot police were called to the scene, and Italian security forces later quelled the unrest according to RT. The stand-off ended in the early hours of Tuesday after law enforcement convinced the protesters to open the gates and allow the staff to leave, local police chief Angelo Sanna told la Nuova di Venezia e Mestre newspaper. None of the camp workers were injured.
Mayor Alberto Panfilio said calm had been restored at the center, where up to 1,500 people have been placed in a facility originally meant for 15 migrants. Many were housed in tents. Police had persuaded the protesters to open the gates shortly after midnight on Monday, let the staff leave, and re-connect electricity, local police chief Angelo Sanna told la Nuova di Venezia e Mestre newspaper.
Early reports said the protest had been caused by a delay between the young woman being taken ill and an ambulance arriving to treat her. The protesters said the ambulance arrived some eight hours after being called and that Bakayoko died after the medics arrived, according to Ruptly agency. Yet, local police and health and social care services claimed it took the ambulance some 20 minutes to arrive to the center after the emergency call.
“The hour and place of death are still to be determined,” Sanna told Ruptly, adding that the deceased woman’s “countrymen were obviously worried about the cause of her death and the speed of the first aid delivery, and this has induced them to start a protest.” Prior to the incident, the camp’s administration had reportedly been investigated over allegations of fraud and maltreatment, according to Il Sole-24 Ore radio.
“This death is not directly linked to the high concentration (of people) but I hope it can be useful to change a situation that is no longer sustainable,” Mayor Panfilio said.
The mayor told local media that the centre had opened in 2015. Numbers had ballooned dramatically last year. The Cona facility, which was initially intended to house just 15 people, is hosting up to 1,500 migrants, many of whom are living in tents. The centre is one of many temporary migrant reception centres in …read more
Source: Riot Breaks Out At Italian Refugee Center: Migrants Start Fires, Hold Staff Hostage
By Tyler Durden
A number of disaffected Hollywood celebs, including Sally Field, Rosie Perez, “Westworld’s” Jeffrey Wright, and “Boardwalk Empire” actor Steve Buscemi, have utilized the former pro-Hillary social media group known as “Humanity for Hillary” to create yet another attack message aimed at President-elect Trump. In this latest message, which refers to Trump as “racist, sexist and xenophobic,” the disaffected Hollywood snowflakes call on Congress to “vigorously oppose” and “obstruct” Trump on any policy that “violates our core values as diverse Americans.”
The video opens by citing all the key buzz words that will undoubtedly “trigger” the leftists in Congress and suggests that “hate crimes in the U.S.” have risen as a result of Trump’s election….
“The majority of Americans, regardless of who they voted for, did not vote for racism, for sexism, or for xenophobia. And yet, Donald Trump won.”
“And since he won, hate crimes are rising, women have been attacked in his name, people of color have been attacked in his name.”
…then continues with a demand that Congress “vigorously oppose” Trump’s policies that “violate our core values as diverse Americans.”
“Here’s what we demand: To the extent Trump pursues racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, anti-worker, anti-muslim, anti-semitic, anti-environmental policies, we demand that you vigorously oppose him.
“We expect you to use your Congressional powers to obstruct anything that violates our core values as diverse Americans.”
We wonder whether these celebs condone the mass riots held by Hillary supporters in the days after the election…does this count as a “hate crime?”
A video posted by @abc7newsbayarea on Nov 9, 2016 at 2:26am PST
Or how about the shooting of 5 people at an anti-trump protest in Seattle (see “5 Shot, 2 Life-Threatening Injuries During Anti-Trump Protest In Seattle“)? Or how about the DNC’s efforts to incite violence at Trump rallies (see “Undercover Footage Shows Clinton Operatives Admit To Inciting “Anarchy” At Trump Rallies“)?
Somehow we suspect we’ll never hear from Hollywood celebrities regarding these “hate crimes.”
Source: Celebs Call On Congress To "Obstruct Racist, Sexist, Xenophobic" Trump
Scott Dadich is leaving as editor-in-chief at Wired after four years. Nicholas Thompson will be taking over. …read more
Source: Wired taps Nicholas Thompson to take over as top editor
Megyn Kelly will leave Fox News later this year and join NBC News in a new role, three sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed. …read more
Source: Megyn Kelly leaving Fox News for NBC News
By Tyler Durden
There is little doubt that easy access to federally subsidized student loans have contributed to the astronomical increase in the cost of attending college in the United States. After all, what 18 year old would turn down $200,000 in free money to party for 4 years? As an added bonus, when you figure out upon graduation that your degree in anthropology if fairly worthless, you can always just move back in with mom and force taxpayers to pick up your debt burden. Anything less would be a substantial “triggering” event and we just can’t have that.
As we noted roughly a year ago, the amount of student debt outstanding is on track to reach nearly $17 trillion by 2030…which is clearly enough artificial demand to send the price of almost any commodity product soaring.
Well, apparently New York’s Governor doesn’t think that misinformed government policies are doing nearly enough to drive up college tuition costs. As a result, he has decided to jump on the Bernie Sanders bandwagon with a new proposal that would provide free tuition at public state and city colleges to any student whose parents earn less than $125,000.
As the New York Times notes, Cuomo’s plan could apply to as many as 1 million New York families though it was not “immediately clear how the program would be paid for”…which is just a minor detail anyway.
Mr. Cuomo hopes for a quick start for his idea, with a three-year rollout beginning in the fall, though it will require legislative approval, a potential snag when the governor and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been at odds over a pay raise and other issues.
It was not immediately clear how the program would be paid for, though the administration said the state already provided nearly $1 billion in support through its tuition assistance program; those awards are capped at $5,165, and many of the grants are smaller.
If the plan is approved, the Cuomo administration estimates the program would allow nearly a million New York families with college-age children, or independent adults, to qualify.
Current tuition at four-year State University of New York schools for state residents is $6,470; at two-year community colleges the cost is $4,350. Costs for City University of New York schools are approximately the same.
Of course, “free tuition” isn’t really free and is estimated to cost New York taxpayers roughly $163mm by the time it’s fully implemented in 2019.
Oh well, we guess this is just a simplification in the process…why go through the bother of underwriting student loans just to have taxpayers pick up the bill later anyway? With the governor’s plan, you just go straight to taxpayers for a handout upon enrollment. Moreover, taxpayers save on the interest costs associated the defaulted student loans so this is really a win for everyone.
By EconMatters
By EconMatters
We provide some game training for the uninitiated regarding financial markets, fund flows via the currency crosses, to move assets around the trading board in this video. Be careful of rallies in markets, that you don`t become the sucker that is taken advantage of to profit take at your expense.
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Source: How The Game Is Played In Financial Markets (Video)
Welcome to Esh Carmel Blog.
