Millions of people have read about a crazy conspiracy theory called “Pizzagate.” An untold number of them actually believe it. One person apparently took matters into his own hands and showed up to the pizza place that the conspiracy theorists say is at the center of the web with guns. …read more
Source: How an internet echo chamber gave rise to fake news
Half of the most popular news stories shared on social media in Italy before the referendum on Sunday were fake, according to a fact checking site Pagella Politica. …read more
Source: Did fake news influence Italy’s referendum?
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is asking government officials for $35 million to cover the cost of protecting President-elect Donald Trump until the inauguration. …read more
Source: New York Mayor asks Obama, Congress for $35 million to protect Trump
By Tyler Durden
Less than two months ago, after the Algiers meeting but before the Vienna OPEC summit when speculation was rife that the cartel would be unable to reach a deal to cut production, we reported that “US Oil Producers Are Hedging At Levels Not Seen Since 2007” in which we wrote that “while OPEC has been busy desperately jawboning oil higher, US producers have been worried about oil’s reacquaintance with gravity. As a result, as the EIA reports, the amount of WTI short positions held be producers and merchants is just shy of a decade high.”
So now that the OPEC deal is done, if only on paper with formal implementation and compliance checks still up in the air until February 2017 at the earliest, have producers changed their tune?
One look at the changes to the oil strip (shown below) reveals that the answer is no, and as Bloomberg reports, “U.S. shale oil companies are using the post-OPEC rally to hedge their oil price risk for next year and 2018 above $50 a barrel, bankers, merchants and brokers said, pushing the forward oil curve upside down.”
This rush to hedge could lead to a materialization of the biggest risk – and threat – to the OPEC deal: much higher U.S. oil production in 2017, offsetting the first OPEC production output cut in eight years. As such, the producer group could end throwing a life-line to a sector it once tried to crush.
Confirming that while speculators, many of whom have been squeezed as a result of a recent surge in short bets, have thrown in the towel on lower prices for the time being, producers are once again skeptical that the higher prices will prove sustainable: “Right after OPEC, U.S. producers were very active hedging,” said Ben Freeman, founder of HudsonField LLC, a boutique oil merchant with offices in New York and Houston. “We are going to see a significant amount of producer hedging at this levels.”
The hedging pressure triggered violent movements across the price curve. As shale firms sold oil for delivery next year and early 2018 the curve has notably flattened, leading to the first backwardation since 2014 as we observed last week. Sure enough, as Bloomberg highlights today “WTI for delivery in December 2017 is now more expensive than in June 2018- a condition known as backwardation. A week ago, the forward curve was in the opposite shape, known as contango.”
“The curve is screaming producer hedging,” said Adam Ritchie, founder of consultant AR Oil Consulting and a former trading executive at Caltex Australia Ltd. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Another take came from Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity strategy at BNP, who said that“The longer dated flattening in the futures curve does indeed reflect to a large extent increased producers activity, hedging on the back of the pop up in spot prices that followed the announcement of an output cut by OPEC.”
In the past year we have shown on various occasions that $50 …read more
Source: "The Curve Is Screaming Producer Hedging" – Shale Companies Scramble To Lock In Oil Prices
By Tyler Durden
As the “fake news” narrative grows, and The House quietly passes a bill to “counter Russian propoganda” websites, one alleged ‘fake’ news wesbite – as defined by the farcical PropOrNot organization – has struck back. Naked Capitalism’s Yves Smith has threatened The Washington Post with a defamation suit and demanded a retraction.
As the lawyers like to say, res ipsa loquitur. Please tweet and circulate this letter widely. You will notice that our attorney Jim Moody is a seasoned litigator who has won cases before the Supreme Court. He has considerable experience in First Amendment and defamation actions. Past high profile representations include Westomoreland v. CBS and defending Linda Tripp.
I also hope, particularly for those of you who don’t regularly visit Naked Capitalism, that you’ll check out our related pieces that give more color to how the fact the Washington Post was taken for a ride by inept propagandists, particularly our introduction to our spoof PropOrNot.org site, which uses the PropOrNot project as an example of sorely deficient propaganda and shows where it went wrong, or the humor site itself. Be sure not to miss its FAQ.
We have another post today that describes how the few things that are verifiable on the PropOrNot site don’t pan out, as in the organization is not simply a group of inept propagandists but also appears to deal solely in fabrications.
If the site is flagrantly false with respect to things that can be checked, why pray tell did the Washington Post and its fellow useful idiots in the mainstream media validate and amplify its message? Strong claims demand strong proofs, yet the Post appeared content to give a megaphone to people who make stuff up with abandon. No wonder the members of PropOrNot hide as much as they can about what they are up to; more transparency would expose their work to be a tissue of lies.
We fully endorse Yves Smith’s efforts.
Additionally, we note that the only reason we haven’t followed up with a similar action is because i) the allegations were so laughable, and ii) there is too much other stuff going on.
Source: "Fake News" Site Threatens Washington Post With Defamation Suit, Demands Retraction
By Tyler Durden
While the market overcame its initial scare following yesterday’s counter-establishment Italian referendum vote, and European stocks proceeded to not only make up all losses, but soar in the overnight session by the most since Trump’s presidential victory, what happens next in Italy is largely unknown. What follows are Goldman’s snap thoughts on the Italian next steps.
First, a quick recap of what has happened in yesterday’s referendum in which many more Italians than expected turned up to reject the proposed reforms, leading PM Renzi to announce his resignation later today. The odds of a general election have risen from one-in-five to one-in four, according to Goldman. Despite yesterday’s outcome, Renzi remains the most popular politician on the centre-left. More importantly, the outcome of the vote lowers the chances of a market-driven solution for the ailing Italian banks, and in turn increases the likelihood of a State-led restructuring Goldman notes.
Here are the details:
In a national confirmative referendum held yesterday, Italian voters rejected a Constitutional reform bill sponsored by the coalition government of Mr Renzi and passed by Parliament in April. The referendum was called because the bill had failed to receive the quorum of 2/3 of MPs in its final reading.
The outcome of the referendum was in line with opinion polls in the run-up to the vote. These had been suggesting that the ‘Vote No’ side would win by some distance. Two elements are new, however (all numbers based on quasi-final vote count):
A first analysis of the vote breakdown suggests that the electorate largely acted on political priors. Specifically:
Source: What Happens Next In Italy: Here Is Goldman’s Take
Indian tax authorities are investigating a Mumbai family who claimed to owe $29 billion in untaxed income. …read more
Source: India’s tax mystery: Why did one family declare $29B?
President-elect Donald Trump has revived some China-bashing lines from the campaign, but the misleading claims still puzzle economists. …read more
Source: Trump’s attack on China misses the mark
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,
“I have in my possession a secret map, made in Germany by Hitler’s government — by the planners of the New World Order,” FDR told the nation in his Navy Day radio address of Oct. 27, 1941.
“It is a map of South America as Hitler proposes to reorganize it. The geographical experts of Berlin, however, have ruthlessly obliterated all the existing boundary lines … bringing the whole continent under their domination,” said Roosevelt. “This map makes clear the Nazi design not only against South America but against the United States as well.”
Our leader had another terrifying secret document, “made in Germany by Hitler’s government. …
“It is a plan to abolish all existing religions — Protestant, Catholic, Mohammedan, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish alike. … In the place of the churches of our civilization, there is to be set up an international Nazi Church…
“In the place of the Bible, the words of ‘Mein Kampf’ will be imposed and enforced as Holy Writ. And in place of the cross of Christ will be put two symbols — the swastika and the naked sword. … A god of blood and iron will take the place of the God of love and mercy.”
The source of these astounding secret Nazi plans?
They were forgeries by British agents in New York operating under William Stephenson, Churchill’s “Man Called Intrepid,” whose assignment was to do whatever necessary to bring the U.S. into Britain’s war.
FDR began his address by describing two German submarine attacks on U.S. destroyers Greer and Kearny, the later of which had been torpedoed with a loss of 11 American lives.
Said FDR: “We have wished to avoid shooting. But the shooting has started. And history has recorded who fired the first shot.”
The truth: Greer and Kearny had been tracking German subs for British planes dropping depth charges.
It was FDR who desperately wanted war with Germany, while, for all his crimes, Hitler desperately wanted to avoid war with the United States.
Said Cong. Clare Boothe Luce, FDR “lied us into war because he did not have the political courage to lead us into it.”
By late 1941, most Americans still wanted to stay out of the war. They believed “lying British propaganda” about Belgian babies being tossed around on German bayonets had sucked us into World War I, from which the British Empire had benefited mightily.
What brings these episodes to mind is the wave of indignation sweeping this capital over “fake news” allegedly created by Vladimir Putin’s old KGB comrades, and regurgitated by U.S. individuals, websites and magazines that are anti-interventionist and anti-war.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman says the “propaganda and disinformation threat” against America is real, and we must “counter and combat it.” Congress is working up a $160 million State Department program.
Now, Americans should be on guard against “fake news” and foreign meddling in U.S. elections.
Yet it is often our own allies, like the Brits, and our own leaders who mislead and lie us into unnecessary wars. And is …read more
Source: Fake News And War Party Lies
Welcome to Esh Carmel Blog.
