TSA lines saw short wait times during holiday weekend
Despite worries about problems, TSA chief reports lines had short wait times over busy Memorial Day holiday weekend. …read more
Source: TSA lines saw short wait times during holiday weekend
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TSA lines saw short wait times during holiday weekend
Despite worries about problems, TSA chief reports lines had short wait times over busy Memorial Day holiday weekend. …read more
Source: TSA lines saw short wait times during holiday weekend
This tech CEO is more loved than Mark Zuckerberg
Scott Scherr is CEO of Ultimate Software and is the most loved tech CEO, according to rankings on Glassdoor.
…read more
Source: This tech CEO is more loved than Mark Zuckerberg
ISIS Taxes Sockless Women & Beardless Men In Desperate Attempt To Raise Cash
By Tyler Durden
As we have detailed in the past, the dramatic reduction in cash flow from oil sales has taken a tremendous toll on ISIS. A shortage of oil revenues has led to ISIS becoming so desperate for cash that it has even killed its own fighters in order to sell their organs. Now, it appears that another method is being tried to raise funds, this time by taking a page out of the standard government playbook: when you run out of cash, simply find ways to raise taxes on everyone.
RT is reporting that ISIS has now enacted new taxes on those that live in territories under the group's control (which has dropped from 9 million to 6 million people over the past year), and each tax is more bizarre than the next.
For leaving a door open, $100. If one were to fail a random Sharia test, $20 per wrong answer. For women, $30 for not wearing socks, and $25 if a cloak is too tight – for men, a quick trimming of the beard will get you hit with a $50 tax. And if someone is a non-sunni muslim or used to work for the government, then there is a special “repentance” certificate that needs to be paid for, and that will cost anywhere from $200 to $2,500.
“There are fewer people and business activities to tax, the same applies to properties and land to confiscate.” Said Columb Strack, senior analyst at IHS. “This is a big indicator of the group's financial difficulties. Taxation makes up about 50 percent of the Islamic State's monthly revenue sources and encompasses almost every aspect of the population's life” added Ludovico Carlino, also of the IHS.
Speaking of every aspect of the population's life, there are even taxes related to livestock. For example, if a bell is found around a sheep's neck, that's a $10 fine for the owner, and the animal will be confiscated.
As ISIS is under pressure in both Iraq and Syria, it may lose even more territory. If and when that happens, who knows what kind of outlandish scheme the group will come up with at that point.
* * *
Bonus: Here is drone footage showing the Syrian army advancing on Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State.
Source: ISIS Taxes Sockless Women & Beardless Men In Desperate Attempt To Raise Cash
Ellen Pao’s book will cover bias in Silicon Valley
A publisher has bought Ellen Pao’s book ‘Reset,’ which will cover her experiences with Kleiner Perkins, Reddit and Silicon Valley discrimination.
Sponsored:
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…read more
Source: Ellen Pao’s book will cover bias in Silicon Valley
7 Charts One Hedge Fund Is Watching
By Tyler Durden
Fasanara Capital’s Francesco Filia sends over the following list of things he is watching, as well as the following seven charts he believes will show the upcoming key inflection points.
THINGS TO WATCH
- Yields are reaching new lows: the average German government bond yield is now below zero for the first time in history. 10yr Bunds are testing April ’15 lows (at +7bps). Curve may flatten from here.
- Negative yields putting pressure on the banking sector: historically, the European banking index tends to underperform when interest rates drop and the curve flattens. So far in the last month, banks are over-performing yields. Over-performance may fade from here.
- Within Europe, Italian banks are getting particularly hit: they started to underperform at the beginning of May and the Italian Banks index has now hit new YTD lows.
- We keep a close eye on the other risk factors:
- USD/CNH is surprisingly grinding higher, despite weak NFP, dovish Yellen, weak broad US Dollar, EUR & JPY strengthening.
- Oil and Base Metals decoupled in May: this relation is to be closely monitored, we look at Oil gyrations as short-term heavy volatility, within a long-term downward trend.
CHARTBOOK:
The GERMAN AVERAGE GOVERNMENT BOND YIELD now below zero for the first time in history
‘Umlaufrendite’ dived below zero for the first time last Friday after weak US NFP numbers. Now 10trn$ worth of govies globally trade negatively
GERMAN 10yr and 30yr YIELDS keep falling, curve may flatten further from here
10yr BUND yield already at all-time lows, 30yr BUXL is still ~30bps above historical lows
Banks over-performed yields recently, gap may narrow from here
RATIO of EU BANKS / EUROSTOXX vs. 10yr BUND YIELD. Historically, the relative performance of European banks over the Eurostoxx correlates well with European yield curves. Banks have over-performed recently. The gap is likely to narrow from here: relatively, yields may rise more than bank equities or fall less than bank equities. 
Italian banks underperformed the EU banking sector in May by most in 2016
Italian Banks hit new YTD lows this week. Their underperformance vs the EU banking sector is now evident, whereas they had moved broadly in tandem during January/February sell-off. Negative news flows (Veneto Banca, recent local elections) might be the driver of the move. Trend to monitor.
BTP vs. BUND & FTSEMIB vs. EUROSTOXX: Italian underperformance is visible also in the fixed income and broader equity market
The yield spread between 10yr BTPs and 10yr Bunds kept widening since mid-March, while the FTSEMIB underperformed the Eurostoxx even more visibly (10% since January)
USD/CNH grinding higher, despite broad US Dollar weakness
CNH is nearing the psychological level of 6.60, and fixed at its weakest since2011, despite post-NFP broad US Dollar weakness and good China FX reserve depletion numbers just released. 
OIL and BASE METALS decoupled in May
While the Oil price kept rising and moved to 50$, base …read more
Source: 7 Charts One Hedge Fund Is Watching
"When Your Biggest Investment Is Now Worthless, It’s Devastating" – Homes In Connecticut Are Literally Crumbling
By Tyler Durden
“You can't eat, you can't sleep. When you're told your home is now worthless and your biggest investment is now worthless, it's devastating” – This is how Tim Heim, a homeowner in northeastern Connecticut describes the feeling when you're told the concrete foundation of your home is crumbling, and your house is gradually collapsing.
Sadly, this is exactly what thousands of homeowners are being told across nearly 20 towns in northeastern Connecticut. The problem has been traced back to foundations which used materials from a specific quarry and related concrete maker since the 1980's.
From the NYT
The scope of the problem is so vast that state officials have begun an investigation, and they recently announced that the crumbling foundations had been traced to a quarry business and a related concrete maker, which have agreed to stop selling their products for residential use. The stone aggregate used in the concrete mixture has high levels of pyrrhotite, an iron sulfide mineral that can react with oxygen and water to cause swelling and cracking. Over the past 30 years, the quarry has provided concrete for as many as 20,000 houses.
The governor directed the Consumer Protection Department and attorney general to investigate possible wrongdoing, determine the scope of the problem, and determine what assistance was available for homeowners. As mentioned above, while the state has traced the problem to a specific quarry and concrete maker, there doesn't seem to be any further reports of failed concrete at other projects that used those materials. A spokesman for both companies has attributed the crumbling foundations to improper installation, noting that it was a tendency of some contractors to add water to the wet concrete to make it pour faster. However, the mineral pyrrhotite was identified as a culprit in disintegrating foundations elsewhere, for example in the province of Quebec, in which PM Justin Trudeau pledged to allot $30 million in aid to homeowners whose foundations were failing.
A measure similar to that has failed so far in Connecticut. Republican state senator Tony Guglielmo proposed a $50 million bond to help homeowners but Democrats in the State House rejected it, arguing that such a measure should wait until the full extent of the problem is understood.
The toughest part for homeowners, aside from the emotional roller coaster, is that insurers are refusing to pay for repairs, referencing the word “abrupt” in policy language. Repairing the homes requires replacing the entire foundation which costs anywhere from $100,000 to over $200,000 according to the NYT.
Insurers have generally refused to pay for repairs, strictly defining the coverage of collapse by inserting the word “abrupt” in policy language. Repairing the homes requires replacing the entire foundation at costs that typically range from $100,000 to over $200,000. So far, 223 residents have filed formal complaints about crumbling foundations with the department, but officials believe many homeowners may be reluctant to contact the state, fearing problems from their banks and insurers.
The state's Insurance Department did step in however, if only to provide slight relief, …read more
Veterans Affairs Wants To Provide Sex-Reassignment Surgeries For Transgender Vets
By Tyler Durden
As the nation struggles over which restroom to use when you’re ‘undecided’, the Department of Veterans Affairs has decided to chime in on the issue of gender dysphoria as it plans to lift a ban on sex reassignment surgeries for transgender veterans.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
The VA says the surgical procedures were not deemed to be “medically necessary” in the past and there were questions over their safety and effectiveness. However, as the military prepares to allow transgender troops to serve openly and President Barack Obama’s administration wrangles with states over the rights of transgender people to use the restrooms of the their choice, it appears, as Military.com reports, that transition-related surgeries may soon be covered…
“However, increased understanding of gender dysphoria and surgical techniques in this area have improved significantly, and surgical procedures are now widely accepted in the medical community as medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria,” the VA wrote in the notice.
The department called it a serious medical condition with severe consequences for patients if treatment is not provided. Current VA rules prohibit the department from covering or performing any surgical procedures considered to be gender alterations.…
In February, the Defense Department proposed adding non-surgical hormone therapy for gender dysphoria into the military’s Tricare insurance coverage. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee shot back at the time, urging that the military not be an “experimental laboratory for social issues.”
The changes could be laying the groundwork for the Pentagon’s plan to allow transgender troops to serve openly. Defense Secretary Ash Carter set a deadline earlier this year for studying the issue but a final directive lifting the prohibition has not yet come.
The VA’s proposal was lauded by the American Military Partner Association, which describes itself as the nation’s largest organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military families.
“So many veterans rely on the VA for important medical care that they have earned serving our nation, including transgender veterans,” AMPA president Ashley Broadway-Mack said in a statement. “Gender confirmation surgery is often a critically important and medically necessary treatment for transgender veterans, and lifting this ban is long overdue.”
Advocates estimate there could be as many as 15,000 transgender servicemembers, and the number could be much higher among the millions of veterans who use the VA…
…like Christopher Beck, who served as a SEAL before transitioning to Kristin Beck.
Are you going to argue with him her?
As Under The Radar reports, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has declared that transgender men and women “are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach that’s contrary to our value of service and individual merit.” He’s ordered a six-month study that will most likely provide a roadmap for integrating transgender troops into military service.
A study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law suggests that 150,000 transgender men and women have served in the U.S. military, with approximately 15,500 of them still in uniform. At least 18 other countries have already integrated transgender troops …read more
Source: Veterans Affairs Wants To Provide Sex-Reassignment Surgeries For Transgender Vets
Migrants Responsible For 69,000 Crimes In Germany In The First Quarter: Police Report
By Tyler Durden
In the latest development that is certain to raise the heat under Merkel’s cabinet and may lead to even higher support for Germany’s anti-immigrant AfD party, Reuters reports that migrants in Germany committed or tried to commit some 69,000 crimes in the first quarter of 2016, according to a police report “that could raise unease, especially among anti-immigrant groups, about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal migrant policy.”
The report from the BKA federal police showed that migrants from northern Africa, Georgia and Serbia were disproportionately represented among the suspects. Absolute numbers of crimes committed by Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis – the three biggest groups of asylum seekers in Germany – were high but given the proportion of migrants that they account for, their involvement in crimes was “clearly disproportionately low”, the report said. In other words, just because there was so many of them, it is difficult to give a clear picture of the criminal recidivism resulting from the latest immigrant wave. The report gave no breakdown of the number of actual crimes and of would-be crimes, nor did it state what percentage the 69,000 figure represented with respect to the total number of crimes and would-be crimes committed in the first three months of 2016.
The silver lining: the report stated that the vast majority of migrants did not commit any crimes.
Still, the report, the first of its kind, is sure to prompt many question. It is the first time the BKA has published a report on crimes committed by migrants containing data from all of Germany’s 16 states, so there is no comparable data.
The report showed that 29.2% of the crimes migrants committed or tried to commit in the first quarter were thefts, 28.3% were property or forgery offences and 23% offences such as bodily harm, robbery and unlawful detention. Drug-related offences accounted for 6.6% and sex crimes accounted for 1.1%.
In a widely publicized indicent in Cologne at New Year, hundreds of women said they were groped, assaulted and robbed, with police saying the suspects were mainly of North African and Arab appearance. Prosecutors said last week three Pakistani men seeking asylum in Germany were under investigation after dozens of women said they were sexually harassed at a music festival.
And in confirmation of the tit-for-tat nature of the escalation between the local population and immigrants, earlier today we learned that a large fire ripped through a refugee center housed in an exhibition hall in Dusseldorf on Tuesday. All 280 residents were thought to be safe, the fire service said. TV footage showed plumes of black smoke billowing into the air at the facility on the site of the west German city’s trade fair, Reuters said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.
As a reminder, there has been a record influx of more than a million migrants into Germany last year and concerns are now widespread about how Europe’s largest economy will manage to integrate them and ensure security. Furthermore, …read more
Source: Migrants Responsible For 69,000 Crimes In Germany In The First Quarter: Police Report
