Mar 18 2017

KOMMONSENTSJANE – WHY MUST WOMEN CHOOSE BETWEEN FEMINISM AND ZIONISM, BUT NOT OTHER “ISMS”?

There is one very hard truth here and that is that no same woman would ever want to live under Islamic rule i.e. Sharia Law!

kommonsentsjane

America must not lump their fight for women’s rights in with the Palestinian women’s fight – you are mixing apples and oranges. There is no connection whatsoever. The Palestinian women are treated as second-class citizens.

Why Must Women Choose between Feminism and Zionism, but Not Other “Isms”?
by Alan M. Dershowitz

March 15, 2017
◾There are many countries and movements throughout the world that treat women as second-class citizens: Israel is not among them…. There is a word for applying a double standard to Jews. That word is anti-Semitism.
◾If Sarsour was concerned with addressing structural causes of all female oppression, she would mention the status of women in the PA-controlled West Bank where just a few months ago the names and photos of female candidates for the municipal elections were omitted, referring to the women instead as “wife of” or “sister of.” Sarsour would also call out the Hamas-controlled…

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Mar 18 2017

KOMMONSENTSJANE – IT’S TIME FOR THE FED TO SHRINK ITS BALANCE SHEET

It’s very rare when any government agency actually does anything that make sense.

kommonsentsjane

It’s Time For The Fed To Shrink Its Balance Sheet

Mar 12, 2017

Norbert Michel , Contributor

I follow the evolution and devolution of monetary and financial policy .

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

A new debate is heating up over whether the Federal Reserve should continue holding on to all those assets it purchased after the 2008 crisis.

Last year, at the Fed’s annual fly-fishing conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., central bankers debated “the optimal long-run size of the Fed’s balance sheet.” Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sided with those who want to keep the Fed’s balance sheet abnormally large, relative to its pre-crisis size.

Last month, St. Louis Federal Reserve Vice President David Andolfatto added his own reasons for keeping the larger balance sheet.

But Professor Larry White, blogging at Alt-M, has two excellent posts making the counter arguments. As he points out: “We cannot…

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Mar 18 2017

KOMMONSENTSJANE – WHAT THE MEDIA WON’T TELL YOU ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

Many if not most are either criminals or in the welfare system and both are a significant drag on economic growth.

kommonsentsjane

What the media won’t tell you about illegal immigration and criminal activity
By: Hans von Spakovsky & Grant Strobl

March 10, 2017

Normally, the ACLU promotes transparency in government and the ability of the public to access public records. But apparently that changes when transparency might reveal damaging information that hurts their opposition to President Trump’s common-sense, revised executive order temporarily suspending entry from six terrorist safe havens in the Middle East and Africa.

How else can one explain the ACLU’s criticism of a little-noticed provision in the executive order that requires the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to, among other things, report on the “number and types of acts of gender-based violence against women” in the U.S., like the “honor” killings committed by foreign nationals? That provision will also require public reporting on the number of foreign nationals charged/convicted of “terrorism-related offenses” or removed from the…

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Mar 18 2017

Trump Wins: G-20 Drops ‘Anti-Protectionist, Free-Trade, & Climate-Change Funding’ Pledge

by Tyler Durden

Re-Posted From ZERO HEDGE Mar 18, 2017 10:25 AM

After delays and hours of discussions amid tensions over ‘trade’ comments between the United States and the rest of The G-20, it appears President Trump has ‘won’. While China was “adamantly against” protectionism, the finance ministers end talks without renewing their long-standing commitment to free trade and rejection of protectionism after US opposition.

The world’s financial leaders are unlikely to endorse free trade and reject protectionism in their communique on Saturday because they have been unable to find a wording that would suit a more protectionist United States, G20 officials said.

This would break with a decade-old tradition among the finance ministers and central bankers of the world’s 20 top economies (G20), who over the years have repeatedly rejected protectionism and endorsed free trade.

But the new administration in the United States is considering trade measures to curb imports with a border tax and would not agree to repeat the formulations used by previous G20 communiques, clashing with China and Europe, the officials said.

“Unless there is a last minute miracle, there is no agreement on trade,” one official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. “This is not a good outcome of the meeting,” a G20 delegate quoted Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann as saying.

In a partial face-saving move, as The FT details, G20 finance ministers meeting in the German resort town of Baden-Baden noted the importance of trade to the global economy, but dropped tougher language from last year that vowed to “resist all forms of protectionism”.

The new communique said: “We are working to strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies. We will strive to reduce excessive global imbalances, promote greater inclusiveness and fairness and reduce inequality in our pursuit of economic growth.”

The watered-down commitments on free trade reflected the anti-globalisation mood that Donald Trump has brought to Washington and came in the first G20 meetings between Steven Mnuchin, the new US Treasury Secretary, and his foreign counterparts.

US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin spoke to reporters after the meeting:

*MNUCHIN: LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING CLOSELY W/ G-20 COLLEAGUES
*MNUCHIN: CONFIDENT U.S. CAN WORK CONSTRUCTIVELY WITH PARTNERS
*MNUCHIN: U.S. BELIEVES IN FREE, BALANCED TRADE
*MNUCHIN SAYS WILL LOOK AT TRADE SURPLUSES WITH VIEW TO CORRECT
*MNUCHIN SAYS MULTILATERAL AGREEMENTS HAVE VERY IMPORTANT PLACE
*MNUCHIN SAYS U.S. WANTS TO RE-EXAMINE TRADE DEALS INCL. NAFTA
*MNUCHIN: U.S. BELIEVES IN APPROPRIATE REGULATION
*MNUCHIN SAYS IMPORTANT BANKS CAN PROVIDE LIQUIDITY IN MARKETS

Reuters also points out another potential win for Trump as the communique will also drop a reference, used by the G20 last year, on the readiness to finance climate change as agreed in Paris in 2015 because of opposition from the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Trump has called global warming a “hoax” concocted by China to hurt U.S. industry and vowed to scrap the Paris climate accord aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Trump’s administration on Thursday proposed a 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget as the White House seeks to eliminate climate change programs and trim initiatives to protect air and water quality.

Asked about climate change funding, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, said on Thursday, “We consider that to be a waste of money.”

The G20 do agree, however, to show continuity in their foreign exchange policies, using phrases from the past on foreign exchange markets.

As we noted earlier, needless to say, such an acrimonous end to the weekend’s summit would likely result in a surge in FX volatility when markets open for trading late on Sunday, reflecting the new state of global trade flux, in which the future of the US Dollar is completely unknown, and reflecting the emerging chaos over the future parameters of trade.

Mar 18 2017

House Democrat Warns Nuclear War With Russia “Real Possibility”

by Tyler Durden

Re-Posted From ZERO HEDGE Mar 18, 2017 8:55 PM

Having failed to find any evidence that Russia interefered with the election, it seems Democrats are resorting to the 1980s playbook as Rep. Seth Moulton – a member of the House Armeed Service Committee – tells CNN that a nuclear war with Russia is a real possibility the U.S. should prepare for.

As The Hill reports, Moulton said Friday on CNN’s “New Day”…

“For a long time, Russia and the United States had this sort of mutual agreement, mutually assured destruction,

“If they shot their weapons at us, we’d shoot our weapons at them, and therefore a nuclear war was unlikely to happen. But what Russia now says is that they will quote, ‘escalate to deescalate’.”

If that didn’t have you searching for fallout shelters already, Moulton goes to explain that US military forces are unprepared… though offers no facts to back that up…

“They are willing to use nuclear weapons to deescalate a conventional attack. I think that the problem here is that we don’t really have a plan to deal with that.”

Moulton said he can imagine scenarios where the Trump administration must respond to Russian use of nuclear weapons.

“If Russia starts using nukes against our allies in Europe, we may well use nukes in retaliation,” said Moulton, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

“What if they target American troops — like the American troops who are training right now in Poland — with a nuclear attack?” he asked.

“What are we going to do and how quickly can that get out of control? That is why this is such a serious threat and why the Trump administration has got to take this more seriously.”

Which seems odd because the only possible reaction to such an event would be nuclear retaliation and the ‘mutually assured destruction’ which he seems to believe is no longer vald. Either way, we are fairly certain that not since The Bay of Pigs has the word ‘nuclear’ been so relevant…

Mar 18 2017

Russian Parliament Launches Investigation Of “CNN And Other American Media”

by Tyler Durden

Re-Posted From ZERO Hedge Mar 18, 2017 8:18 PM

A few days ago Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic Senator from New Hampshire, introduced a piece of legislation that would give the Department of Justice “new authority” to investigate potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by the ‘Russian Times’. Among other things, Shaheen said the legislation was necessary to determine whether “RT News is coordinating with the Russian government to spread misinformation and undermine our democratic process.” We won’t even bother to touch on the inherent hypocrisy of such a statement, but here is the press release from Shaheen’s website:

Following intelligence reports that RT News operates as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) has introduced legislation that gives the Department of Justice new authority to investigate potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by RT America.

“We have good reason to believe that RT News is coordinating with the Russian government to spread misinformation and undermine our democratic process,” said Shaheen. “The American public has a right to know if this is the case. RT News has made public statements boasting that it can dodge our laws with shell corporations, and it’s time for the Department of Justice to investigate. My bill provides the authority needed to request documentation of RT News and find out who they’re accountable to.”

The Director of National Intelligence’s recent report titled Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections concluded that RT News officials have structured their affiliate organizations to deliberately circumvent U.S. reporting and disclosure requirements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Senator Shaheen’s Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act gives the Department of Justice new authority to compel organizations like RT America to produce documentation on funding sources and foreign connections.

Well, as it turns out, Russian officials have the power to launch meaningless witch hunts in their country as well and have decided to demonstrate that power with the announcement today that they’ll launch a similar investigation into all U.S. media currently operating in Russia. Per Reuters:

The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has approved a proposal to launch an investigation into U.S. media organizations that operate in Russia, it said in a statement posted on its web site late on Friday.

The investigation, which will be conducted by the Duma’s information policy, technologies and communications committee, will check whether CNN, the Voice of America, Radio Liberty and “other American media” are complying with Russian law.

Deputy Konstantin Zatulin, who initiated the move, calls it “a response to the actions of American politicians who have systematically accused Russian news media of interference in U.S. internal affairs,” according to the Friday statement.

Putin

Shaheen’s legislation, of course, drew wide criticism from Russian agencies including the Russian Foreign Ministry whose spokesperson mocked the bill saying it should have included a clause defining a list of books that should be collected for burning.

The statement said the Duma backed the move on Friday evening after Konstantin Zatulin, an MP from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, proposed an investigation to retaliate for what he called a “repressive” U.S. move against Russian state-funded broadcaster RT.

He said he was referring to an initiative by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who has introduced a bill to empower the Justice Department to investigate possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by RT.

Foreign media in Russia are overseen by the Russian Foreign Ministry, whose spokeswoman Maria Zakharova this week singled out Shaheen’s demarche for criticism, quipping ironically that the senator should have included a clause drawing up a list of books for burning.

The U.S. move also solicited the ire of Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief, who on Wednesday told the daily Izvestia it had echoes of the activities of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who oversaw a campaign to expose people he regarded as communists in the 1950s.

Meanwhile, all of this comes even as top Democrats admitted on Friday that their investigation into Trump’s campaign was unlikely to yield any evidence of collusion with Russia (see “The Democrats’ Trump-Russia Conspiracy Campaign Collapses“). Of course, not many politicians are willing to let facts get in the way of a good narrative.

Mar 18 2017

Caught On Video: Hillary Clinton Warns She’s “Ready To Come Out Of The Woods”

by Tyler Durden

After months of crying in bed and moping around the woods of Chappaqua sulking over her shocking loss last November, Hillary Clinton told “The Society of Irish Women” at a St. Patrick’s Day speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Friday night that she’s finally ready to “come out of the woods.” And while that comment could be interpreted in a whole bunch of different ways, we’re going to take the high road and assume that it’s simply a hint that she’s ready to return to public life in some capacity.

“Our country seems so divided right now. I do not believe that we can let political divides harden into personal divides. And we can’t just ignore or turn a cold shoulder toward someone because they disagree with us politically.”

“We’ve gotta keep trying to listen to each other, to reason together and try to work to help people have better lives.”

“I’m like a lot of my friends right now. I have a hard time watching the news, I’ll confess. I am ready to come out of
the woods and to help shine a light on what is already happening around
kitchen tables, at dinners like this.”

Unfortunately, while Hillary is all too willing to encourage the rest of us to “listen to each other”, she’s apparently not yet ready to listen to the advice of the 60+ million people around the country who decided they would prefer she not be an active participant in public life any longer.

Of course, these latest comments will inevitably spark rumors, once again, of Hillary possibly throwing her hat in the ring for the New York City Mayoral race. As we pointed out a couple of months ago, while polls show that Mayor De Blasio will win in a blowout against most candidates, he would almost certainly lose in a landslide to Hillary…

The latest example comes from a Quinnipiac University Poll which analyzed a hypothetical head-to-head match-up between Clinton and New York’s current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Unfortunately for de Blasio, the poll found that, while he would beat almost everyone else whose name has been mentioned as potential contender, he would almost certainly be crushed by Hillary.

In a very hypothetical race for New York City Mayor, Hillary Clinton, running as an independent, tops incumbent Bill de Blasio, running as a Democrat, 49 – 30 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

“New Yorkers aren’t in love with Mayor Bill de Blasio, but they seem to like him better than other possible choices – except Hillary Clinton, who probably is an impossible choice,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

“None of the possible contenders has made any real noise or spent any money, so this race still could get interesting.”

In the Clinton – de Blasio matchup, Clinton leads 61 – 29 percent among Democrats and 45 – 31 percent among independent voters. Republicans back de Blasio 28 – 18 percent. She leads among men and women and black, white and Hispanic voters. She also leads in every borough except Staten Island, which goes to de Blasio 28 – 22 percent.

And here is a full break down of the results:

…that is, unless that nagging case of “pneumonia”
that brings with it random, yet inevitable, bouts of full-body paralysis, rears its ugly head

Mar 18 2017

Trump Administration Rolls Back Obama Protections On Student Loans…Sorry, Snowflakes

by Tyler Durden

Just days after reports emerged that student loan defaults are soaring, which is undoubtedly due to some combination of, among other things, poor job prospects for the millions of snowflakes who graduate each year with their $200,000 educations in anthropology and the moral hazard created by liberal politicians constantly calling for student debts to be ‘forgiven’ (a.k.a. forcefully jammed down the throats of taxpayers), the Trump administration has revoked rules put in place by Obama that barred student debt collectors from charging penalty fees on past-due loans.

Originating from the Department of Justice, the “Dear Colleague” letter (full letter included at end of post) says that Obama’s unilateral rules implemented in 2015 could have “benefited from public input”…but what good is being King if you can’t unilaterally force new laws on the masses? Per the Washington Post:

The Education Department is ordering guarantee agencies that collect on defaulted debt to disregard a memo former President Barack Obama’s administration issued on the old bank-based federal lending program, known as the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. That memo forbid the agencies from charging fees for up to 16 percent of the principal and accrued interest owed on the loans, if the borrower entered the government’s loan rehabilitation program within 60 days of default.

The Obama administration issued the memo after a circuit court of appeals asked for guidance in a case against United Student Aid Funds (USA Funds) challenging the assessment of collection costs. Bryana Bible took the company to court after being charged $4,547 in collection costs on a loan she defaulted on in 2012. Though she had signed a “rehabilitation agreement” with USA Funds to set a reduced payment schedule to resolve her debt, the company assessed the fees.

Education officials sided with Bible, prompting USA Funds to sue the department in 2015. Earlier this year, the company agreed to pay $23 million to settle a class-action lawsuit born out of the Bible case, though it did not admit any wrongdoing.

DeVos

Of course, it didn’t take long for Elizabeth Warren to draft a letter to the Education Department urging them to not take away ‘freebies’ from America’s entitled snowflakes.

On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) sent a letter urging the Education Department to uphold the Obama administration’s guidance on the collection fees, which they said “results in an unnecessary financial burden on vulnerable borrowers.”

“Congress gave borrowers in default on their federal student loans the one-time opportunity to rehabilitate their loans out of default and re-enter repayment,” the letter said. “It is inconsistent with the goal of rehabilitation to return borrowers to repayment with such large fees added.”

Of course, these new rules came just days after new data published by the U.S. Department of Education revealed that $137 billion of federal student loans were in default as of December 2016, a 14% year-over-year increase. Key findings from the Consumer Federation of America:

Average amount owed is $30,650 per federal student loan borrower. Average amount owed per borrower continues to tick up, rising 17% since the end of 2013, when borrowers owed on average of $26,300.

$137 billion in default. For federal loans originated by financial institutions (FFEL) and the US Department of Education (Direct), a total of $137.4 billion in balances were in default, a 14% increase from 2015. This cumulative level of defaulted balances includes loans which defaulted in previous years. Defaulting on a federal student loan comes with severe consequences. Borrowers can face seizure of their tax refund, garnishment of their wages, and an inability to pass employment verification checks.

1 million Direct Loan defaults in 2016. In 2016, 1.1 million Federal Direct Loan borrowers defaulted. Federal law typically defines a federal student loan default as being 270 days past due. Borrowers defaulting for the first time slightly decreased compared to 2015, though borrowers re-defaulting slightly increased compared to 2015.

Seems the cost of financing those spring break trips to Cancun just got a little costlier…sorry, snowflakes.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/342324653/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-IU9mtNEQISKCUfDqR1I3&show_recommendations=true