There comes a time for all to do the right thing and McCain should resign.
And:
Semper Fi! A Positive Attitude
A truism: “Life is not the way it's supposed to be - it's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference." This is coping with adversity to an extreme!
After being severely wounded, the Marine Corps Scout Sniper finally regained consciousness. He was in a hospital in a lot of pain. He found himself in the ICU with tubes/IV drips in both arms, a breathing mask, wires monitoring every function and a nurse hovering over him, looking worried.
It was obvious he was in a life-threatening situation. The nurse gave him a serious look, straight into his eyes. Knowing he was not only a Sniper but a Marine, she spoke to him softly and slowly, enunciating each word:
It was obvious he was in a life-threatening situation. The nurse gave him a serious look, straight into his eyes. Knowing he was not only a Sniper but a Marine, she spoke to him softly and slowly, enunciating each word:
"You may not feel anything from the waist down."
Somehow he managed to mumble in reply, "Can I feel your tits, then?"
And that, my friends, is a real positive attitude.
Somehow he managed to mumble in reply, "Can I feel your tits, then?"
And that, my friends, is a real positive attitude.
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There are many basis for judging leadership in Netanyahu's case one of the most important will be how he responds to Iran. (See1 below.)
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Comey is interviewed:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=BoHg8GtoNyc
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Ross rants. (See 2 below.)
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It is strategically important that The United States will soon become the largest supplier of oil to the world. The implications for Russia are very significant. (See 3 below.)
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Yes, PC'ism has reached this pitiful state. (See 4 below.)
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Mueller gets flipped.(See 5 below.)
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Dick
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1)
PM Netanyahu will be judged by how Israel confronts Iran militarily
By CHARLES BYBELEZER/THE MEDIA LINE
In what many described as a global public relations coup, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week delivered a televised 20-minute prime-time presentation in which he unveiled a cache of more than 100,000 nuclear-related files stolen from a secret facility in Tehran earlier this year in a covert operation by the Mossad. The spies in February 2016 reportedly discovered a warehouse located in the Shorabad district of the Iranian capital where the documentation was being stored; kept the building under surveillance for two years; and, recently, devised an operation to break into the structure and smuggle back to Israel half a ton of material in less than 24 hours. The Israeli agents are believed to have used "an expansive infrastructure within Iranian territory" to flee the country with local authorities "[hot] on their tails."
"This was perhaps the greatest intelligence operation in history, as I do not remember any instance when a complete archive was moved from one part of the world to another," Eliezer Tsafrir, former head of the Mossad station in Iran, contended to The Media Line. While he declined to elaborate further on the mission itself or the extent of Jerusalem's clandestine network in the Islamic Republic, Tsafrir stressed that "the message is clear: Israel can operate on Iranian soil, which is significant.
"Moreover, from what I know," he expounded, "the events prove that there is a principle [in Islam] called Taqiyya that the regime operates in accordance with, which means the [Mullahs] are religiously authorized to lie when it is convenient to do so."
In fact, this may have been the core message of the Israeli premier's address, during which he used props and a slide-show to demonstrate that the Islamic Republic, despite its frequent denials—which, most significantly, includes not having come clean when the 2015 nuclear accord was forged with world powers—in 1999 created "Project Amad" with the specific goal of developing atomic weapons.
In 2003, amid rumors that then-US president George W. Bush was considering attacking Iran's nuclear installations, the regime decided to split Project Amad into an overt program and a hidden one that, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, remained engaged in developing atomic technology under the banner of “scientific know-how.” Jerusalem contends that this work is, to some degree, still being carried out today by an organization inside Iran’s Defense Ministry named SPND, which is headed by the same person who led Project Amad, Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Notably, the Israeli premier did not provide any "smoking gun" that Iran violated the 2015 nuclear agreement forged with world powers. Indeed, most of the information he "exposed" was already revealed years ago by the International Atomic Energy Agency, thereby raising the possibility that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s primary aim was not to drop any major bombshell, but, rather, to highlight Iran’s propensity to deceive. In doing so, he not only placed Tehran on the docket—this, while shaming the Iranians, which, from their perspective, is no small blow—but also those countries that he views as enabling the Islamic Republic through their continued promotion of an atomic pact “based on lies.”
The revelations out of Jerusalem come less than two weeks before a May 12 deadline for US President Donald Trump to decide whether or not to re-impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic, a move that would in all probability kill the deal. In this respect, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that Israel’s discoveries reinforced an American intelligence assessment that Tehran had “a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people.” For his part, President Trump described the circumstances as “not an acceptable situation” before reiterating that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as it is formally known, is a “horrible agreement for the US”
Accordingly, it appears that Jerusalem and Washington were already on the same page, an indication that the Israeli premier’s target audience was, perhaps, the other parties to the nuclear deal; namely, Russia, China and especially France, Britain and Germany, or the “E3,” which reportedly will send a combined delegation to Israel to examine the acquired atomic files. President Trump, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s firm backing, has for months been lobbying these European nations to devise a follow-on pact to eliminate the JCPOA’s so-called “sunset clauses—which remove limitations on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium in about a decade—as well as to curb the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program and regional expansionism.
Just hours after the secret Iranian documentation was revealed, US media reported that Israel is preparing to engage Tehran militarily in Syria and has sought American support for any prospective mission. Three unnamed officials told NBC News that of all the hot-spots in the world, a major conflict was most likely to erupt along the Jewish state's northern border. They also attributed to Jerusalem responsibility for this week's massive air assault on army bases in the Syrian cities of Hama and Aleppo that killed more than two dozen personnel, mostly Iranians.
Responding to the latter accusation, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman quipped, "I don’t read foreign publications," adding that the IDF would do everything needed to combat against an Iranian regime that "routinely threaten[s] the state of Israel, promise[s] to wipe it out and continue[s] to support terror."
For its part, the Islamic Republic continues to maintain that the nuclear accord is non-negotiable, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently having reiterated that his country “will not accept any restrictions beyond its commitments.” Iran has threatened to “vigorously” jump-start its uranium enrichment program if Washington abandons the agreement, and, perhaps most acutely, the Mullahs have vowed to respond to Israeli "aggression" in Syria, which raises the specter of a direct confrontation between the two arch-foes.
On Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed this possibility, warning that "there is a real risk of war" if the US walks away from the nuclear deal.
This past February, a potentially devastating confrontation was averted following Iran's attempt to penetrate Israeli air space with a payload-carrying drone. This, in turn, prompted the IDF to respond with a dozen air strikes targeting military infrastructure in Syria, during which an Israeli jet was downed for the first time in three decades. While tensions have since been somewhat diffused, Israeli forces continue to conduct cross-border operations to uphold Jerusalem's red lines; namely, to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and, increasingly, to curb the Islamic Republic's efforts to establish a permanent military foothold within striking distance of Israel's border. As such, both sides remain on the precipice, one mistake away from the situation spiraling out of control.
In this respect, former Israeli defense chief Amir Peretz—who served in the post during the 2006 confrontation between the IDF and Tehran's Lebanese proxy Hezbollah—stated on Tuesday that the Jewish state was not prepared for the outbreak of war, adding that at least $500 million needs to be invested in order to fortify positions along the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria. In March, Liberman made a similar assertion, urging the government to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars annually over a years-long period "to bring the north to the level of the south," where Jerusalem has expended vast resources to secure its citizenry against the threat posed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"All of these statements should be taken very carefully as they are highly colored by positional bias," according to Uzi Rubin, former head of Israel's Arrow defense program, developed jointly with the United States to neutralize the threat posed by longer-range ballistic missiles. "Peretz is a politician with his own interests and as regards Liberman, every minister believes he or she is under-budgeted so his comments are very typical. While they may reflect elements of truth," he continued, "they do not represent the full truth as no official would be willing to expose the IDF's capabilities. It is also important to keep in mind that Israel was not supposed to win [the wars in] 1948, 1967, 1973 and so on and so forth."
In terms of a possible escalation, Rubin believes that "there is a very high potential for an intensification, but that does not mean it will be realized. Iran has spoken of a reprisal but the question is how it will be expressed, either directly in the north or possibly abroad. The Iranians are very calculating," he concluded. "They are good chess players and will do something that will give them the maximum benefit with minimum damage."
Efraim Kam, a former colonel in the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence and currently a Senior Fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, concurs that "it is more likely than unlikely that the Iranians will respond. The main issue," he communicated to The Media Line, "is that they understand now that Israel is determined to contain their intervention in Syria. Since it is strategically important for Iran to achieve this goal, the regime might decide that there is no way to stop Israeli strikes other than by retaliating."
Nevertheless, Kam qualified, "I don't think there will be a major war, but instead a [tit-for-tat] exchange. At the moment, Israel's main interest is for the Trump administration to modify the nuclear deal or withdraw from it. Any big encounter would undermine this."
But if Iran follows through on its threat to attack Israeli assets, the IDF will, in accordance with Jerusalem's strategic doctrine, almost certainly react with great force. Coupled with the growing likelihood that President Trump will nix the nuclear deal, Tehran may find itself in a position whereby it has little to lose by unleashing its proxies on Israel. The Mullahs may even determine that such a move is in their interest, using a major conflict as justification—and cover, given that history suggests the international community's ire would inevitably be directed against the Jewish state—to renew its uranium enrichment program, if not make a full-out dash for the bomb.
In such an eventuality, Prime Minister Netanyahu will have little choice but to shift from stunt-filled rhetoric to concrete military action. The fate of millions of people—in addition to his own legacy—will then depend on a totally different sort of grand performance, this one with life-and-death consequences.
"This was perhaps the greatest intelligence operation in history, as I do not remember any instance when a complete archive was moved from one part of the world to another," Eliezer Tsafrir, former head of the Mossad station in Iran, contended to The Media Line. While he declined to elaborate further on the mission itself or the extent of Jerusalem's clandestine network in the Islamic Republic, Tsafrir stressed that "the message is clear: Israel can operate on Iranian soil, which is significant.
"Moreover, from what I know," he expounded, "the events prove that there is a principle [in Islam] called Taqiyya that the regime operates in accordance with, which means the [Mullahs] are religiously authorized to lie when it is convenient to do so."
In fact, this may have been the core message of the Israeli premier's address, during which he used props and a slide-show to demonstrate that the Islamic Republic, despite its frequent denials—which, most significantly, includes not having come clean when the 2015 nuclear accord was forged with world powers—in 1999 created "Project Amad" with the specific goal of developing atomic weapons.
In 2003, amid rumors that then-US president George W. Bush was considering attacking Iran's nuclear installations, the regime decided to split Project Amad into an overt program and a hidden one that, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, remained engaged in developing atomic technology under the banner of “scientific know-how.” Jerusalem contends that this work is, to some degree, still being carried out today by an organization inside Iran’s Defense Ministry named SPND, which is headed by the same person who led Project Amad, Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Notably, the Israeli premier did not provide any "smoking gun" that Iran violated the 2015 nuclear agreement forged with world powers. Indeed, most of the information he "exposed" was already revealed years ago by the International Atomic Energy Agency, thereby raising the possibility that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s primary aim was not to drop any major bombshell, but, rather, to highlight Iran’s propensity to deceive. In doing so, he not only placed Tehran on the docket—this, while shaming the Iranians, which, from their perspective, is no small blow—but also those countries that he views as enabling the Islamic Republic through their continued promotion of an atomic pact “based on lies.”
The revelations out of Jerusalem come less than two weeks before a May 12 deadline for US President Donald Trump to decide whether or not to re-impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic, a move that would in all probability kill the deal. In this respect, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that Israel’s discoveries reinforced an American intelligence assessment that Tehran had “a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people.” For his part, President Trump described the circumstances as “not an acceptable situation” before reiterating that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as it is formally known, is a “horrible agreement for the US”
Accordingly, it appears that Jerusalem and Washington were already on the same page, an indication that the Israeli premier’s target audience was, perhaps, the other parties to the nuclear deal; namely, Russia, China and especially France, Britain and Germany, or the “E3,” which reportedly will send a combined delegation to Israel to examine the acquired atomic files. President Trump, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s firm backing, has for months been lobbying these European nations to devise a follow-on pact to eliminate the JCPOA’s so-called “sunset clauses—which remove limitations on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium in about a decade—as well as to curb the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program and regional expansionism.
Just hours after the secret Iranian documentation was revealed, US media reported that Israel is preparing to engage Tehran militarily in Syria and has sought American support for any prospective mission. Three unnamed officials told NBC News that of all the hot-spots in the world, a major conflict was most likely to erupt along the Jewish state's northern border. They also attributed to Jerusalem responsibility for this week's massive air assault on army bases in the Syrian cities of Hama and Aleppo that killed more than two dozen personnel, mostly Iranians.
Responding to the latter accusation, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman quipped, "I don’t read foreign publications," adding that the IDF would do everything needed to combat against an Iranian regime that "routinely threaten[s] the state of Israel, promise[s] to wipe it out and continue[s] to support terror."
For its part, the Islamic Republic continues to maintain that the nuclear accord is non-negotiable, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently having reiterated that his country “will not accept any restrictions beyond its commitments.” Iran has threatened to “vigorously” jump-start its uranium enrichment program if Washington abandons the agreement, and, perhaps most acutely, the Mullahs have vowed to respond to Israeli "aggression" in Syria, which raises the specter of a direct confrontation between the two arch-foes.
On Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed this possibility, warning that "there is a real risk of war" if the US walks away from the nuclear deal.
This past February, a potentially devastating confrontation was averted following Iran's attempt to penetrate Israeli air space with a payload-carrying drone. This, in turn, prompted the IDF to respond with a dozen air strikes targeting military infrastructure in Syria, during which an Israeli jet was downed for the first time in three decades. While tensions have since been somewhat diffused, Israeli forces continue to conduct cross-border operations to uphold Jerusalem's red lines; namely, to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and, increasingly, to curb the Islamic Republic's efforts to establish a permanent military foothold within striking distance of Israel's border. As such, both sides remain on the precipice, one mistake away from the situation spiraling out of control.
In this respect, former Israeli defense chief Amir Peretz—who served in the post during the 2006 confrontation between the IDF and Tehran's Lebanese proxy Hezbollah—stated on Tuesday that the Jewish state was not prepared for the outbreak of war, adding that at least $500 million needs to be invested in order to fortify positions along the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria. In March, Liberman made a similar assertion, urging the government to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars annually over a years-long period "to bring the north to the level of the south," where Jerusalem has expended vast resources to secure its citizenry against the threat posed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"All of these statements should be taken very carefully as they are highly colored by positional bias," according to Uzi Rubin, former head of Israel's Arrow defense program, developed jointly with the United States to neutralize the threat posed by longer-range ballistic missiles. "Peretz is a politician with his own interests and as regards Liberman, every minister believes he or she is under-budgeted so his comments are very typical. While they may reflect elements of truth," he continued, "they do not represent the full truth as no official would be willing to expose the IDF's capabilities. It is also important to keep in mind that Israel was not supposed to win [the wars in] 1948, 1967, 1973 and so on and so forth."
In terms of a possible escalation, Rubin believes that "there is a very high potential for an intensification, but that does not mean it will be realized. Iran has spoken of a reprisal but the question is how it will be expressed, either directly in the north or possibly abroad. The Iranians are very calculating," he concluded. "They are good chess players and will do something that will give them the maximum benefit with minimum damage."
Efraim Kam, a former colonel in the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence and currently a Senior Fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, concurs that "it is more likely than unlikely that the Iranians will respond. The main issue," he communicated to The Media Line, "is that they understand now that Israel is determined to contain their intervention in Syria. Since it is strategically important for Iran to achieve this goal, the regime might decide that there is no way to stop Israeli strikes other than by retaliating."
Nevertheless, Kam qualified, "I don't think there will be a major war, but instead a [tit-for-tat] exchange. At the moment, Israel's main interest is for the Trump administration to modify the nuclear deal or withdraw from it. Any big encounter would undermine this."
But if Iran follows through on its threat to attack Israeli assets, the IDF will, in accordance with Jerusalem's strategic doctrine, almost certainly react with great force. Coupled with the growing likelihood that President Trump will nix the nuclear deal, Tehran may find itself in a position whereby it has little to lose by unleashing its proxies on Israel. The Mullahs may even determine that such a move is in their interest, using a major conflict as justification—and cover, given that history suggests the international community's ire would inevitably be directed against the Jewish state—to renew its uranium enrichment program, if not make a full-out dash for the bomb.
In such an eventuality, Prime Minister Netanyahu will have little choice but to shift from stunt-filled rhetoric to concrete military action. The fate of millions of people—in addition to his own legacy—will then depend on a totally different sort of grand performance, this one with life-and-death consequences.
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2) If anyone thought any real concrete agreement on anything was going to come out of the China meetings this week they are naive. This is complex and will take a long time to get to an actual set of agreements. Right now they are in the initial, mine is bigger than yours stage. The real deal will come possibly after the N Korea situation is worked out since China is such a key part of that. Apparently they have been cheating on the sanctions lately, so everything is in flux until Trump and Kim meet. In time China and the US will agree some sort of reset of trade, and especially intellectual property since the whole world is behind the US on that piece. There is a strong filing by the US with the WTO to try to force China to stop the intellectual theft, and forcing western companies to share technology if they want to do business there. I can report that even a few years ago when I was in China exploring a hotel joint venture, the key to them was to get our people to teach them how to run a hotel. So even at the mundane level, they are seeking to get all our knowledge to advance their own economy. Can’t blame them for trying and pushing their own agenda, but it does not work for the west if we are to compete fairly 5 or 10 years from now.
Emerging markets now are seeing risk they had not expected. As the US dollar rises, emerging market debt denominated in US dollars becomes harder to cover. I am not a Forex expert, so I can’t comment much, but it seems logical that as interest rates rise in the US as the economy strengthens, the dollar will rise. Bad news for emerging markets investments. You need to do your own research on this if you invest in those markets. They may have seen their best days gone.
Unemployment dropped below 4%, down to near historic lows over the next few months. That is partly because 200,000 dropped out of the workforce, likely to retire, but it is still full employment. Minority employment is at record lows. However white unemployment is 3.6% and Asian 2.7%. Blacks 6.6%. Cultural differences are a major part of the cause of that gap. Asians stress family and education. However, it is still a slow wage growth scenario, which seems to defy theory and logic. Lack of productivity growth is the big problem. Overall the economy is still on a very strong track, and once the tariff issues are resolved, growth will increase further. Any person not employed is likely one of those bums shooting up and peeing on the streets of CA and Seattle. That is what you get when you tell these people they are welcomed, and will get all sorts of welfare and a place to live and food, and no hassle from the cops-all for free. Where else is it allowed to lay around train stations and the sidewalk and shoot up and relieve yourself in full view of kids. Of course, DeBlasio is saying public urination is now not an offense. He never gets it. And now they want to have a guaranteed income in CA. Just imagine how many more bums will take the next bus to San Fran or LA. The good news is it may get them all to leave where us non Californians live.
It is hard to really predict 2019 or 2020 as some think they can-good or bad. We need to see the China trade deal when it is final, not just after this past week preliminaries. We also need the whole metals tariff issue resolved. The shortage of qualified labor is serious, and holding back growth already. There is a shortage of pipeline capacity which will get corrected by next year, but for now it is a drag. The shortage of truckers is already a drag. All of these things take a toll on GDP growth, but it is the lack of productivity growth that really is the issue. If that does not improve, then the labor shortage gets worse. Maybe retirees will continue to work to build up savings to get thru longer life. It pays for companies to pay up to keep fully trained staff. There is some evidence some retirees are going back to work, but not in sufficient numbers. Then of course there is the November election, Iran and N Korea, among other things that could throw everything into black swan territory.
Recent research suggests fully retiring with no alternative work or active pursuit really does shorten your life. A study was done in Italy, and the oldest were those still doing some work, even if around home. The research found those who were domineering, stubborn, want control, trust their own convictions, and don’t care what other people think, live longer than more passive types. The very old define grit and adaptability. For those who know me, based on many of these characteristics and my genes, I should live to 200.
The issue with the out of control entitlements is twofold. It pushes the less willing to work, to sit home,. That is what Finland just learned with their $500 month guaranteed minimum income program. The second issue is all that government issue of debt crowds out private sector issuance, and makes it more costly, thereby raising the cost of capital for growth and investment. Chuck and Nancy may have celebrated what they got in the budget deal, but they did real damage to the economy. The US is now in a situation where entitlements have to be reduced or we will have a major drag on the economy, and standard of living someday. Cities and states are already finding they are unable to cover services in full because they gave the teachers unions and other unions far too much in pensions and healthcare, and now everyone is being short changed to pay for that. The country is headed rapidly to the same position thanks to $10 trillion of extra debt run up by the Dems under Obama, and the recent budget deal..
So Trump repaid his lawyer. Who cares. Guys like him keep lawyers on retainer for just these messy things. That was Cohen’s job. Nothing unusual. So Trump lied to the press. “I did not have sex with that woman”, ”if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor”. “Benghazi was due to a video” Politicians lie all the time to the press, so what? If this is all the press and Dems can rage about, then it is pathetic. It is obvious there is no collusion story anymore. So now let’s scream about a bimbo stripper who is being used and manipulated by her publicity seeking lawyer who has his own agenda to build his practice. Why doesn’t the press rage about how the proposed head of the CIA may barely squeak through with no Dem votes even though even Brennan and Clapper and everyone else who has worked with her say she is perfect for the job-Oh and she is a woman. As usual we do not do what is best for America, we just resist, and try to cripple the best possible outcome for the country. It is disgraceful. Vote for Dems, put Nancy in charge, and really harm the country. Just as we are finalizing a deal with N Korea, China trade, and managing the mess Obama created with the Iran deal, they want to start impeachment. That is what you get with the Dems in power. And now a federal judge told Mueller’s prosecutors” You don’t really care about Manafort. You really care about information Mr Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr Trump and impeachment. He then said they were “liars”.
I have been directly involved in 21 lawsuits either as an expert or a plaintiff. I have been deposed or on witness stand numerous times, and have been trained how to respond. No matter how smart and well prepared you are, it is always dangerous to be subjected to this. The questioner has the answers before he asks the question, and you can never recall everything perfectly, so it is easy to get tripped up even if you are being truthful. Good litigators ask things in round about ways, so the honest answer may not be the exact right answer to that question. In Mueller’s case they are out to trap him to set him up for the Dems to try to have a reason to try to impeach. He would be nuts to go before Mueller, even if he is totally honest and speaks simply in answering, neither of which are normal Trump attributes.
So let me get this straight. Two guys go to Starbucks, but buy nothing, and just hang out there taking space that is for paying customers. Most diners, coffee shops, and small restaurants in NY, and many elsewhere, have a sign on the front door—“Restrooms for customers only”. It is the norm across much of America. They are politely told they cannot just stay and are asked to leave in accordance with company policy that has been in place for years, and consistent with normal practice by restaurants and coffee shops. They refuse. The cops come and politely ask them to leave. But the refuse a courteous and lawful order. So what is the lesson- if you are black you can do as you please and the CEO of a major corporation will run to prostate himself at your feet and beg forgiveness for your having been asked to comply with long standing company policy, community norms, and the law. The city will pay you, and apologize for the cops being respectful and responding to a lawful call from a shop manager. And the press will make you a hero. What is the message to other blacks who want to disrupt other shops. You can imagine the next time cops are called to get a black trespasser out of a store, they will maybe not even respond and risk getting themselves in trouble. You can be sure if they were white they would have been arrested and end of story. The CEO of Starbucks should be fired. The mayor should apologize and pay apology money to the next retailer who gets invaded by drug addicts and homeless using their bathroom, which is what is going to happen. They just further wrecked the rule of law and respect for shop owners and business owners and paying customers rights. This is what happens when you let kids on campus run the lunatic asylum. You teach them disrespect and to ignore the law. We will all pay a price for this insanity.
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3) Citi: U.S. To Become World’s Top Oil Exporter | OilPrice.com
As global oil markets shift their attention from U.S. shale oil production back to a resurgent Saudi Arabia and Russia and geopolitical concerns bearing down on oil prices, Citigroup said last Wednesday that the U.S. is poised to surpass Saudi Arabia next year as the world’s largest exporter of crude and oil products.
The U.S. exported a record 8.3 million barrels per day (bpd) last week of crude oil and petroleum products, the government also said Wednesday. Top crude oil exporter Saudi Arabia’s, for its part, exported 9.3 million bpd in January, while Russia exported 7.4 million bpd, the bank added.
However, it should also be noted that the Citi projection is for both crude and finished (refined) petroleum products, not only crude oil. Saudi Arabia remains the world’s largest exporter of crude, though since January amid the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut agreement that figure has fallen. On April 10, the Saudi oil minister said that the kingdom planned to keep its crude oil shipments in May below 7 million bpd for the 12th consecutive month.
Saudi Arabia has also trimmed its oil production more than 100 percent of the output cuts it agreed to under the January 2017 production deal. In March, Saudi crude production was at 9.91 million bpd, below the deal’s output target of 10.058 million bpd.
Russia, however, also part of the global oil protection cut agreement, increased its crude oil production by 0.2 percent to 10.97 million bpd in March, compared to the previous month and an 11-month high. Related: Electric Planes Could Soon Be A Reality
Though Citi has projected that the U.S. could bypass Saudi Arabia in the export of crude and petroleum products, U.S. crude oil exports have been relatively low compared to other major oil producers since the Obama Administration lifted the ban of American crude oil exports in 2015.
Nonetheless, U.S. crude exports are poised for an upward trajectory. On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said the U.S. crude exports last week increased by 582,000 bpd to 2.331 bpd, an all-time high.
Profiting from arbitrage
The reason for the spike in exports also comes from the price divergence (arbitrage) between London-traded, global benchmark Brent crude and NYMEX, U.S.-benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices. As the spread between the two benchmarks widens, WTI trades at a significant cost advantage against Brent as well as other crude benchmarks. The WTI discount is a boon for refineries, particularly in Asia, that need the light sweet crude which yields higher priced refined petroleum products.
U.S. crude is also competing for market share in China against traditional exporters Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran. China for its part seems to be pivoting away from Saudi oil as the kingdom continues to increase its official selling price (OSP) for Arab Light crude. Related: Oil Prices Slip On Large Crude Inventory Build
On Tuesday, Unipec, the trading arm of state-run Sinopec Group, said that it plans to continue to cut their Saudi Arabian crude oil purchases for June and July loadings, after slashing May shipments by 40 percent. Unipec executives said that Arab Light crude is no longer competitive against other crude blends. Unipec executives have said previously that such prices increases were “unreasonable.” Sinopec is Asia’s largest refiner.
Saudi Aramco is expected to raise its OSPs by at least 50 cents a barrel for June cargoes to track increases in benchmark Middle East crude Dubai this month, Reuters said, citing two traders that participate in the market.
Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as China’s top crude oil supplier in 2017. Saudi Arabia remained the second largest supplier to China in Q1 this year, although its exports were down 5.7 percent from a year ago.
U.S. crude is also finding more buyers in Europe due to the Brent/WTI arbitrage. Market sources have estimated U.S. exports to Europe would average 800,000 bpd between mid-May and mid-June, including 25 million barrels in May overall. One source, according to a report in Hellenic Shipping News, said that of the 25 million barrels expected to land in May, 15 million barrels had already been placed with end-users.
“We are seeing record arrivals from the US to Europe,” a trader said, adding that while all sorts of grades were crossing the Atlantic, WTI Midland represented the largest portion.
By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com
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4)Your Culture is My Underpants
Your culture is my underpants.
I mention this because, earlier this week, a young lady named Keziah Daum tweeted a picture of herself in a Chinese-style prom dress. In the picture, Keziah was standing with her date. She looked absolutely adorable in the pretty dress and her date was obviously wondering how he got so lucky. It was a photo to inspire a smile in anyone who feels pleasure at the sight of youth, beauty, life, love, joy or the harmless delights of just being human.
So, you guessed it, leftists were triggered. "My culture is not your prom dress," tweeted one presumably Asian knucklehead. And plenty of other angry little trolls joined in.
But actually, they were all wrong, every one of them. Because you know what? Your culture is her prom dress. It's also my underpants.
In fact, I have the entire history of the Ming dynasty embroidered on the seat of my jockeys. Occasionally I even dig around back there and use the Prince of Yan to scratch an itch. The sometimes-tragic and occasionally triumphant journey of black Americans adorns the pouch up front. Mexicans get the left leg, the Irish the right, and various mixed races are spread across the elastic waist because, you know, they're flexible.
Now none of this is to insult any of these peoples. It's to insult leftists. Or more precisely, it's to tell leftists they can pound sand, every one of them. No matter where you're from, no matter what you look like, your culture is not your culture. Your culture is just there and I can appropriate it any time I want for any reason I see fit. Know why? I'm a free American man, I don't care what you think and I can do whatever I like. And I like scratching my butt itches with the Prince of Yan.
Cultural appropriation is not a glitch of American life. It's a feature. It's part of what makes the country great. We take your culture, we get rid of the oppression, the mass murder, the slavery, the intransigent poverty and the endless internecine wars. We keep the pasta and the funny hats, and occasionally we dress up as you on Halloween. It's a good deal for everyone.
People who get angry about pretty girls wearing pretty dresses have lost the plot of life. Same with people who get angry about comedians making jokes, silly characters in television cartoons and rap stars who disagree with their politics. These are not bad things. They are good things. They are what real diversity looks like: people of different colors from different places living together as one nation, disagreeing with one another, making fun of each other, stealing fashion ideas from one another, eating each other's food, marrying each other and celebrating that out of many lesser cultures we are making one new culture, free and prosperous, powerful and great.
Does that bother you? Guess what: you're an idiot. Are you giving a young lady a hard time about what dress she chooses to wear to prom? Hooray: you're a bully and a schmuck. Does everything that everybody does or say make you feel offended and angry? I'm happy to report there's a cure for that. Stop being a leftist and the world will suddenly become very beautiful indeed.
Why? Because we are Americans. If you live here, you are blessed. If you live in a world that includes us, you are better off than you would be otherwise. And all your cultures are belong to us.
Are you complaining about that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you. I was scratching my butt with your face.
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5)
MUELLER WOULD PREFER NOT TO [WITH COMMENT BY JOHN]
This past February Special Counsel Robert Mueller brought the dramatic indictment against Russian actors allegedly responsible for interference in the 2016 presidential election. The Department of Justice has posted the indictment online here. Politico covered the indictment in a good story by Michael Crowley and Louis Nelson. The indictment charged three Russian companies and 13 Russian individuals with election related crimes.
I don’t think anyone (including Mueller) anticipated that any of the defendants would appear in court to defend against the charges. Rather, the Mueller prosecutors seem to have obtained the indictment to serve a public relations purpose, laying out the case for interference as understood by the government and lending a veneer of respectability to the Mueller Switch Project.
One of the Russian corporate defendants nevertheless hired counsel to contest the charges. In April two Washington-area attorneys — Eric Dubelier and Kate Seikaly of the Reed Smith firm — filed appearances in court on behalf of Concord Management and Consulting. Josh Gerstein covered that turn of events for Politico here.
Gerstein noted that by defending against the charges “Concord could force prosecutors to turn over discovery about how the case was assembled as well as evidence that might undermine the prosecution’s theories.” He also speculated that trial might expose sensitive intelligence information without the prospect of ultimately sending anyone to prison.
Indeed, Concord has submitted discovery requests demanding information supporting the charges. The Special Counsel prosecutors have asked United States District Judge Dabney Friedrich to put off the formal arraignment of Concord set for Wednesday. The prosecutors assert that Concord hasn’t formally accepted the court summons related to the case. They wrap themselves in a cloud of confusion: “Until the Court has an opportunity to determine if Concord was properly served, it would be inadvisable to conduct an initial appearance and arraignment at which important rights will be communicated and a plea entertained.”
Concord filed its response yesterday. Gerstein has obtained a copy and posted it here. Gerstein quotes this biting point: “[Concord] voluntarily appeared through counsel as provided for in [the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure], and further intends to enter a plea of not guilty. [Concord] has not sought a limited appearance nor has it moved to quash the summons. As such, the briefing sought by the Special Counsel’s motion is pettifoggery.”
It is no surprise that they have failed to respond to Concord’s discovery requests. They don’t even acknowledge Concord has appeared in the case to contest the charges. Gerstein reportsthat Judge Friedrich “sided with Concord and said the arraignment will proceed as scheduled Wednesday afternoon.” Gerstein also reports that “Concord intends to assert its speedy trial rights, putting more pressure on the special counsel’s office to turn over records related to the case.”
I wonder if the Russians might not be more clever than Mueller. For whatever reason, the Special Prosecutor is complicating the issue and seeking to protract the proceedings.
JOHN adds: One hates to be in the position of rooting for the Russians, but the Mueller Switch Project is so distasteful that it is hard not to enjoy the prospect of Mueller having to deal with an actual adversary in court. Meanwhile, this is probably the first time in the history of litigation that a plaintiff (here, prosecutor) has told a court that it may not have obtained good service of process on a defendant that has appeared to defend the case on the merits. Mueller to Court: We didn’t really mean it, Judge! We had no idea they might actually show up!
Talk about back-pedaling.
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