Beet L. Jooz

WASHINGTON — Louisiana’s lineup of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives didn’t change in November’s midterms. But nearly all of them have changed offices in a literal sense.

President Trump said Sunday he's in "no hurry" to name permanent choices for a handful of Cabinet positions being filled in an acting capacity."I sort of like acting. It gives me more flexibility. Do you understand...

WikiLeaks on Sunday advised journalists not to report 140 different "false and defamatory" statements about its founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 2012.

This isn't good.

President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House on Sunday that he “can relate” to federal workers who can’t pay their bills because of the shutdown.

“Mr. President, can you relate to the pain of federal workers who can’t pay their bills?” asked NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell.

“I can relate,” Trump replied. “I’m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments, they always do, and uh, they’ll make adjustments, people understand exactly what’s going on.”

Trump added that “many of those people that won’t be receiving a paycheck… agree 100% with what I’m doing.”

Watch here:

My question to the president, “Can you relate to the pain of federal workers who can’t pay their bills?” Pres. Trump:”I can relate…”. Watch: pic.twitter.com/WJCBHZQ15x

— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) January 6, 2019

O’Donnell followed up by asking “how much pain [Trump is] willing to withstand politically.”

Watch his response below:

My question: “How much pain are you willing to withstand politically?” Pres Trump talks about “having the guts” to “protect the country”. Watch: pic.twitter.com/0ElTM2381e

— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) January 6, 2019

[Featured image via screengrab]

Authored by Sven Henrich via NorthmanTrader.com,

For years critics of central bank policy have been dismissed as negative nellies, but the ugly truth is staring us all in the face: Market advances remain a game of artificial liquidity and central bank jawboning and not organic growth and now the jig is up. As I’ve been saying for a long time: There is zero evidence that markets can make or sustain new highs without some sort of intervention on the side of central banks. None. Zero. Zilch.

And don’t think this is hyperbole on my part, I will present the evidence of course.

In March 2009 markets bottomed on the expansion of QE1 which was introduced following the initial QE1 announcement in November 2008. Every major correction since then has been met with major central bank intervention. QE2, Twist, QE3 and so on.

When market tumbled in 2015 and 2016 global central banks embarked on the largest combined intervention effort in history to the tune of over $5 trillion between 2016 and 2017 giving us a grand total of over $15 trillion in central bank balance sheet courtesy FOMC, ECB and BOJ:

When did global central bank balance sheets peak? Early 2018. When did global markets peak? January 2018.

And don’t think the Fed was not still active in the jawboning business despite QE3 ending. After all their official language remained “accommodative”  and their hike schedule was the slowest in history, cautious and tinkering not to upset markets.

With tax cuts coming into the US economy in early 2018 along with record buybacks markets at first ignored the beginning of QT (quantitative tightening), but then it all changed.

And guess what changed? 2 things.

In September 2018, for the first time in 10 years, the FOMC removed one little word from its policy stance: “accommodative” and The Fed increased its QT program. When did US markets peak? September 2018.

And with the sugar high of the tax cuts fading it was too much. Add trade wars and global growth slowing it was more than markets could handle.

And so yes, the timing was perfect and you can see it in the chart:

Who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Global central banks did the dirty work for the Fed between 2016 and 2017 adding ever more artificial liquidity. But then the ECB slowed their QE program and finally ended it in late 2018.

How did the $DAX handle all that removal in artificial liquidity? Not well.

DAX peaked in January 2018 as the ECB started reducing its QE program.

The Fed likes to claim it is managing policy based on the economy, not on markets. But here’s the ugly truth on that: The economy these days is very much tied to market performance. Big drops in markets have an adverse impact on the economy full stop. Hence it is a fallacy to argue that one looks at one but not the other.

After all, tell me when the Fed ever hikes during a massive market correction? The answer: Never. It’s always the other way around.

As soon as markets drop all plans for rate hikes and/or balance sheet reductions come to a sudden halt:

The Fed never sees it coming.
Crude was $74+ & $SPX at 2900+ when this chatter came out.
3 months later: let's stop everything.
It's almost as if market price trajectory drives Fed policy. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/x4SmsNcSbH

— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) January 3, 2019

Recognizing the market’s sudden found sensitivity to QT the Fed was sure to react. After all markets were sensitive to slowing growth in China, $AAPL’s warning this week and the renewed sell-off in markets as a result.

And what did we get this very morning? The predictable jawbone:

Powell says Fed ‘wouldn’t hesitate’ to tweak balance sheet reduction

“We don’t believe that our issuance is an important part of the story of the market turbulence that began in the fourth quarter of last year. But, I’ll say again, if we reached a different conclusion, we wouldn’t hesitate to make a change,” he said. “If we came to the view that the balance sheet normalization plan — or any other aspect of normalization — was part of the problem, we wouldn’t hesitate to make a change.”

Bullshit. Of course it is and he knows that and he dangled the carrot and that’s all that mattered.

Who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

This move came on the heels of China’s overnight intervention announcing a coming cut in its bank reverse ratios by 1%.

So don’t mistake this rally for anything but for what it really is: Central banks again coming to the rescue of stressed markets and their action and words matter in heavy oversold markets.

But the reality remains, artificial liquidity is coming out of these markets:

Although the Fed, as indicated by Powell may slow or even halt their projected path. On a dime. And that’s what markets are reacting to today.

Central banks keep claiming all this is done to support growth. What growth? What has actually been accomplished?

All this intervention has not produced sustained accelerating growth, certainly not compared to previous cycles.

Tax cut sugar high aside all growth projections for 2019 are pointing to marked slowing with recession risk rising.

The only thing that has really grown as a result of all this cheap money and intervention is debt:

Corporate debt has doubled since 2007. Government debt is expanding with no end in sight having risen by another $2 trillion in the first 2 years of the Trump administration.

And so here we go again:

And central banks have already begun to react.

What’s the larger message here? Free market price discovery would require a full accounting of market bubbles and the realities of structural problems which remain unresolved. Central banks exist to prevent the consequences of excess to come to fruition and give license to politicians to avoid addressing structural problems. And by preventing these market forces from playing out at each sign of trouble the can gets kicked further and further down the road. Each successive recovery keeps the illusion alive but the jingle is getting tighter and tighter each time around and requires ever lower rates before the monsters return. In the meantime debt keeps expanding while each recovery produces less and less organically driven growth, but ever higher wealth inequality. This is what this system produces.

And that’s the ugly truth. But you won’t hear it from the Fed.

*  *  *

For the latest public analysis please visit NorthmanTrader. To subscribe to our market products please visit Services.

Trump not in league with convicted pedophiles.

AP A new city policy requiring public signs on brick buildings warning they might collapse in an earthquake is part [READ MORE]

The post NAACP links earthquake signs in Oregon to white supremacy appeared first on The Savage Nation.

Blast wounds two further officers, including bomb squad commander

Agency chief Gina Haspel aids rise of the 'sisterhood' within organisation dominated by men for much of its 70-year history

Nevada death row inmate Scott Dozier was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide Saturday, the Nevada Department of Corrections said.

1. Trump confirms death of alleged USS Cole plotter killed in US airstrike  ABC News
2. Al Qaeda operative tied to USS Cole bombing killed in US airstrike, Trump says  Fox News
3. Airstrike Kills Plotter of Deadly Bombing of U.S.S. Cole  The New York Times
4. USS Cole bomber died in Yemen air strike - Trump  BBC News
5. Militant Suspected Of USS Cole Bombing Is Killed In U.S. Airstrike, Trump Says  NPR
6. View full coverage on Google News

"There's not going to be any bend right here," Trump said, reminding reporters that his voters and even some Democrat voters supported the idea of stronger border security.

A surprising new report tonight reveals that the FBI is looking into texts from someone impersonating a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Republican lawmakers in the House have received these texts and “at least one member has been repeatedly engaging with the imposter.”

The person sending the texts was apparently impersonating Alyssa Farah, the vice president’s press secretary.

And, as the Journal notes, this isn’t the first time someone sent messages pretending to be someone in the administration––there was that prankster who pretended to be Jared Kushner in emails to White House officials last year.

You can read the full report here.

[photo via Getty Images]

Five Marksville area children were killed and several others injured in a fiery interstate crash while traveling to Walt Disney World with the Avoyelles House of Mercy Pentecostal Church.

Authored by Onar Am via Liberty Nation,

The legacy media is mostly silent on the jailing of a German journalist in Venezuela...

The German Junge Freiheit journalist Billy Six has been arrested and charged for espionage in Venezuela. Reporters Without Borders (RFS) said that Venezuelan authorities are accusing Six of spying, rebellion, and “violating security zones.”

He faces up to 28 years in prison if found guilty.

Six, who is known for his center-right viewpoints, was investigating the consequences of socialism in the Latin-American failed nation. Gerardo Moron of Venezuelan NGO Espacio Publico explained that:

“Six was in Venezuela investigating drug trafficking activities, smuggling of fuel and strategic goods, human trafficking and even the exodus of Venezuelans — crimes and realities present in this part of Venezuela.”

According to Edward Six, father of the jailed journalist, the government is holding him on the grounds of a photo his son took of President Nicolás Maduro at a rally that allegedly proves that he was inside the security perimeter. Edward Six says his son denies this.

“He just was on the street. He talked to all these normal people. He asked them questions and put that on the internet.”

This is not the first time the brave reporter has got in trouble with authoritarian regimes. In December 2012, the Syrian army arrested him for entering the country illegally and held him for three months.

Freedom Of Speech

Journalists are often like canaries in the coal mine. They give an early warning about a society’s slide into totalitarianism. When freedom of speech disappears, it is a sign that someone is maintaining power not based on competence, but on oppression. Shining the light of truth on the worthy only strengthens their position, but the corrupt are only be weakened by it.

Venezuela was held up as a beacon of progress by progressive socialists all over the West until only a few years ago, when the Bolivarian revolution transmuted into a nightmare where starving people are forced to eat garbage or their own pets in order to survive.

The left was quick to go silent, and far-fetched explanations were conjured to explain away yet another miserable failure of socialism. It was the low oil price, the capitalists were conspiring to destroy Venezuela, and Chavez was good, but Maduro is bad.

Six Versus Khashoggi

Consider the difference in Western press coverage of the killing of Islamic journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the imprisonment of Six. On the former there has been massive reactions, but the legacy media has been almost silent on the German journalist.

Billy Six

Why? Billy Six was trying to tell the truth about socialism, the “progressive” ideas that always fail. That’s a story that is a turn-off for most of mainstream media. Khashoggi, by contrast, was a leftist darling because he was critical of an ally of the United States and moderate reformer of political Islam, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Never mind that Khashoggi was a radical Islamist, had connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, and was possibly a mouthpiece of Iran. He was against the liberal freedoms of the West, and that makes him an ally of the illiberal left.

The legacy media has called President Donald Trump an authoritarian and fascist for labeling them as “the enemy of the people,” painting him as someone who would oppose free speech and imprison journalists. However, when reporters are actually jailed for merely doing their jobs, the fake news media remain indifferent. Their silence on the matter speaks volumes.

Britney Spears puts Las Vegas residency on hold due to father's health  NBC News

Pop star Britney Spears announced Friday that she is going on an "indefinite work hiatus" and has put her Las Vegas residency on hold due to her father's recent ...

View full coverage on Google News

(New York Post) A person posing as Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary has reportedly sent bogus text messages to members of Congress, sparking security concerns and an FBI probe.

The text messages impersonate Pence’s press secretary Alyssa Farah and were sent to multiple GOP legislators in the House, requesting meetings and locations of lawmakers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.), who chairs the House Republican conference, is aware of the fake texts and referred the matter to the House Sergeant at Arms office, the paper said.

The post Fake texts to GOP House members spark security concerns at White House appeared first on WND.