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Trump 'Boom' Sparks Record-Breaking Backlog Of Big Rigs
Thanks to strained manufacturing supply chains and a booming economy, an unprecedented run of orders for new big rigs has nearly doubled the backlog at truck factories to nine months, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing industry analysts.
North American freight-haulers ordered over 300,000 Class 8 trucks through July of this year, and are on track to order a record 450,000 of the heavy-duty haulers for the full year, according to ACT Research. The surge in demand would be the largest since 2004, when orders reached 390,000.
North American fleets ordered over 52,000 trucks alone in July, an all-time monthly record, in an effort to keep up with swelling demand amid a booming economy and a shortage of drivers.
The orders are coming at a rapid pace as more U.S. companies, from construction equipment makers to retailers, say rising transportation costs and tight truck capacity are crimping their ability to grow and slicing into profit margins. Cass Information Systems Inc., which processes freight payments, says its monthly index of U.S. trucking costs rose more than 10% in July, the first double-digit year-over-year increase in the 13 years of the measure. -WSJ
More at the link
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-17/record-breaking-backlog-big-rigs-largest-14-years
CNN's prime time ratings fall below the Food Channel
Difference between Socialism and Racism ...
A young kid asks his mother, “Mama, what is Socialism and what is Racism?"
“Well, Child…Socialism is when the other folks work every day so we can get all our governmental entitlement stuff for free. You know…like our free cell phones for each family member, rent subsidy, food stamps, EBT, WIC, free school breakfast, lunch, and in some places supper, free healthcare, utility subsidy, and a Riot every now and then, and on and on…you know, that's Socialism."
“But, Mama, don’t the working people get pissed off about that?”
“Sure they do, Honey. That’s called Racism.”
Many years ago I decided that something didn't seem quite right about having a Facebook account... So I never opened one. Everyday it becomes more clear that I have been correct.
Government Worker Napped Three Hours Per Day for Four Years
ZH: We strongly suggest you put down any sharp objects and remove all liquids from your mouth before reading the following...
Authored by Robert Fellner via The Mises Institute,
The most robust study ever conducted on the topic found that the average California state government worker earned 23 percent more in total compensation than their similarly skilled and educated private-sector counterpart.
That value rose to 33 percent above their private-sector counterpart, when the value of California state government workers’ legendary job security was included. But a recent report by the California State Auditor leaves one with the impression that the study vastly underestimated the true value of job security for government workers.
In February of 2014, a DMV employee was documented by her supervisors for sleeping at work. According to four separate witnesses, the employee continued to sleep at her desk for a minimum of three hours a day, for nearly 4 years straight.
The most mind-boggling part of this story is that there is no dispute that this employee was sleeping on the job, every day, for nearly 4 years.
In addition to the four witnesses, her daily sleeping was also documented by her supervisors in written, periodic performance evaluations, which the employee signed off on without disputing any of the factual allegations contained within.
When the state auditor got involved midway through 2017, the employee’s supervisor defended her failure to perform her core duty by claiming that “because she woke up the employee three to four times each day, she believed the employee missed only 20 to 30 minutes of work time daily.”
The auditor rejected the obvious falsehood that an employee who needed to be woken up “three to four times each day” somehow missed only 20 to 30 minutes of work.
The auditor instead found that the employee slept for at least 3 hours a day from February 2014 through December 2017 — a finding consistent with the statements provided by four separate witnesses and the fact that the employee’s work output was only 35 percent of the amount expected.
That 35 percent figure just reflects the number of reports the employee turned in, compared to what was expected. If we’re measuring productivity or value, it’s possible the employee was actually a net negative to the department, given what her colleagues and supervisors had to say about the few reports she did turn in:
Further, the employee’s evaluations mention that she made mistakes when entering data. In fact, during the investigation, a witness explained that the employee’s work was often so inaccurate that the witness would not trust the employee to accurately enter the witness’s own address or vehicle ownership change. Thus, the employee’s behavior may have prevented DMV from providing the public with an appropriate level of service.
So what was the final outcome? Despite sleeping on the job everyday and producing error-filled work for 4 years, the employee received no disciplinary action of any kind, and continues to collect her full salary and benefits.
What’s much worse, in my opinion, is the gross negligence of the supervisor. The DMV is a large employer. There will be some bad apples. Moreover, if an employee who is sleeping at their desk everyday receives no penalty of any kind, it’s not terribly surprising they never change their own behavior.
So what happened to the DMV supervisor who, by her own admission, did not take any disciplinary action against an employee that she needed to wake up three to four times a day, every day, for 4 years?
Nothing.
While the auditor recommended that the DMV take disciplinary action against the supervisors, the DMV countered that because they had no prior issues, they would instead only require that the supervisors undergo training to ensure they understand that employees who sleep on the job every day for four years should be disciplined, should such a situation arise in the future.
And that is why so many are critical of government. It’s not because this story is reflective of government employees generally — it’s not. The audit only occurred because of the employee’s coworkers who blew the whistle.
The continually justified criticism of government, however, is that it is a grossly negligent and irresponsible steward of taxpayer dollars - something perfectly reflected in the DMV’s response to the auditor’s findings.
GOOGLE PLANS TO LAUNCH CENSORED SEARCH ENGINE IN CHINA, LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL
( How long before we get censored search in the US ? Oh wait... we already have that. )
GOOGLE IS PLANNING to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest, The Intercept can reveal.
The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December 2017 meeting between Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official, according to internal Google documents and people familiar with the plans.
Teams of programmers and engineers at Google have created a custom Android app, different versions of which have been named “Maotai” and “Longfei.” The app has already been demonstrated to the Chinese government; the finalized version could be launched in the next six to nine months, pending approval from Chinese officials.
The planned move represents a dramatic shift in Google’s policy on China and will mark the first time in almost a decade that the internet giant has operated its search engine in the country.
Google’s search service cannot currently be accessed by most internet users in China because it is blocked by the country’s so-called Great Firewall. The app Google is building for China will comply with the country’s strict censorship laws, restricting access to content that Xi Jinping’s Communist Party regime deems unfavorable.
The search app will “blacklist sensitive queries.”
The Chinese government blocks information on the internet about political opponents, free speech, sex, news, and academic studies. It bans websites about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, for instance, and references to “anticommunism” and “dissidents.” Mentions of books that negatively portray authoritarian governments, like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, have been prohibited on Weibo, a Chinese social media website. The country also censors popular Western social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as American news organizations such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
More at the link...
https://theintercept.com/2018/08/01/google-china-search-engine-censorship/
I added some more FTSI at 10.88 but only got a partial fill. I waited a bit too late Thanks guys.
"Will this action on the part of the city of Philadelphia make rental property more available or will it exacerbate the shortage?"
Anytime the government gets involved in the market prices ALWAYS go up, so the answer is that higher prices will make the shortage worse. In this case the government action increases the risk of property ownership which will discourage investment making less available. Also, higher owner risk results in higher prices.
Philadelphia Plunders Its Property-Owners For Cash
Like a lot of major cities in the United States, Philadelphia is in pretty rough financial condition.
One of the city’s biggest problems is its woefully underfunded public pension, which has a multi-billion dollar funding gap.
In 2001, Philadelphia’s pension fund was still in decent shape with a funding level of 77%, meaning that it had sufficient assets to meet 77% of its long-term obligations.
By 2017 the funding level had dropped to less than 50%.
Part of this is just blatant mismanagement; while most of the market soared in 2016, for example, Philadelphia’s pension fund lost about $150 million on its investments, roughly 3.17% of its capital.
It’s interesting that, along the way, the city has actually tried to fix the problem. Between 2001 and 2017, the amount of money that the city contributed to the pension fund actually increased by 230%.
Yet despite increasing contributions to the fund, the fund’s solvency level keeps shrinking.
Mayor Jim Kenny summed up the grim situation in his budget address last year:
The City’s annual pension contribution has grown by over 230 percent since fiscal year 2001. . . These increasing pension costs have caused us to cut important public services while the pension fund’s health has grown weaker. In fact, our pension fund has actually dropped from 77 percent funded to less than 50 percent funded during the same time our contributions were so rapidly increasing.
So, desperate for revenue, the local government has been relying on an old tactic to get their hands on every spare penny they can.
The city of Philadelphia owns the local gas company - Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW). It’s essentially a local government monopoly.
And over the last few years, PGW developed an automated system to comb its billing records, find delinquent accounts, and file a lien on those properties.
If you’re not familiar with real estate law, a ‘lien’ is a formally-registered security interest in which your property serves as collateral for a debt.
When you borrow money from the bank to buy a home, for example, the bank registers a lien over your home for the value of the mortgage.
The lien prevents you from selling the home until you satisfy the debt. It also means that if you don’t pay the debt, the lienholder (the bank, or the gas company) can seize the property.
In PGW’s case, the gas company is filing liens over people’s properties due to unpaid gas bills for as little as $300
There is essentially zero due process here.
It’s not like the gas company has to go in front a jury and prove that there’s an unsatisfied debt.
They just have their automated system file some papers, and, poof, the lien is registered.
So someone could have their home encumbered for a $300 late bill that ended up being an administrative error.
More importantly, it’s curious why the gas company is filing a lien against the property... because it’s entirely possible that the delinquent customer isn’t even the property owner.
Let’s say you’re a landlord and renting out your investment property to a tenant… and the tenant doesn’t pay his gas bill: PGW will put a lien on your property, even though it’s not your bill.
Even worse, you wouldn’t even know about it, because PGW would be sending the late notices to the tenant… not to you.
At that point it turns into a total bureaucratic nightmare.
If you’re lucky enough to even find out about it, you call PGW to try and get the lien removed.
But (according to court documents), PGW tells angry landlords that they have no control over the lien process, and tell people to file a complaint with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
But then the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission tells you that they have no jurisdiction over liens in Philadelphia, and that you should talk to the utility company.
Classic government bureaucracy. You just get bounced around between various departments and nothing ever gets resolved from a problem that you didn’t even create.
Well, a bunch of landlords finally had enough of this nonsense, so they got together and sued the city in federal court.
It seemed like a slam dunk case. Why should property owners be held liable for the actions of their tenants?
If tenants don’t pay for their own gas, the tenants should be held responsible… not the property owners.
Common sense, right?
Wrong. The landlords lost the case.
Two weeks ago the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that the City of Philadelphia was well within its rights to hold property owners responsible... and to file a lien on the property without even notifying the owner to begin with.
This is a pretty strong reminder of how low governments will sink when they become financially desperate.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-31/bankrupt-philadelphia-plunders-its-property-owners-cash
FTSI International Reports Second Quarter
FTS International, Inc. (FTSI) (the “Company”) today reported its financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2018.
Second Quarter 2018 Highlights Compared to the First Quarter 2018
Revenue was $493.3 million, up from $467.5 million in the first quarter
Net income was $103.6 million, up from $78.7 million in the first quarter
Earnings per common share were $0.95
Adjusted EBITDA was $141.3 million, up from $129.1 million in the first quarter
Annualized adjusted EBITDA per fleet was $20.2 million, up from $18.8 million in the first quarter
Repaid $100 million of debt in the second quarter of 2018 and an additional $30 million subsequent to the end of the quarter
Operational Update
FTSI completed 9,356 stages during the second quarter of 2018, or 334 stages per active fleet. This compares to 8,152 stages in the first quarter of 2018, or 296 stages per active fleet. The higher efficiencies drove annualized adjusted EBITDA per fleet back above $20 million per average active fleet.
Average active fleets during the second quarter of 2018 were 28, up from 27.5 in the first quarter of 2018.
The Company reported that certain of its customers reduced their completions activity going into the third quarter due to changes in their capital budgets and higher than expected completions efficiencies. As a result, the Company has decided to reduce its active fleets and currently expects to average 24 fleets in the third quarter.
“Due to temporary reductions in activity levels by our customer base, we face increased uncertainty in the second half of 2018 in terms of pricing and utilization. However, recent conversations with both existing and target customers indicate they are gearing up for a strong start to 2019 and even the fourth quarter of this year, and we will remain ready. Despite these near-term headwinds, we will continue generating substantial cash flow and reducing our net debt. We have repeatedly demonstrated our fiscal discipline and ability to react quickly to changing conditions and will continue to do so.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fts-international-reports-second-quarter-233000460.html
What a rude awakening !
PGTI Reports Second Quarter and First Half 2018
PGT Innovations, Inc. (PGTI), the leading U.S. manufacturer and supplier of impact-resistant windows and doors, today announced financial results for its second quarter and first half ended June 30, 2018.
Financial Highlights for Second Quarter 2018 versus Second Quarter 2017
Net sales of $169 million, an increase of $32 million, or 23 percent
Gross margin of 35.4 percent, compared to 32.4 percent
Net income of $22.5 million, compared to $10.3 million
Adjusted net income of $21.4 million, compared to $10.3 million
Net income per diluted share of $0.43, compared to $0.20
Adjusted net income per diluted share of $0.41, compared to $0.20
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pgti-reports-second-quarter-first-113000624.html
Organigram OGI OGRMF Announces Record Q3 Financial Results
Record net sales for both the three-months and nine-months ended May 31, 2018 of $3.7 million and $10.1 million respectively vs. $1.9 million and $3.6 million respectively for 2017
Net income of $2.8 million , an increase of 162% compared to $1.1 million in Q2-2018 and a loss of $2.3 million in Q3-2017
More detail at the link
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/organigram-announces-record-q3-financial-100000020.html
Profile:
OrganiGram Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and sells medical marijuana to individuals and physicians in Canada. It offers marijuana plants, seeds, and cuttings; cannabis oil; and dried flower and cannabis. The company sells its products through phone and online store. It also operates healing centers that offer treatments for post-traumatic stress disorders, chronic pain, and trauma therapy. In addition, the company exports its products. OrganiGram Holdings Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Moncton, Canada.
5.4 Million Americans Will Cut The Cord In 2018, New Report Warns
Cg42, a boutique consulting firm, has published its latest “2018 Cord Cutter & Cord Never Study,” which builds on several reports by providing an in-depth analysis of both US consumers who opted out of subscription-based Paid-TV service in the last several years (i.e., Cord Cutters) as well as US consumers who have never subscribed to paid-TV service (i.e., Cord Nevers).
This installment, the first of three reports, forecasts that 5.4 million consumers will cut the cord in 2018, a shocking move that could cost the Pay-TV industry $5.5 billion in lost subscription revenue. This is undoubtedly an acceleration of the trend, compared to 4.8 million in 2017, 3.8 million in 2016, and 3.0 million in 2015.
“As the process of finding alternative paths to content gets easier and easier, people are acting on the frustrations they have with traditional providers and leaving,” the study’s lead researcher and cg42 managing partner Stephen Beck told MarketWatch.
More at the link. Also trend charts.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-19/54-million-americans-will-cut-cord-2018-new-report-warns
A final exam question in one of my mechanical engineering courses was to provide a detailed financial summary of the merits to pump water back up over Niagara Falls at night so more electricity could be made during peak daytime hours.
This was many years ago when a college degree still had value
"I Was In Shock": Woman Finds Her BofA Safe Deposit Box Has Vanished
Article at the link or just watch the Youtube...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-26/i-just-got-robbed-bank-woman-finds-her-bofa-safe-deposit-box-has-vanished
Liquidity Crisis: TSLA Asks Suppliers For "Cash Back"
... a journalist dared call Musk "a total fraud", investors have been increasingly concerned that Musk's erratic behavior has been the result of a mounting liquidity crisis for the company which currently is burning roughly $12 million per day...
Well, those concerns are about to get far more acute following a WSJ report that the company, seemingly facing a liquidity crunch, has asked some suppliers to refund a portion of what the electric-car company has spent previously, an appeal which the WSJ notes "reflects the auto maker’s urgency to sustain operations during a critical production period."
Which is especially odd in light of Musk's vows that Tesla will "at least be profitable in Q3 and Q4."
But we digress.
According to a memo seen by The Wall Street Journal that was sent to a supplier last week, Tesla said it is asking its suppliers for cash back to, drumroll, help it become profitable, as if that is somehow the priority of the company's suppliers.
And we are not talking about a few cents here and there: Tesla requested the supplier return what it calls a meaningful amount of money of its payments since 2016.
While Tesla did finally reach its longstanding goal of making 5,000 Model 3s in a single week, it has since found it lacks the distribution and logistical capacity to deliver the cars to buyers (or, worse yet, does not have enough orders) and the result has been thousands of Teslas just sitting in the hot California sun, not getting delivered.
( Video at the link. )
More...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/liquidity-crisis-tesla-asks-suppliers-cash-back
Clapper: Obama Was Behind The Whole Thing
Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper admitted in a CNN interview Saturday that former President Obama instigated the ongoing investigations into Donald Trump and those in his orbit.
Speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Clapper let slip:
If it weren’t for President Obama we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set up a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today including Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation. President Obama is responsible for that. It was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place.
More...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/clapper-obama-was-behind-whole-thing
Government's Already-Dismal Budget Forecast Just Got 106% Worse
This week, the Office of Management and Budget released a new report called the “Mid-Session Review” of the US federal budget.
It’s something they’re required by law to do – periodically review and update the government’s budget and track the changes.
The last government budget update was released in February. And according to the February budget, the government’s deficit for this fiscal year was going to be a whopping $873 billion.
Now they’re projecting to close this fiscal year (which ends on September 30th) with a deficit of $890 billion… which means they’re over-budget by just under 2%.
2% is actually pretty good. But here’s the problem: when they first unveiled the FY2018 budget in March of last year, they projected the annual deficit to be ‘only’ $440 billion.
So between their initial projections in March 2017, and their current projections in July 2018, this year’s budget deficit increased by more than 100%.
And that’s pretty pitiful.
But it gets worse.
Last March, they projected a total budget deficit of $526 billion for Fiscal Year 2019.
But according to the revised projections they published yesterday, the budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2019 will now be $1.085 TRILLION… 106% worse than projected.
And, whereas last year the government was forecasting DECLINING deficits in Fiscal Years 2020, 2021, etc., until miraculously reaching a positive budget SURPLUS of +16 billion in 2026, their updated projections now show TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICITS next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. Etc.
Bear in mind that even though this revised budget is a colossal train wreck, the projections still don’t factor in the possibility of a recession. War. Major emergency. Natural disaster. Financial crisis.
These forecasts assume that all big picture and macroeconomic trends are going to be fantastic for the next decade.
We’ve lately been talking about the concept of assets being ‘priced to perfection’.
‘Priced to perfection’ is a financial term meaning that assets are valued as if business conditions will be perfect forever.
Investors simply assume that the business plan will be successfully achieved without any difficulty, that sales will be strong, consumers will be happy, the economy will remain robust, etc.
And as a result of these pie-in-the-sky assumptions, investors pay record high prices for assets.
Well, these budget projections are priced for perfection.
They don’t take into account the possibility of any number of major risks that are looming, not to mention the enormous capital investments that are necessary in the United States.
US infrastructure, for example, is in desperate need of serious multi-trillion dollar maintenance.
Then there’s that pesky issue of Social Security, which presently has a funding gap of tens of trillions of dollars, according to the government’s own financial statements.
If you factor in even a fraction of these costs, the budget numbers… which are already gruesome… fall off a cliff.
The government has no Plan B. In fact, their Plan A, literally, is to have trillion+ dollar deficits and expect that there won’t be any consequences.
This is ludicrous.
There has never been a major superpower in the history of the world, from Ancient Rome to the French monarchy of Louis XIV, that has been able to run wild budget deficits without paying a serious toll… or passing those costs on to the people.
Sooner or later these bills have to be paid, whether that means higher taxes, dramatically reduced benefits, serious inflation, a loss of confidence in the currency, etc.
There are hundreds of ways this could play out, and it’s impossible to predict precisely how or when.
We only know for certain that there WILL be an impact.
It will likely take several years. But expecting to be able to run trillion dollar deficits and an insolvent pension fund without any consequences forever and ever until the end of time is totally absurd.
This is why, even though the government doesn’t have one, it makes all the sense in the world for -you- to have a Plan B.
And to continue learning how to ensure you thrive no matter what happens next in the world, I encourage you to download our free Perfect Plan B Guide.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-21/governments-already-dismal-budget-forecast-just-got-106-worse
Schwab put it up this morning as if was new info... Go figure
I don't have a position in either one.
LITE is to acquire OCLR via a Schwab news item.
TSLA Why Are "Thousands" of Teslas Sitting In a Field in California?
When Tesla finally met its Model 3 production run rate target, astute investors and analysts pointed out the use of the word "factory gated" in the company's press release: “Not only did we factory gate 5000 Model 3’s, but we also achieved the S & X production target for a combined 7000 vehicle week!” Musk wrote in an email to his staff that week.
Now, thanks to a couple of sleuths on Twitter, we may have just found out what the term means. Twitter Tesla sleuth @ISpyTSLA, with the help of others, has been trying to figure out exactly where all these vehicles are winding up. @ISpyTSLA found that it appears that "thousands" of vehicles are being stored "in a field" 500 E Louise Ave, Lathrop, CA 95330.
The accompanying video appears to show "thousands" of Tesla vehicles just rusting in the open air under the scorching California sun.
Videos at the link...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-19/why-are-thousands-teslas-sitting-field-california-0
If you wanted shares at .0236 why don't you buy them now... the ask is .0225
Putin Claims U.S. Intelligence Agents Funneled $400 Million To Clinton Campaign
( Who wudda thought ??? )
Maybe someone can post this on some message boards where the liberals hang out ?
Vladimir Putin made a bombshell claim during Monday's joint press conference with President Trump in Helsinki, Finland, when the Russian President said some $400 million in illegally earned profits was funneled to the Clinton campaign by associates of American-born British financier Bill Browder - at one time the largest foreign portfolio investors in Russia. The scheme involved members of the U.S. intelligence community, said Putin, who he said "accompanied and guided these transactions."
Browder made billions in Russia during the 90's. In December, a Moscow court sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax fraud, while he was also found guilty of tax evasion in a separate 2013 case. Putin accused Browder's associates of illegally earning over than $1.5 billion without paying Russian taxes, before sending $400 million to Clinton.
After offering to allow special counsel Robert Mueller's team to come to Russia for their investigation - as long as there was a reciprocal arrangement for Russian intelligence to investigate in the U.S., Putin said this: For instance, we can bring up Mr. Browder, in this particular case. Business associates of Mr. Browder have earned over $1.5 billion in Russia and never paid any taxes neither in Russia or the United States and yet the money escaped the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent a huge amount of money, $400,000,000, as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
There is much more at the link...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-16/putin-claims-us-intelligence-agents-funneled-400-million-clinton-campaign
John Brennan Blasts Trump's Press Conference As "Nothing Short Of Treasonous"
Former Obama-era CIA Director - and ubiquitous tweeter of anti-Trump rhetoric - John Brennan just unleashed the most aggressive comment yet on the Trump-Putin Summit, claiming it was an act of treason.
"Why did Trump meet 1 on 1 with Putin? What might he be hiding from Bolton, Pompeo, Kelly, & the American public? How will Putin use whatever Trump could be hiding to advantage Russia & hurt America? Trump’s total lack of credibility renders spurious whatever explanation he gives."
"Donald Trump's press performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes and misdemeanors,'" Brennan tweeted. "It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???"
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-16/john-brennan-blasts-trumps-press-conference-nothing-short-treasonous
Ohhhhh.... NEVER MIND !
Officials: Russian firm used in Maryland election systems
( Who wudda thought ? Hillary Clinton won Maryland with 60.3% of the vote. Donald Trump received 33.9% of the vote. )
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A vendor that provides key services for Maryland elections has been acquired by a parent company with links to a Russian oligarch, state officials said Friday after a briefing a day earlier from the FBI.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch made the announcement at a news conference in the Maryland State House, a gathering that included staff members of Gov. Larry Hogan.
"The FBI conveyed to us that there is no criminal activity that they've seen," Busch said. "They believe that the system that we have has not been breached."
In a letter Friday, Hogan, Busch and Miller asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for technical assistance to evaluate the network used by the elections board.
"It is with concern that I learned that information provided to the Maryland State Board of Elections by federal law enforcement this week indicates that a vendor contracted by the Board to provide a number of services, including voter registration infrastructure, had been acquired by a parent company with financial ties to a Russian national," Hogan said in a statement.
Miller and Busch also said they have asked Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh to review existing contractual obligations of the state, and asked for a review of the system to ensure there have been no breaches.
The vendor, ByteGrid LLC, was purchased by a Russian investor in 2015 without knowledge of Maryland state officials, officials said.
In a statement released late Friday the company said, "ByteGrid's investors have no involvement or control in company operations."
It also said, "We stand by our commitment to security in everything we do, and do not share information about who our customers are and what we do for them." ByteGrid encouraged people to read the company's Maryland elections contract, which is a public record.
State officials said ByteGrid hosts the statewide voter registration, candidacy, and election management system; the online voter registration system; online ballot delivery system; and unofficial election night results website.
Hogan said in his statement that while the information relayed by the FBI did not indicate "any wrongdoing or criminal acts have been discovered," he noted that even the appearance of the potential for "bad actors" to have any influence on the state's election infrastructure could undermine public trust in the election system.
"That is why it is imperative that the State Board of Elections take immediate and comprehensive action to evaluate the security of our system and take any and all necessary steps to address any vulnerabilities," Hogan said.
In a statement, the state elections board said the FBI told officials that ByteGrid is financed by AltPoint Capital Partners, whose fund manager is a Russian, and its largest investor is a Russian oligarch named Vladimir Potanin. The board said that in response, it has been working with various federal and state officials to ensure that voter data and the state's election systems are secure.
Busch described the leading investor as being "very close to the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin."
Miller said Maryland officials decided it was "imperative that our constituents know that a Russian oligarch has purchased our election machinery, and we need to be on top of it."
Maryland officials made the announcement hours after the Justice Department released a grand jury indictment against 12 Russian military intelligence officers for computer hacking offenses during the 2016 U.S. election. Miller said that announcement convinced Maryland officials to disclose the FBI briefing, even if the agents who briefed them were not eager to make the information public.
More...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/officials-russian-bought-firm-used-maryland-elections-213449659.html
Big Pharma & The Rise Of Gangster Capitalism
( Several imbedded links at the article. )
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
$8 per vial in competing developed-world nations and $38,892 in the U.S. That says it all.
Thanks to decades of gangster films, we all know how gangster capitalism works: the cost of "protection" goes up whenever the gangster wants to increase revenues, any competition is snuffed out, and "customer demand" is jacked up by any means available-- addiction, for example.
This perfectly describes the pharmaceutical industry and every other cartel in America. You might have read about the price increase in Acthar gel, a medication to treat Infantile Spasms. (via J.F., M.D., who alerted me to the repricing of this medication from $40 in 2001 to the current price of $38,892.)
The compound first received approval in 1950, and various branded versions have been approved in recent years. Let's be clear: this medication did not require billions of dollars in research and development, or decades of testing to obtain FDA approval; it's been approved for use for the past 68 years.
Yes, you read that correctly: a medication that's been in use for 68 years went from $40 a dose in 2001 to $38,892 today. Don't you love the pricing? Not a round 38 grand, but $38,892. You gotta love these gangsters!
There's another related term to describe this form of capitalism: racketeering.That's what mobsters do--operate rackets.
The Big Pharma racket enriches a number of gangs practicing gangster capitalism: the drug companies themselves, of course, but some doctors are profiting from the racket, and so are pharmaceutical lobbyists:
Study highlights role of doctor conflicts of interest in Medicare spending on Mallinckrodt drug Acthar Study published in JAMA indicates nearly 90 percent of doctors prescribing HP Acthar Gel took payments from drug's manufacturer.
Here are the money quotes:
In 2014 Mallinckrodt raised the price of Acthar further to $34,000. The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from five states sued Mallinckrodt for anti-competitive behavior with regard to the acquisition of Synacthen Depot and the monopolistic pricing of Acthar, and in January 2017 the company settled, agreeing to pay $100 million and to license Synacthen Depot to a competitor. According to Kaiser Health News, Mallinckrodt responded by increasing its Congressional lobbying to $610,000, and its contributions to Congress members to $44,000, in the first quarter of 2017.
As an off-patent pharmaceutical, a similar drug, differing in formulation, available in Europe, made by a different manufacturer, sells for $8 per vial.
So a medication to treat infants costs $8 per vial in Europe and $38,892 in the U.S. Don't you just love gangster capitalism to death? Because death and suffering is the gangsters' ultimate threat: pay up or die.
Here's another example of Big Pharma gangster capitalism at work: Insulin Drug Price Inflation: Racketeering or Perverse Competition?
Don't you wish you had a racket where you could raise prices by 10% a year like clockwork, or triple the price of your "product" every decade?
Pfizer just raised prices on 100 medications:
The increases are effective as of July 1. In most cases, the increases are just over 9%, which is in line with the annual 10% price hikes adopted by most drug companies. Putting that number in context, core inflation printed at 2% last week.
Here's a chart of the net result of gangster capitalism:
Gangster capitalism is the new model of "growth" in America, the model used by every cartel from higher education to Pentagon contractors. Eliminate actual competition, raise prices in lockstep with other cartel members, lobby the government to pay your extortionist prices, and threaten any resisters with severe consequences.
Try resisting your local government's property tax increases to cover insiders' pensions and healthcare benefits: it's always "for the children," of course, and if you don't pay up, we'll just auction off your house.
There's no difference between that and being told you're gonna be wearing concrete overshoes if you don't comply.
The U.S. economy is nothing more than an exploitive jumble of rackets, insider plundering and gangster capitalism. $8 per vial competing developed-world nations and $38,892 in the U.S. That says it all.
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https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-14/big-pharma-rise-gangster-capitalism
TNTR "Should become a case study"
With operating expenses running 2 X sales there isn't much to study
The Truth About Illinois Pensions In One Stunning Chart
One graphic perfectly captures the absurdity of Illinois pensions over the past three decades.
It’s what Justice Samuel Alito described as Illinois’ “generous public-employee retirement packages” when writing for the majority in the Janus v. AFSCME decision. Alito didn’t use this graphic but he could have, because it makes his point.
In 1987, pension promises made to active workers and retirees in the state’s five state-run pension plans totaled just $18 billion. By 2016, they had ballooned to $208 billion.
That’s a cumulative 1,067 percent increase.
Contrast that to the state’s budget (general fund revenues) which was up just 236 percent over the same time period. Or household incomes, which were up just 127 percent. Or inflation, up just 111 percent.
Promised pension benefits have blown past any ability of the state, the economy or taxpayers to pay for them.
Wirepoints released a report on these booming benefits earlier this year, and while it received strong coverage online nationally, Illinois’ traditional media didn’t want to touch it. The findings interfere with the narrative that’s repeatedly promoted by public sector unions and politicians – that the crisis is all the taxpayers’ fault for failing to put in enough money towards pensions.
The report proved a lack of dollars wasn’t the issue. Illinois pension assets – buoyed by taxpayer contributions – also grew far faster than the same economic indicators in the graphic above. But taxpayer contributions could never keep up with the state’s explosive growth in promised benefits.
Overpromising is the real culprit of the pension crisis. Freezing and reversing that growth in promised benefits is the fair, and only, way to fix things.
The above graphic gives taxpayers every right to demand concessions from their public servants. The Janus ruling will hopefully give them more power to demand them.
And union members have a strong incentive to come to the bargaining table. After all, it’s their retirements that are teetering on the edge of insolvency in a state just one notch from junk status.
But If the unions won’t deal, Illinois should go ahead and freeze salaries, cut the subjects of collective bargaining, move to defined contribution plans, reduce headcounts and work with the feds on a form of state bankruptcy. With the constitution currently preventing any changes to pension benefits, those are the only levers taxpayers have to save this state from collapse.
Read the report: Illinois state pensions: Overpromised, not underfunded
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-09/truth-about-illinois-pensions-one-stunning-chart
Gloria Allred is busy preparing her press conference for next week explaining how she is defending her client that is not known yet for the sexual allegations by the Trump Supreme Court nominee that has not been announced yet.
You seem very immature...
"Orange hair, sweetheart... " Very childish.
Of course no one wants to see their tax money squandered away so lets all embrace "The new face of the democratic party " Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Then we can have socialism until we run out of other peoples money.
Didn't Obama vacation to Hawaii every year...
And some years Michell made a separate trip ???
And when Trump goes to Mar-a-Lago how many of those trips are work related ???
Last month, Judicial Watch separately sued the Department of Homeland Security for ignoring 19 other FOIA requests. The FOIA lawsuit asks the court to enjoin the Secret Service from continuing to withhold responsive documents from Judicial Watch. The known total expense to the American taxpayers thus far for all Obama travel is now $70,880,035.78.
It seems our lawsuits finally got the attention of the Secret Service. It is easy to see why the Secret Service, reeling from its own scandals, covered up these outrageous expense numbers for just one of Obama’s luxury Christmas vacation. The $317,000 in Secret Service expenses are only the tip of the iceberg for the true cost of Obama’s 2013 vacation in Hawaii, which has now skyrocketed to $8,098,060.
In March 2014, Judicial Watch released flight expense records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that for the 2013 Hawaii vacation the Obamas incurred $7,781,361.30 in flight expenses alone (36.9 hours at $210,877 an hour).
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/much-obama-hawaii-trip-cost/
Here's a List of Democrats Who Also Met With The Russian Ambassador
( Chuck Schumer met with Putin... AT A GAS STATION OF ALL PLACES... Doesn't everyone know that the Russians are trying to sell more gas into Europe ? Hurry... Start an investigation !! )
As Democrats refuse to back away from calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign over meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak last year, their hypocrisy levels are rising at an exponential rate.
Here is a list of Democrats who also recently met with Kislyak:
1. Senior Obama advisor John Holdren
2. Senator Claire McCaskill
3. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
4. Former Senator Mary Landrieu
5.Senator Amy Klobuchar
6. Senator Dianne Feinstein
7. Senator Jack Reed
8. Senator Bob Casey
9. Senator Maria Cantwell
10. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
11. Etc.
Earlier this week, Kislyak sat with Democrats during President Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress.
According to official visitor logs, Kislyak visited the White House 22 times during President Obama's tenure.
Finally, here's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer with Russian President Vladimir Putin:
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/2003-sen-charles-schumer-greets-vladimir-putin-889628227545
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2017/03/03/heres-a-list-of-democrats-who-also-met-with-the-russian-ambassador-n2293775
" a citizenship test should be required to cast a ballot"
That sounds like a really good idea you have... I like it ! Except all you liberals would scream from the roof tops and call it racism. That's because all the dim bulbs couldn't pass the test... You know... the same bunch that you say can't find a way to get some ID to prove they are a citizen so they can vote.
Priceless... I'll help you get it into congress.
Thanks for the two videos...
So congress was asking Trump for his advice while Obama was doing his community organizing stuff by leading a protest. And they try to convince us that Trump was not prepared/qualified.
"woefully unprepared to actually perform in the office"
Like I said before... He shudda been a community organizer.
Trump Reverses Obama-Era Policies On Affirmative Action
As Donald Trump moves to undo every last trace of Obama's legacy, the WSJ reported that on Tuesday, the Trump administration reversed Obama-era policies that encourage the use of race in college admissions "to promote diverse educational settings." Instead, the Trump administration will encourage the nation’s school superintendents and college presidents to adopt race-blind admissions standards.
The reversal would restore the policy set during President George W. Bush’s administration, when officials told schools that it “strongly encourages the use of race-neutral methods” for admitting students to college or assigning them to elementary and secondary schools.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the official announcement Tuesday afternoon.
"The American people deserve to have their voices heard and a government that is accountable to them. When issuing regulations, federal agencies must abide by constitutional principles and follow the rules set forth by Congress and the President," Sessions said. "In previous administrations, however, agencies often tried to impose new rules on the American people without any public notice or comment period, simply by sending a letter or posting a guidance document on a website. That's wrong, and it's not good government."
The decision comes amid a DOJ probe whether Harvard was illegally discriminating against Asian-American students by holding them to a higher standard in its admissions process. The administration revived the probe last year after Obama civil rights officials dismissed a similar complaint.
While the decision does not change current US law on affirmative action, it provides a strong illustration of the administration's position on an issue that could take on renewed attention with the departure of Justice Anthony Kennedy from the Supreme Court.
The guidelines, which were issued jointly by the Obama Justice and Education departments, laid out legal recommendations for schools looking to use race as an admissions factor to boost diversity at their schools. Call it state-sponsored affirmative action. However, the WSJ reports that Trump admin officials will argue that the documents, published in 2011 and 2016, go beyond Supreme Court precedent on the issue and mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative action are simpler to achieve than what the law allows.
It is hardly a surprise that the Obama officials who implemented the policies disagree: Anurima Bargava, who headed civil rights enforcement in schools under Obama’s DOJ, disagreed with that assessment, saying the documents simply offered guidelines to schools and colleges looking to continue using affirmative action legally; she countered by attacking the current administration’s action as signaling that it doesn’t favor racial diversity.
“The law on this hasn’t changed, and the Supreme Court has twice ruled reaffirming the importance of diversity,” she said. “This is a purely political attack that benefits nobody.”
Then again, perhaps the guidelines were not that innocent, and come as a 2014 lawsuit is unfolding in federal court against Harvard, filed by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, which alleges Harvard intentionally discriminates against Asian-Americans by limiting the number of Asian students who are admitted. It is expected to go to trial in October.
In the bigger picture, the action to rescind Obama-era guidelines comes at a rather sensitive time for the nation, just as Trump is set to appoint a new SCOUT judge, and is also likely to inflame a long-running national debate over the role of race in college admissions, an sensitive issue the U.S. Supreme Court has revisited on several occasions since the 1970s.
In 2016, the high court reaffirmed the practice in a 4-3 decision, but in his opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy left the door open to future legal challenges by saying universities must continue to review their affirmative-action policies to assess their positive and negative effects.
Kennedy has since announced his retirement, and advocates on both sides say his successor, to be nominated soon by President Donald Trump, may take a different view on the practice as the Harvard case wends its way through the courts.
As such, the motive behind the process to undo one of Obama's core legacies may be to serve as a litmus test by the Trump administration to gauge just how conservative Kennedy's replacement will be, especially since the affirmative action guidelines are relatively innocuous.
Meanwhile, Harvard has previously objected to the lawsuit, claiming its admissions process is consistent with the legal precedents set over the past 40 years by the Supreme Court, which have allowed universities to consider race as a factor in admissions to obtain the benefits of a diverse student body.
But the plaintiffs suing Harvard said in court filings the school displayed a “stunning failure to take the elementary steps required by the law” to achieve diversity without taking race into account, such as considering applicants’ socioeconomic backgrounds, eliminating early admissions and increasing community college transfers.
And here is where Asian students felt cheated: as the WSJ reports, in court filings published last month as part of its continuing litigation, the university revealed that Asian-American applicants on average had higher academic marks and received higher scores from alumni interviews than other racial groups. But on a “personal” score that admissions officers used to gauge applicants’ character, Asian students scored the lowest.
Whatever the outcome of the challenge, it is inevitable that the aggrieved social grouping, whether conservatives or liberals, will allege that this is another example of racism escalating to dominate ever more aspects of daily life, at a time when social, racial, ethnic and wealth polarization in the US is already nearing its breaking point.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-03/trump-reverses-obama-era-policies-use-race-college-admissions
Trump Reverses Obama-Era Policies On Affirmative Action
As Donald Trump moves to undo every last trace of Obama's legacy, the WSJ reported that on Tuesday, the Trump administration reversed Obama-era policies that encourage the use of race in college admissions "to promote diverse educational settings." Instead, the Trump administration will encourage the nation’s school superintendents and college presidents to adopt race-blind admissions standards.
The reversal would restore the policy set during President George W. Bush’s administration, when officials told schools that it “strongly encourages the use of race-neutral methods” for admitting students to college or assigning them to elementary and secondary schools.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the official announcement Tuesday afternoon.
"The American people deserve to have their voices heard and a government that is accountable to them. When issuing regulations, federal agencies must abide by constitutional principles and follow the rules set forth by Congress and the President," Sessions said. "In previous administrations, however, agencies often tried to impose new rules on the American people without any public notice or comment period, simply by sending a letter or posting a guidance document on a website. That's wrong, and it's not good government."
The decision comes amid a DOJ probe whether Harvard was illegally discriminating against Asian-American students by holding them to a higher standard in its admissions process. The administration revived the probe last year after Obama civil rights officials dismissed a similar complaint.
While the decision does not change current US law on affirmative action, it provides a strong illustration of the administration's position on an issue that could take on renewed attention with the departure of Justice Anthony Kennedy from the Supreme Court.
The guidelines, which were issued jointly by the Obama Justice and Education departments, laid out legal recommendations for schools looking to use race as an admissions factor to boost diversity at their schools. Call it state-sponsored affirmative action. However, the WSJ reports that Trump admin officials will argue that the documents, published in 2011 and 2016, go beyond Supreme Court precedent on the issue and mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative action are simpler to achieve than what the law allows.
It is hardly a surprise that the Obama officials who implemented the policies disagree: Anurima Bargava, who headed civil rights enforcement in schools under Obama’s DOJ, disagreed with that assessment, saying the documents simply offered guidelines to schools and colleges looking to continue using affirmative action legally; she countered by attacking the current administration’s action as signaling that it doesn’t favor racial diversity.
“The law on this hasn’t changed, and the Supreme Court has twice ruled reaffirming the importance of diversity,” she said. “This is a purely political attack that benefits nobody.”
Then again, perhaps the guidelines were not that innocent, and come as a 2014 lawsuit is unfolding in federal court against Harvard, filed by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, which alleges Harvard intentionally discriminates against Asian-Americans by limiting the number of Asian students who are admitted. It is expected to go to trial in October.
In the bigger picture, the action to rescind Obama-era guidelines comes at a rather sensitive time for the nation, just as Trump is set to appoint a new SCOUT judge, and is also likely to inflame a long-running national debate over the role of race in college admissions, an sensitive issue the U.S. Supreme Court has revisited on several occasions since the 1970s.
In 2016, the high court reaffirmed the practice in a 4-3 decision, but in his opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy left the door open to future legal challenges by saying universities must continue to review their affirmative-action policies to assess their positive and negative effects.
Kennedy has since announced his retirement, and advocates on both sides say his successor, to be nominated soon by President Donald Trump, may take a different view on the practice as the Harvard case wends its way through the courts.
As such, the motive behind the process to undo one of Obama's core legacies may be to serve as a litmus test by the Trump administration to gauge just how conservative Kennedy's replacement will be, especially since the affirmative action guidelines are relatively innocuous.
Meanwhile, Harvard has previously objected to the lawsuit, claiming its admissions process is consistent with the legal precedents set over the past 40 years by the Supreme Court, which have allowed universities to consider race as a factor in admissions to obtain the benefits of a diverse student body.
But the plaintiffs suing Harvard said in court filings the school displayed a “stunning failure to take the elementary steps required by the law” to achieve diversity without taking race into account, such as considering applicants’ socioeconomic backgrounds, eliminating early admissions and increasing community college transfers.
And here is where Asian students felt cheated: as the WSJ reports, in court filings published last month as part of its continuing litigation, the university revealed that Asian-American applicants on average had higher academic marks and received higher scores from alumni interviews than other racial groups. But on a “personal” score that admissions officers used to gauge applicants’ character, Asian students scored the lowest.
Whatever the outcome of the challenge, it is inevitable that the aggrieved social grouping, whether conservatives or liberals, will allege that this is another example of racism escalating to dominate ever more aspects of daily life, at a time when social, racial, ethnic and wealth polarization in the US is already nearing its breaking point.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-03/trump-reverses-obama-era-policies-use-race-college-admissions