Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Wednesday's FAANGS

Bearing mine today:

Deadly London high-rise fire ‘like a horror movie’

A London high rise burns for hours yet doesn't collapse. Hmmm.

For those just stumbling upon this wilderness, that is where you need to begin. The physical impossibility of those towers falling down in the way they did due to jet fuel fires, including one afterthought of a drop down a little after 5 pm called WTC7. That is where your journey towards truth can begin. I've been here a long time, and I see no need to rehash it all and put up article after article surrounding what I may or may not believe happened down there that long ago September morning; it's not so much the how anyway, it's the who and why.



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Above the fold double down:

Sessions calls any suggestion of collusion a ‘detestable lie’

The Globe will keep on asking questions.

Sessions wants authority to prosecute medical marijuana providers


Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Oh, yes, sick people suffering for no reason is so funny. 

So when is his drug test?

You know, I don't care what your stand is on recreation, we are talking about SICK and SUFFERING PEOPLE!

(btw, that will not be happening in Massachusetts after all thanks to DeLeo and the House; of course, the money-laundering casinos and addiction to hor$e-racing loot is okay, as well as a full page advert from Total Wine on page A5. Hey, booze is the rich man's drink and you pay-to-play in the Globe)

The only way these a$$holes seem to get it is when THEY ACTUALLY BECOME ILL or a MEMBER of THEIR CLIQUE or CLA$$ is impacted -- as they proclaim to care about everyone, most of all children, their “deepest passion.”.

You know, maybe I should take up weed. It might help dull the anger at which I sit at this keyboard every damn day!!!

(You know what comes to mind while under the influence? Jeff, you're fired!! Ha-ha-ha!

Now I'm hungry. Let's hope you don't need medical care today.)

"Debates over press freedom and secret deliberations of healthcare legislation roiled the US Senate Tuesday, indicating signs of strain about public scrutiny within a bastion of American democracy. Republicans who control the Senate Rules Committee abruptly banned TV reporters from conducting videotaped interviews and filming in Capitol corridors without advanced permission — then, after an outcry, appeared to quickly back down. The extraordinary media restrictions, implemented by the Republican-controlled Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Sergeant at Arms Office, came against the backdrop of unprecedented secrecy surrounding the Republican health care bill, which has been negotiated without any public hearings or public testimony. The investigations and intense controversies of President Trump’s administration have at times created big press scrums, making it difficult for Senators to walk through the halls....."

This after Rolling Stone was set up for the pieces Taibi did on Wall Street. You guys are in a fight of your lives, yet you still play ball.

"Trump administration calls for overhaul of Wall Street rules" by Robert Schmidt Bloomberg News  June 13, 2017

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration laid out its highly anticipated plan for overhauling bank rules, calling on the government to ease, though not eliminate, many of the strictures that were imposed on Wall Street after the financial crisis.

The changes, outlined in a report released Monday evening by the Treasury Department, urge federal agencies to rewrite scores of regulations that bankers have frequently complained about in the seven years since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. They include adjusting the annual stress tests that assess whether lenders can endure economic downturns, loosening some trading rules, and paring back the powers of the watchdog that polices consumer finance.

The Treasury said its plan was designed to spur lending and job growth by making regulation “more efficient” and less burdensome.

Uh-huh. That load of crap again.

Unlike the bill passed last week by House Republicans, the report consistently calls for most Obama-era rules to be dialed back, not scrapped.

“Properly structuring regulation of the US financial system is critical to achieve the administration’s goal of sustained economic growth and to create opportunities for all Americans,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

I saw him on Charlie Rose, and what a disgusting puke. Both of them.

The Treasury review, which President Trump requested in an executive order in February, opens a new front in the administration’s deregulatory push. The study focuses heavily on changes that can be made without legislation.

“There’s an enormous amount we can do working with the regulators,” Mnuchin said Tuesday in an interview with Fox Business Channel. “We’re very focused on what we can do by executive action.” 

I expect Democrats to leap to their feet with cries of fa$ci$m!

The House bill passed June 8 isn’t expected to go through the Senate without major revisions because of the need for Democratic support.

Democrats, who say Dodd-Frank is vital for keeping Wall Street in check after its risky trading helped bring the US economy to near collapse in 2008, were quick to criticize the Treasury report as a big bank-inspired wish list.

Pffft. 

“Too many hard-working Americans still haven’t fully recovered from the financial crisis, and Washington should be focused on protecting them by holding Wall Street accountable, not doing its bidding,” Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement.

Representatives of the banking industry generally applauded the report and said they hoped it would spur action.

“We urge regulators and Congress to take up these recommendations expeditiously, and to consider additional changes so banks can continue to play their important role in accelerating economic growth,” Rob Nichols, president of the American Bankers Association, said in a statement.

It is not clear how quickly regulators can act on many of the recommendations in the Treasury’s 150-page report.

Key positions at the Federal Reserve, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are either unfilled or held by Obama appointees. Also, the byzantine process for approving regulations doesn’t lend itself to quick fixes. Rules must be written, offered for public comment for several months and then deliberated internally before a final vote. 

Yup, some stuff takes forever; things like bank bailouts, war funding, and loot to Israel sails through though! 

You know, they still haven't finished writing the rules after more than 8 years.

Some of the most unpopular regulations that the report asks to re-do, such as the Volcker Rule ban on banks’ proprietary trading, were put together by five different agencies. Each one would need to sign off on revisions following those onerous steps.

Much of the report covers complex areas like how much of a capital cushion lenders should have or how to calculate the amount of leverage a bank takes on. The Treasury is also highly critical of international capital standards that the largest banks are required to follow.

On the Volcker Rule, Treasury outlined several ways that regulators and Congress should consider weakening it. Banks with less than $10 billion in assets should be exempted altogether, the report argued. It also said all lenders should have more leeway to trade and that restrictions on banks’ investing in private-equity and hedge funds should be loosened.

So much for the return of Glass-Steagell.

The review takes particular issue with the CFPB, a centerpiece of the Dodd-Frank law, calling the agency “unaccountable” with “unduly broad regulatory powers.” To rein in the bureau, the Treasury report calls for the president to be able to fire its director for any reason, not just for cause as is now the case. It also recommends the agency to be funded annually by Congress instead of being able to set its own budget. 

Looks like a DICTATOR$HIP there!

To “curb excesses and abuses in investigations and enforcement actions,” the report said the CFPB should make a number of changes to how it probes wrongdoing, including bringing cases in federal courts rather than administratively.

On the annual stress tests now required of banks, the report says that they should instead be performed every two years. In addition, lenders that “maintain a sufficiently high level of capital” should be exempt from the exams, the Treasury said. Living wills, the plans lenders must submit to regulators to show they can be broken up without threatening the financial system, would also be required every two years instead of annually.

The report calls on Congress to boost the threshold for when a bank gets extra oversight from the Fed though no level is specified. It is currently $50 billion in assets.

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Related:

"Treasury chief: At times, a government shutdown could be ‘good’" by Andrew Taylor Associated Press  June 13, 2017

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stressed that he is seeking speedy passage of separate legislation to increase the government’s borrowing cap, or debt limit, and avert any possibility of the US defaulting on obligations such as interest payments on bonds and interrupting benefit programs, but he told the Senate panel that Treasury can use accounting maneuvers to prevent a government default ‘‘through September’’ so that lawmakers could act to increase the government’s borrowing cap after Congress returns from its annual August vacation.

Yeah, have a great summer vacation!

A shutdown, however, comes when Congress fails to pass spending bills, which would cause non-essential government agencies to close their doors. Mnuchin seemed to agree with Trump that a shutdown of Washington could shake things up and produce positive results. Government shutdowns used to be seen as politically radioactive.....

Yeah, non-essential agencies are the ones you want, like social services. The lavish political lifestyles and funding of corporate welfare and the warn machine are considered essential.

Time to shut it down myself.

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In case you missed it, he is officially a war president now. He's flying above all the criticism and he can no longer hear you.


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GE launches industrial-oriented startup in Boston

Yup, back to bu$ine$$ as u$ual when it comes to the narratives.

I see Verizon is back out of the shadows.

"US stocks bounced back to record highs Tuesday as investors put an end to a two-day drop for technology companies. Energy and consumer-focused companies also made outsize gains. Investors put money into companies that stand to benefit from faster economic growth, including retailers, makers of basic materials like paints and chemicals, energy companies, and banks. Big-dividend companies, usually considered safer investments, did not do as well as the rest of the market. Tech companies reversed their losses from Monday but remain well below their peak from last week......"

Cheesecake Factory fell; Halliburton climbed. 

"Sears Holdings says it will cut about 400 full-time jobs as part of the troubled retailer’s plan to turn its business around. The retailer, which has been losing money for years, has been closing stores, selling locations, and putting some of its famous brands up for sale. The company is reportedly closing an additional 66 stores by early September. That’s on top of the 150 stores that closed in April....."

It's a real Catch-22, these mixed me$$ages I keep getting every damn day.

"Neiman Marcus is focusing on offering more exclusive merchandise and personalized offers to drive sales as it goes it alone to turn around its business. Like many luxury retailers, Neiman Marcus has struggled as even wealthy shoppers look for cheaper deals online....."

That's strange because I was told the luxury market here is great.

Studios team up with Netflix, Amazon to fight piracy 

I'm screening the rest.

That $9.99 find at T.J. Maxx? It might raise questions about labor practices

With who?

The Fed?

Julian Edelman hosts Father’s Day shopping benefit

Gisele’s latest look

Brady's better half, huh?

More than half of mid-size SUVs in test had unsafe headlights

Uber CEO to take leave of absence after harassment scandals

How the Uber shake-up plays on the streets

Yeah, school's out for the summer -- briefly, and the heat is sapping my energy to do this.


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Jury in Bill Cosby sex assault case reviews his deposition

I got good news for the Coz:

"A sheriff said officers were searching Tuesday for two inmates who somehow got through a gate inside a prison bus, killed two guards, and got away. ‘‘My biggest worry is they’re going to kill somebody else,’’ Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said. The two men overpowered and disarmed the guards around 6:45 a.m. as 33 inmates were being driven between prisons, Sills told reporters. One of them fatally shot both guards, then the two jumped out of the bus and carjacked a driver who happened to pull up behind them on a rural highway, Sills said. ‘‘We are still desperately looking for these two individuals,” Sills said. Multiple agencies have contributed to a reward of $60,000 for information leading to the arrests of the two inmates, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said. The fugitives — Donnie Russell Rowe, serving life without parole, and Ricky Dubose, who has elaborate tattoos on his face and neck — were last seen getting into a green 2004 Honda Civic with the Georgia license plate number RBJ-6601, and driving west on Highway 16 southeast of Atlanta......"

Latest word is they committed suicide.


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Immigrants, teachers urge City Council to adopt sanctuary schools measure

What comes with it:

"Dorchester double murder suspect captured in Haiti" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff   June 13, 2017

A man who allegedly killed two sisters inside their Dorchester apartment in 2011 was recently captured in Haiti and will soon be arraigned on murder charges in Suffolk Superior Court, officials said Tuesday.

Jean Weevens Janvier, 35, was captured June 3 at his mother’s home in Santo, Haiti, the US Marshals Service said in a statement. Janvier had been placed on the Marshals’ 15 Most Wanted list.

He faces two counts of first-degree murder for the fatal shootings of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Emile, 21, and her sister Judith Emile, 23, in the siblings’ Harlem Street apartment on Nov. 14, 2011.

Janvier’s capture was also hailed by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, whose office will prosecute the alleged killer.

“For more than five years, the family of two murdered sisters has waited patiently to see justice done,” Conley said in the Marshals’ statement. “Today they are one step closer to that goal. Thanks to the strong interagency partnership among Suffolk prosecutors, the US Marshals Service, US Attorney’s office, Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Police Department, and Haitian National Police, we intend to speak for Judith and Stephanie Emile in a Suffolk County courtroom, where the voices that were stolen from them will finally be heard.”

Conley’s spokesman said Janvier will be arraigned once he’s brought back to Massachusetts, possibly later this week or early next week.

The Marshals said police discovered a 2-year-old toddler alone with the sisters’ bodies on the morning of the killings.

Investigators, determined to get their man, launched a relentless pursuit of Janvier, tracking down leads in Indiana, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Connecticut and Massachusetts before eventually learning that he was hiding out in Haiti, according to the Marshals.

Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans also welcomed news of the arrest on Tuesday.

“I wish to commend the tireless efforts of all our law enforcement partners who worked to locate and arrest this violent fugitive,” Evans said in the Marshals’ statement. “The cooperation and coordination of local, federal and international law enforcement agencies proved instrumental in finding and arresting Mr. Janvier who thought he could hide in Haiti. It is my hope that this arrest brings some level of comfort and peace to the families and loved ones of Judith and Stephanie.” 

Yeah, you are all doing a great job.

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UPDATE:

Congressman, others shot during baseball practice near D.C.

Looks like only light woundings and no dead. Already stinks of a psyop. I mean, politicians would never lie, right?

WhereTF was the Secret Service and federal security? 

Thankfully, they were around to kill him so he won't talk.

Facebook page linked to reported suspect contains anti-Trump postings

He was allegedly pro-Sanders, and maybe that will make the Republicans grab for your guns, 'eh?

What we know and don’t know about the Alexandria shooting

A look at Alexandria shooting victims Steve Scalise and Zack Barth

Well, Scalise is a “David Duke without the baggage,” and as for Barth, must be an innocent bystander.

Violence strikes at the heart of what America needs: Bipartisan bridge-building

The Congressional Baseball Game is a century-old tradition

Were blacks allowed to play in 1917?

As for violence against Congre$$critters, state legi$looters, and only other elite cla$$ scum, I can only say one thing: Why waste your time and effort?

So WHAT BIG EVENT is TAKING PLACE right now? 

That's why this shooting happened. To take attention away from something else!

Also see: 

Alexandria GOP Shooting Event: Patsy is a Bernie Bro

Governor Terry McAuliffe Calls for Gun Control at Scene of Baseball Shooting Incident

Suspect Reportedly Asked "Are Those Republicans Or Democrats" Before Starting To Shoot