NO STRINGS ATTACHED NEWS THAT MAINSTREAM JUST WON'T COVER.
“Jesus Tom, what is the matter with you.”
That’s Tom’s problem. He does not know Jesus.
https://newsthud.com/tom-arnold-tweets-creepy-obscene-attack-on-diamond-and-silk-ds-respond/#comment-7214
Morbidly Obese "Jabba The Jihadi" ISIS Leader Caught In Iraq
A long 'most wanted' ISIS mufti responsible for ordering gruesome killings, kidnappings, rapes, as well as the destruction of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul's ancient heritage has been captured by an elite Iraqi SWAT team raid.
The massively obese terror leader named Shifa al-Nima, known within the Islamic State as Abu Abdul Bari, has been dubbed “Jabba the Jihadi” and photos posted online showed that after his capture police had to load him onto the back of a flatbed truck to accommodate his some 560-pounds.
Considered one of the biggest captures in recent months due to his heading up still active but underground "ISIS gangs" in the region, he was nabbed at his hideout in Mosul earlier this week. Lately he was known to issue sermons and messages to his followers to target Iraqi police.
And according to an Iraqi police statement, “He is considered one of the foremost leaders of ISIS and was responsible for issuing fatwas that led to the murder of scholars and clerics.”
The fat mufti was also well-known for issuing a fatwa in 2014 to bomb one of Mosul's most revered pilgrimage sites — a mosque believed to be site of the tomb of the Prophet Jonah — which attracted Muslims and Christians alike.
I'm delighted to say that the Islamic States very own Jabba the Hut has been captured in Mosul. Responsible for the execution of men, women and children. This animal raped and murdered. Good luck hanging him Iraq 😬 pic.twitter.com/r1naWIXYMA
— Macer Gifford (@macergifford) January 16, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThe Islamic State's strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam forbids such veneration of tombs or religious places, and therefore sought to demolish any historical site it considered 'unIslamic'.
Destroyed Shrine of the Prophet Yunus, via Reuters
The military news outlet Stars & Stripes detailed some among the more popular memes which spread online in the wake of the ISIS cleric's capture:
Memes including “He puts the fat in fatwa” spread on social media after photos were posted of Bari seated on cushions inside his apparent hideout in one image and loaded into the back of a pickup truck in another.
The images of his arrest would strike a psychological blow against ISIS, Maajid Nawaz, founder of the London-based counter-extremist organization Quilliam, wrote on Facebook.
“Gluttony is frowned upon by jihadists. But also, ISIS branded themselves as fighters possessing rare courage & discipline... meanwhile this walrus was their top religious cleric,” he said.
Iraqi police suggest he was still making appearances in local mosques long after ISIS reign of terror, inciting hatred and violence against police and Iraqi leaders.
Nima was captured in Mansour neighborhood of Mosul by the Nineveh police command and is now in prison, awaiting trial, after which he could face execution.
Tyler Durden Sat, 01/18/2020 - 12:00 Tags Religion BeliefLiving On Borrowed Time
Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,
Practically the entirety of Congress now believes that the ability to pay should not limit the ability to promise people whatever they want. There’s no poll of members of Congress to support this assertion. We base it on what they’ve communicated by real, material actions.
Remember, per the Constitution, Congress – and in particular, the House of Representatives – is vested with the “power of the purse.” They retain the authority to tax and spend public money for the federal government. Over the last 50 years Congress has demonstrated they give less than half a rip about the government’s ability to pay.
Congress may be good at taxing. But they’re even better at spending. According to the Treasury Department, the annual budget deficit, the shortfall between tax receipts and spending, for the 2019 calendar year topped $1.02 trillion. But that’s nothing…
The budget deficit for the first three months of the 2020 fiscal year, which started in October, is up 12 percent over this time last year. Specifically, the deficit for the first three months of the 2020 fiscal year is $357 billion. At this rate, the annual 2020 fiscal year deficit will eclipse $1.4 trillion.
The deficit, of course, is funded with Treasury debt. And since mid-October, nearly half the Treasury debt has been purchased by the Federal Reserve. If you recall, starting in mid-October, the Fed began conjuring money out of thin air at a rate of $60 billion a month for the sole purpose of buying Treasuries.
Over the next decade, as debt and deficits go vertical, more and more of the Treasury’s borrowing will be financed via the printing press. Here’s why…
Inverted PyramidNew U.S. Census Bureau figures show that the U.S. population is growing at an annual rate of 0.48 percent. If it wasn’t for immigrants, which are entering the USA at a reduced rate, the U.S. population would be in decline. Business Insider offered several anecdotes:
“The census data capped 10 years of sluggish US population growth. The 2010s may enter the record books as the slowest decade in population growth since the first Census in 1790…. And low fertility and an increase in deaths are projected to continue into the 2020s.
“The prospect of demographic stagnation is playing a critical role in projections of slower U.S. economic growth over the next decade, given smaller increases in the numbers of working-age Americans and as baby boomers continue retiring. Going forward, a ballooning number of retirees would rely on a shrinking number of workers to power the economy.”
Quite frankly, this ‘going forward’ scenario is unworkable.
You see, when an economy’s supported by a young and growing demographic, the burden of public debt quickly dissipate. At the local level, long term municipal bonds are issued, and then repaid by a larger and more prosperous tax base. Public pension funds also work reasonably well when supported by a growing work force.
But as the economy ages, and growth stalls, the legacy costs become insurmountable. In effect, the age demographic transitions from a well-functioning pyramid, with a large base of workers supporting a small tip of retirees, to a top heavy inverted pyramid.
By then the public grifters, like intestinal tapeworms, have taken control from the inside. Rather than making a course correction, they devour their host. That’s when the gig is finally up.
Local governments default. Pensioners get the shaft. Public services diminish. Infrastructure falls to derelict, decay and disrepair. And formerly grand properties degenerate to single room occupancy housing for the wicked…much like Los Angeles’s Hotel Alexandria in the 1990s.
Living On Borrowed TimeAt the national level, the rules are a bit different. With the Fed and Treasury working in concert with a fiat dollar, and Congress raising the debt ceiling with little reservation, it is impossible for the U.S. government to technically default. However, to keep perpetuating more and more debt, the Fed and Treasury resort to mass currency debasement.
As noted above, the Fed is currently printing $60 billion a month and loaning it to the Treasury. This is financing about 50 percent of the deficit through the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. Moreover, this $60 billion a month is in addition to the nightly liquidity blasts of upwards of $80 billion the Fed applies to the overnight funding market to price fix the repo rate below 2 percent as part of its program of repo madness.
Without the Fed’s fake money intervention, Washington would be forced to raise taxes, reduce spending, accept a much higher interest rate, and default. The progression would happen in short order. Plus, the financial system would blowout to the extreme.
Yet there’s no turning back. There’s no graceful way out. There’s no backing away from QE or repo madness.
When it comes down to it, population and age demographics make it impossible to support the accumulated debt of yesterday’s spending. The likelihood of growing our way out of this mess is next to none.
So what are we left with? We’re left with debt financing by way of fake money from the Fed.
Make no mistake, we’re living on borrowed time. The day will come when the costs of debt monetization exceeds any benefits. That’s when those costs will be paid with ruinous price inflation. And, as it happens, ruinous price inflation is very costly.
In the meantime, everything’s awesome. Shares of Tesla are trading at over $500. Somebody say amen.
Tyler Durden Sat, 01/18/2020 - 11:30 Tags Business Finance Social IssuesNortheast Next Stop For Large-Scale Winter Storm
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned a powerful winter storm could affect travel for millions of people across the Midwest and Northeast this weekend.
A significant winter storm continues to impact areas from the Midwest and Northern Plains to the Ohio Valley. Meanwhile, snow is pushing into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast this morning, and will gradually change to sleet and freezing rain across parts of those regions. pic.twitter.com/T2b9AIHUDl
— National Weather Service (@NWS) January 18, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThe storm is so massive, that two-thirds of the U.S. will be under weather advisors on Saturday. Accumulating snow is expected in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and parts of the Northeast through Saturday. Snow totals could range from 6 to 12 inches in some regions.
A sprawling winter storm will continue to produce blizzard conditions, areas of moderate to heavy snow and freezing rain through Saturday. Check https://t.co/VyWINDBEpn for local impacts. pic.twitter.com/nM24Rd7iT1
— National Weather Service (@NWS) January 18, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"This storm will produce a widespread footprint of heavy snows from the Upper Mississippi Valley, across the Great Lakes, northern N.Y. State into central to the north of New England with snow totals in the 6 to 12 "+ range possible," NWS wrote.
Snow will end in the Midwest by early afternoon. Minnesota, Michigan, and Northern Iowa could end up with 8 to 12 inches.
From the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area to Philadelphia to New York, snow will start in the afternoon and continue throughout the day. By late afternoon/evening, snow is expected to change over to a wintery mix then rain for some regions located on the coast.
"This will be another tricky forecast for the big cities along the I-95 corridor," said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.
"New York City and Boston will likely see 2 to 4 inches of snow before everything ends as rain Saturday night and early Sunday," said Ward.
The Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area could see 1 to 3 inches of snow – but a changeover to rain could depress totals.
Interior portions of the Northeast will see the heaviest snow. Some regions, including update New York and Northern Maine, could see 8 to 12 inches by the overnight hours.
Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Detroit Metro Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and major airports in New York City could see a spike in delays as the storm moves from the Ohio Valley to Northeast by Saturday afternoon.
Tyler Durden Sat, 01/18/2020 - 11:00 Tags Weather
If Promoting Wealth Inequality & Social Breakdown Is Bad, The Fed Is Evil
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
The Fed will destroy the nation by widening the wealth/income inequality that is breaking down the nation's social order.
President Reagan was widely mocked in America when he declared the Soviet Union an evil empire, but this calling things by their real name had a profound impact in the Eastern Bloc. The mockery stemmed from the secularized American view that there was precious little moral difference between the USSR and the US, that the USSR was a legitimate "alternative system," and that ramping up Cold war tensions was not just dangerous but useless, as the USSR was as permanent (or more so) than the US.
None of which turned out to be true. While all nation-states harbor multitudes of sins, the Soviet Empire was unique in its mass suppression of basic human rights, its economic failure to better the lives of its imprisoned populations while its military might soared, and the perverse union of a Kafkaesque bureaucracy and an Orwellian propaganda machine epitomized by the old Soviet-era joke that "we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."
Fast-forward to today's USA where soaring wealth and income inequality is making a social breakdown all but inevitable. Wages for the majority of households have gone nowhere for the past two decades, while the incomes of the top 5% have skyrocketed, with the majority of the gains flowing to the top 0.1%. (See charts below.)
History shows that fast-widening gaps between the super-wealthy / top 5% and the rest of the citizenry inevitably generate social disorder and breakdown. This dynamic is already painfully visible in rising homelessness, suicide rates, opioid addictions, burnout, intolerance, etc.
While there are many dynamics in play that exacerbate wealth / income inequality, the primary driver is the Federal Reserve's near-infinite giveaways to the financial and corporate elites. If we examine why our economy has become a winner take most casino, we find the gaming tables are rigged to favor the few closest to the Fed's money spigots: when JP Morgan gets in trouble by leveraging socially parasitic bets, the Fed steps in and saves their gambles by printing hundreds of billions of dollars in repos.
As a result of the Fed backstop, JP Morgan reported blow-out earnings.
The net result of the Fed's goosing the stock market ever higher is soaring wealth inequality as the average US household gains precious little from record highs, and whatever gains they might have are sequestered in 401Ks and IRAs until they retire.
The Fed justifies its enrich the already rich policies by claiming some of this newly created wealth will trickle down to the masses via walking the wealthy's dogs, polishing their Mercedes, tutoring their over-scheduled kids, busing their tables at $100 per plate bistros and so on.
The stagnant wages of the masses are the trickle down. Average Carlos and Carlita don't get an unlimited line of credit from the Fed; only bankers, financiers and corporations get an unlimited line of credit from the Fed.
If an alien force was purposefully widening America's wealth / income gap to destabilize the nation's social order, would we hesitate to call this force evil? Would we rationalize this force as "no worse than any other force" and an "alternative system" with the same moral standing as free markets and democracy?
Ours is a moral universe, and the first necessary step is to call things by their real name: the Fed is evil. Any force that relentlessly promotes fast-widening wealth / income inequality, knowing full well that the inevitable result is social breakdown, is evil.
If this force were external, its evil nature would not be denied or defended. But because the Fed favors the wealthy and powerful, it masks its evil behind an Orwellian cloak of PR much like the former USSR.
The parallels with the Evil Empire don't stop there. While the Fed pillages the vast majority of Americans and diverts the nation's wealth to the top 0.1%, it claims, absurdly and speciously, to be "helping the commoner." This is as Orwellian as it gets.
The Fed will destroy the nation by widening the wealth/income inequality that is breaking down the nation's social order.
Let's call things by their real name: the Fed is evil.
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Tyler Durden Sat, 01/18/2020 - 10:30 Tags Social IssuesAir Force Conducts Ground Test Of Hypersonic X-60A Missile
President Trump revealed earlier this month that the US is currently developing hypersonic missiles and touted that the weapons were "big, powerful, lethal, and fast."
Trump's mention of hypersonic missiles occurred during his national address last Wednesday as he spoke about escalating tensions with Iran.
Key points from Trump's address to the nation: *Backs down from taking military action against Iran *Production of hypersonic missiles underway *More sanctions on Iran *US "no longer needs Middle Eastern oil" *Reminds Americans that al-Baghdadi is dead https://t.co/gKGZKaLlpg
— GlobalObserver (@GlobalObserver4) January 8, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast, "Trump said.
"Under construction are many hypersonic missiles. The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent," he added.
The hypersonic missile under development that President Trump was likely referencing is the US Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) X-60A, an air-launched, single-stage rocket designed to reach speeds of Mach 5 to March 8, reported Flight Global.
AFRL moved a step closer to initial flight tests after it recently conducted test firings of its engines while on the ground at Cecil Spaceport in Jacksonville, Florida.
"This test series was a critical step in reducing risk and gathering necessary system integration data in preparation for our upcoming flight tests," said Barry Hellman, AFRL X-60A program manager.
The X-60A has been designed to be air-launched from the undercarriage of a NASA C-20A, a military version of the Gulfstream III.
The initial flight test could take place in the second half of this year: "When we go to flight later this year, we hope to demonstrate the capability of the X-60A to provide affordable access to hypersonic flight conditions, which will position AFRL to deliver an innovative test capability for the Air Force and other [US Department of Defense] organizations," Hellman said.
The hypersonic race is well underway. It has been said the US is falling behind the curve in hypersonic development as Russia and China race ahead with test flights and deployments.
The next global conflict will be fought with fifth-generation stealth fighters and hypersonic missiles.
Tyler Durden Sat, 01/18/2020 - 09:55 Tags Politics
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