STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 24 April 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 24 April 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 23 April 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 23 April 2015
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Dow Jones 18,058.69 +20.42 (0.11%)
S&P 500 2,112.93 +4.97 (0.24%)
Nasdaq 5,056.06 +20.89 (0.41%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.95% -0.01 (-0.51%)
[font color=black]30 Year 2.65% 0.00 (0.00%) [font color=black]


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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

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1. Day Trader in Leather Jacket Far Cry From Wall Street Flash Boy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-22/day-trader-in-leather-jacket-far-cry-from-wall-street-flash-boy



Navinder Singh Sarao always stood out among the day traders sweating it out for small change...Everybody noticed the lanky Londoner when he removed his leather jacket, snapped on noise-reduction headphones and took a seat in front of his three screens. Not because “Nav,” as he was known, made a scene -- a fellow trader called him distant. The 30 or so who toiled in the nondescript building in a southwest London suburb watched his every move because he did what they desperately wished they could: make a pot of money. Now, six years after the 36-year-old left the firm where he worked for most of his 20s, his status has been secured: by U.S. claims that he helped cause what came to be known as the flash crash. That 2010 panic briefly wiped more than a trillion dollars of value from stocks around the world, exposed the vulnerability of markets and raised questions about the effectiveness of regulators. Sarao’s arrest on Tuesday didn’t do much to address lingering concerns.

“To say it’s one guy who caused this is ludicrous,” said Remco Lenterman, managing director at market maker IMC Financial Markets in Amsterdam. “To say that it contributed, that makes more sense. Many factors contributed.”

Sarao, unshaven and clad in a long-sleeved yellow t-shirt, appeared in a London court on Wednesday to contest his extradition to the U.S. He was released on bail of 5 million pounds ($7.5 million) by a London judge while he fights off U.S. authorities. The 22-count criminal complaint charges him with fraud and market manipulation on his way to piling up $40 million. Federal prosecutors in Illinois said his illegal trading helped send the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a wild, 1,000-point ride.

‘Had Balls’

That a lonely trader miles away from the City of London could have upset the world’s biggest stock market became a source of amusement for those posting to the #freenav hashtag on Twitter. Even this year, employees at Futex, the trading outfit where he worked, spoke of him in revered tones. In a presentation at Kings College, London, in March, a senior trader recounted his memories to a roomful of wannabe traders.

“During the financial crisis, this guy, for want of a better word, had balls,” senior trader Milto Savvidis said in the video posted in March. “He used to get into big positions, he saw the risk, he saw the reward, and he took on the trades.”

Day traders work on the fringe of finance. Futex is one of dozens of firms across the U.K. offering them a place to ply their trade. In exchange for a monthly fee and a share of any profits, they get a desk, screens and the chance to pick up tips. Futex also provides training on subjects like technical analysis, risk-management and psychology. Without the cushion of a monthly salary or a big-name employer, most last about 18 months, said one who traded there. While many people at the firm were scratching around to make about 500 pounds a week, Sarao was clearing 500,000 pounds trading futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, said a person who worked there at the time. Sarao’s status may have been heightened by his reserved demeanor. From 2 p.m. to 9 p.m each day, clad in saggy track pants, a T-shirt and Nike Air sneakers, he rarely looked up from his desk once he’d logged on. He was described by a fellow trader as the epitome of focus, head inches from his screens, as if in another world. When a group of new recruits gathered around his desk one day, he pointed to a graph and told them it was beautiful. When they asked him why, he struggled to articulate what to him seemed so obvious...Futex’s risk manager kept a log of all the traders’ daily profits and losses on his computer. When he went home for the evening, traders would try and sneak a peak and Sarao was always at the top, one of them said.

Sarao, who attended Brunel University in London, has no record of having worked at a major financial firm in the U.S. or the U.K. During the flash crash, Sarao was renting space from a trading firm in the City of London and cleared his transactions through now-defunct MF Global Holdings Ltd., said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Other than a few speeding tickets, Sarao, who was born and has always lived in the U.K., has a clean record and has no prior convictions. His father is retired. Sarao has two brothers, one of whom is an optician and the other works in information technology. He was arrested by Scotland Yard at the semi-detached home in Hounslow he shares with his parents. Nobody answered the door on Tuesday evening as planes from Heathrow Airport roared overhead. A neighbor in the working-class neighborhood, Harmesh Johal, said a “very nice family” lived there and that a lot of people entered the house around 12:45 p.m. that day.

Futex’s headquarters where Sarao worked are based in a run-down brick office block next to a train station in Woking, a commuter town 30 miles southwest of London. The firm also shares an office building in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London with a physical therapist and a personal trainer. At the London office, where a picture of a Wall Street road sign hangs on the wall, two men dressed in jeans declined to be interviewed for this article and referred questions to Marco Rossi. According to his profile on the Futex website, Rossi helped found Futex in the 1990s with his brother and started his career trading Japanese equity warrants. When Bloomberg tried to reach Rossi at an office phone, the person who answered declined to comment. There’s no suggestion any of Sarao’s alleged wrongdoing took place while he was at the firm. His lawyer declined to comment following the court hearing.


...Controversy about high-frequency-trading reached a fever pitch last year when Michael Lewis published “Flash Boys,” which argued markets are rigged. HFT firms typically employ teams of technologists and mathematicians to develop secret trading techniques. Sarao, on the other hand, appears to be largely a solo act who used off-the-shelf software. He later asked to modify the programs so he could rapidly place and cancel orders automatically, according to regulators. He described himself to U.K. authorities as “an old-school point and click prop trader.”

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LOOKS LIKE A FALL-GUY IS BEING SET UP TO HIDE THE ILLEGALITIES OF FAVORED CORPORATIONS THAT DO HFT...

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10. Rajiv Sethi: Spoofing in an Algorithmic Ecosystem Posted on April 23, 2015 by David Dayen

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/rajiv-sethi-spoofing-algorithmic-ecosystem.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Hey, Dave here, long time no blog. I’m filling in the next couple days. This criminal indictment of Navinder Singh Sarao, the guy who allegedly provoked the flash crash in 2010, looks like a perfect example of selective prosecution. See also Paul Murphy at FT Alphaville (“pure financial keystone cop-ery “) and Julia La Roche at Business Insider. Sarao is resisting extradition, so this will play out for a while.

By Rajiv Sethi, Professor of Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University. Cross posted from his blog.

A London trader recently charged with price manipulation appears to have been using a strategy designed to trigger high-frequency trading algorithms. Whether he used an algorithm himself is beside the point: he made money because the market is dominated by computer programs responding rapidly to incoming market data, and he understood the basic logic of their structure. Specifically, Navinder Singh Sarao is accused of having posted large sell orders that created the impression of substantial fundamental supply in the S&P E-mini futures contract:

The authorities said he used a variety of trading techniques designed to push prices sharply in one direction and then profit from other investors following the pattern or exiting the market.

The DoJ said by allegedly placing multiple, simultaneous, large-volume sell orders at different price points — a technique known as “layering”— Mr Sarao created the appearance of substantial supply in the market.

Layering is a type of spoofing, a strategy of entering bids or offers with the intent to cancel them before completion.

Who are these “other investors” that followed the pattern or exited the market? Surely not the fundamental buyers and sellers placing orders based on an analysis of information about the companies of which the index is composed. Such investors would not generally be sensitive to the kind of order book details that Sarao was trying to manipulate (though they may buy or sell using algorithms sensitive to trading volume in order to limit market impact). Furthermore, as Andrei Kirilenko and his co-authors found in a transaction level analysis, fundamental buyers and sellers account for a very small portion of daily volume in this contract.

As far as I can tell, the strategies that Sarao was trying to trigger were high-frequency trading programs that combine passive market making with aggressive order anticipation based on privileged access and rapid responses to incoming market data. Such strategies correspond to just one percent of accounts on this exchange, but are responsible for almost half of all trading volume and appear on one or both sides of almost three-quarters of traded contracts. The most sophisticated algorithms would have detected Sarao’s spoofing and may even have tried to profit from it, but less nimble ones would have fallen prey. In this manner he was able to syphon off a modest portion of HFT profits, amounting to about four million dollars over four years.

What is strange about this case is the fact that spoofing of this kind is, to quote one market observer, as common as oxygen. It is frequently used and defended against within the high frequency trading community. So why was Sarao singled out for prosecution? I suspect that it was because his was a relatively small account, using a simple and fairly transparent strategy. Larger firms that combine multiple strategies with continually evolving algorithms will not display so clear a signature. It’s important to distinguish Sarao’s strategy from the ecology within which it was able to thrive. A key feature of this ecology is the widespread use of information extracting strategies, the proliferation of which makes direct investments in the acquisition and analysis of fundamental information less profitable, and makes extreme events such as the flash crash practically inevitable.

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18. 'Flash crash' trader's alleged fraud a common market occurrence

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/22/us-flashcrash-trader-industry-analysis-idUSKBN0ND2RD20150422?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

The market manipulation case against the British day trader U.S. authorities say helped spur the May 2010 "flash crash" may be the most high-profile to date, but the type of activity he is accused of is actually quite common, market participants say. Navinder Singh Sarao was charged on Tuesday with allegedly using a computer trading program to generate large sell orders that pushed down prices. He then canceled those trades and bought the contracts at the lower prices, reaping a roughly $40 million profit on his trading, U.S. authorities said. The practice, known as "spoofing," is difficult for regulators to detect because it can appear very similar to legitimate trading strategies, said Eric Noll, chief executive of agency broker Convergex in New York.

Brokers routinely use algorithms that place large volumes of orders at near light speed, hoping to hit advantageous prices, but then cancel the bulk of those orders when prices move. An average broker-dealer cancels between five and 30 orders for every trade completed, while electronic market makers may cancel closer to 100 trades per order completed, said Noll. Broker-dealers cancel many more orders than they fill to provide their customers with the best possible price at the time the customer wishes to buy. If there's no customer demand for those orders, the broker-dealer cancels them.

Electronic market makers place large amounts of buy and sell orders to make it easier for traders to complete trades, profiting off the spread between the buy and sell price. If the price moves, market makers cancel the orders and make new ones to allow them to offer tight bid-ask spreads while still making a profit.

The difference is that a spoofer has no intention of completing the trades at the prices posted.

"The shady stuff goes on every day and at all hours where people put out big tickets without any intention of filling but with the intention of influencing the price up or down, a lot in crude oil," said Evan McDaniel, manager at IV Trading Group in Chicago, adding that enforcement appears to be selective.

The issue for regulators is that proving that a trader had no intention of completing a trade can be difficult and resource-intensive, said a former senior regulator who was not cleared to speak to the media. Pattern recognition software used by exchanges and regulators to spot market manipulation is getting more sophisticated, but so are spoofers, many of whom use one broker to put in one side of a trade and then another broker for the other side, making their activities harder to detect, said Noll. When regulators are able to prove that spoofing has occurred, they generally issue fines, which may not be enough to deter traders who think they can make enough profits to make the practice worthwhile, said the former senior regulator.

Regulators have charged a raft of firms with spoofing and other types of market manipulation over the past several years, but the DOJ's case against Sarao is only the second criminal case against spoofing.

In November, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pressed CME Group, the world's largest futures market operator, to continue to develop strategies to detect the practice.

MORE WONKY DETAILS AT LINK

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24. Flash crash trader Navinder Singh Sarao 'sat on £27m fortune while his mother worked two jobs'

THE SHAME!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11557755/Flash-crash-trader-Navinder-Singh-Sarao-sat-on-27m-fortune-while-his-mother-worked-two-jobs.html


Nav Sarao, the man accused of helping trigger the £500m flash crash in 2010, is a miser who refused to pay full price for a sandwich or a train fare, former colleagues say ... Flash Crash trader Navinder Sarao was so secretive about his wealth that his mother worked two jobs to make ends meet unaware that her son was sitting on a £27 million fortune, it has been claimed.

Mr Sarao, who made up to £500,000 a day as a lone trader, did not want his parents to know what he did for a job, so instead of spending his money he lived in the family home and drove his parents’ ageing Vauxhall Corsa. Former colleagues have said he was so reluctant to spend any of his spectacular wealth that he started work late to avoid paying peak price train fares, ate his lunch late so he could buy discounted sandwiches and dressed for work in tracksuits from Sports Direct.

Adam Whiting, who sat next to him for six months at the trading firm Futex, said: “Nav used to wear a tracksuit every day, even when an early millionaire. From what I remember Nav only loved making money, not spending it.” He recalled one occasion when Mr Sarao spent £100 in Sports Direct, the cut-price sporting goods store, when he made £15,000 on a particular derivatives trade. When the marked then moved against him, “he took all his clothes back”. Mr Sarao, 36, set up his own company in 2005, based at the semi-detached home in Hounslow, west London, where his family have lived since he was four.

He is accused of making £26.7 million illegally by using a computer to manipulate prices on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US, helping to trigger the 2010 flash crash in which £500 billion was wiped off the value of the Dow in a matter of minutes. He is now fighting extradition to the US after being charged there with 22 counts of fraud and market manipulation.

MORE--SCEPTICISM REIGNS AMONGST THE COGNOSCETTI

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25. Berkeley’s HFT Expert Buttresses Case Against U.K. Trader

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/berkeley-s-hft-expert-buttresses-case-against-u-k-trader

The sleuth who pieced together Navinder Singh Sarao’s pattern of spoofing isn’t an FBI agent or regulator. He’s an academic whose research has taken the view that high-frequency trading is good for markets.

When the Commodity Futures Trading Commission needed an expert to sort through Sarao’s activity, it turned to Terrence Hendershott, a University of California, Berkeley, professor. Hendershott pored over almost 400 days of trading data, documenting Sarao’s practice of using fake orders to move prices in a way that benefited him.

Hendershott’s role was revealed in an affidavit, made public Wednesday, that provides support for prosecutors’ claims against Sarao. The London-based trader’s spoofing is alleged to have fed the May 2010 flash crash, when close to $1 trillion in U.S. stock value vanished in 20 minutes before prices recovered.

Henderschott is one of the “top three or four people” regulators could have chosen for the job, said Maureen O’Hara, a Cornell University professor who is chairman of Investment Technology Group Inc. “If Terry looked at it and felt that it contributed to the flash crash, it certainly makes me more comfortable with the substance of that conclusion.”

Regulators first learned of the alleged spoofing from a whistle-blower, according to Shayne Stevenson, a Seattle lawyer representing the person....


YOUR NSA AT WORK, I SUSPECT...THIS YOUNG MAN FOUND A "BACK DOOR" INTO HFT BY THE BIG BOYS...AND HE'S GOING TO TAKE THE FALL FOR THEIR SINS.

“He is basically close enough to the scene of the crime and he was doing something illegal,” Angel said of Sarao. “Even if there had been no flash crash that day, this guy should be prosecuted if those allegations are true.”

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26. Trader Tied to Flash Crash Says He Changed His Mind a Lot

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/trader-tied-to-flash-crash-says-he-simply-changed-his-mind-a-lot



A self-described insomniac, Navinder Singh Sarao railed against high-speed traders for corrupting financial markets and defended his own rapid-fire success as the benefit of a quick mind.

“I trade very large, but change my mind in a second,” wrote Sarao in a May 2014 e-mail to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority before he was accused this week in the U.S. of contributing to the 2010 flash crash.

These new details, gleaned from pages of e-mails and documents released by U.S. authorities as part of their case against him, are at odds with the public profile that has so far emerged of the 36-year-old Londoner. He worked out of sight, sometimes from his parents’ suburban home, before his arrest this week and was described by one fellow trader as distant.

The Sarao revealed in court records is a squeaky wheel, well known to his brokers and software providers, who he harassed for not enabling him to trade as fast as he wanted. He corresponded, too, with regulators, including those who are now under scrutiny for not detecting earlier how his methods may have contributed to white-knuckled moments on May 6, 2010, when $1 trillion of value was briefly erased from U.S. stocks....

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2. ...Why United Just Bought a Bunch of Older Airplanes

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/ditching-dreamliners-here-s-why-united-just-bought-a-bunch-of-older-airplanes

United Airlines loves the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It became the first U.S. carrier to fly the long-haul jet and takes every opportunity to proclaim the Dreamliner's passenger-friendly features and attractive operating costs. Yet price trumps all in airline economics, which is why United has scrapped an order for 10 new 787s to buy an equal number of older, larger, less-fuel efficient airplanes.

The switch to 777-300ERs comes as happy news for Boeing. The manufacturer has been desperately seeking more orders as it shifts to a complete update of the plane with the 777X, which is scheduled to enter commercial service in 2020.

United’s decision to ditch Dreamliners was driven by two primary factors. First, Boeing’s 777 production line is only 50 percent filled in 2017, with even more open slots the following year. Boeing has collected 25 orders for the 777 this year, about half its goal. Second, the collapse of jet fuel prices makes a jumbo jet like the 777 far more attractive. United's fuel bill dropped more than 36 percent in the first quarter from the same period of 2014—a decline of more than $1 billion. Boeing also plans to shed about 1,200 pounds from 777s by late next year, along with further aerodynamic improvements, which will offer about 2 percent more fuel efficiency.

The order swap “gives lie to the idea that the 787 was a game-changing aircraft,” says Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group. “The 787 is a great plane, but is it a quantum leap better than the 777-300ER? Clearly not.”

I WAS AFRAID THEY WERE BUYING USED AIRPLANES, BUT IT APPEARS THAT IT'S JUST AN OLDER MODEL, BOUGHT BRAND NEW.

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3. Comcast Plans to Drop Time Warner Cable Deal

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/comcast-said-planning-to-withdraw-offer-for-time-warner-cable

Fourteen months after unveiling a $45.2 billion merger that would create a new Internet and cable giant, Comcast Corp. is planning to walk away from its proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said.

The decision marks a swift unraveling of a deal that awaited federal approval for more than a year. Opposition from the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission took shape over the past week, leaving officials of the two companies to conclude the deal wouldn’t pass muster.

Comcast’s board will meet to finalize the decision on Thursday, and an announcement may come as soon as Friday, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Time Warner Cable executives plan to tell shareholders on an earnings conference call next Thursday how the company can survive independently, the person said.

The deal’s collapse, a major setback for Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts, sets off a cascade of recalculations in the businesses of broadband Internet and delivery of television and movies. Comcast must regroup to focus on adding more Internet subscribers and defending its pay-TV business, while Time Warner Cable could pursue other possible merger partners, such John Malone’s Charter Communications Inc.

“It’s the end of one chapter but the beginning of another,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. “The pace of cable consolidation is likely to accelerate rather than decelerate. It’ll just be Charter rather than Comcast leading the charge.”

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4. U.S. Shale Fracklog Triples as Drillers Keep Oil From Market

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/u-s-shale-fracklog-triples-as-drillers-keep-oil-out-of-market-i8u004xl



Think the U.S. is awash in crude now? Thank the fracklog that it’s not worse.

Drillers in oil and gas fields from Texas to Pennsylvania have yet to turn on the spigots at 4,731 wells they’ve drilled, keeping 322,000 barrels a day underground, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis shows. That’s almost as much as OPEC member Libya has been pumping this year.

The number of wells waiting to be hydraulically fractured, known as the fracklog, has tripled in the past year as companies delay work in order to avoid pumping more oil while prices are low. It’s kept crude off the market with storage tanks the fullest since 1930. The fracklog may slow a recovery as firms quickly finish wells at the first sign of higher prices.

“Once service costs come down and drillers begin to work through their higher-than-normal backlog, the market should start to price in that supply coming online,” Andrew Cosgrove, an energy analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence in Princeton, New Jersey, said by phone. “It may act as a cap on prices.”

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5. The U.S. Economy Hasn't Disappointed Analysts This Much Since the Great Recession

NOW THAT'S A HEADLINE! AND AN ADMISSION OF DELUSIONAL THINKING

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/the-u-s-economy-hasn-t-disappointed-analysts-this-much-since-the-great-recession

Following a quartet of weaker-than-expected economic data reports released this morning, Bloomberg's U.S. economic surprise index has fallen to levels seen only during the Great Recession.

At -0.783, the 15-year-old index has been this far away from zero in either direction in only two other periods: in early 2009, when it hit a record-low -0.996, and in March 2011, when it climbed as high as 0.950.

That's not to say that the economy's heading into recession. The surprise index measures data relative to economists' projections, so the measure is showing that forecasters were way too optimistic coming into 2015...

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6. Fed eyes ability of asset managers to repay in a panic

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/us-usa-fed-liquidity-liftoff-idUSKBN0NE0CG20150423

Sections of the U.S. financial system that may be vulnerable to investor panic are raising concerns inside the Federal Reserve, as policymakers preparing for the first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade seek to ensure that the market is ready and able to handle it whenever it happens. The Fed is particularly worried about whether the booming asset management industry can withstand a run of redemptions in a financial crisis. Chief among the Fed's concerns, increasingly voiced in public remarks, is that certain funds held by individuals and institutions will not have the underlying assets sufficient to back investors cashing out in a panic. The lack of liquidity would expose investors and the economy to sharp price swings.

Bond inventories at primary dealers have plunged due to bank regulations. The amount of Treasury securities in circulation also has dropped after the Fed's three rounds of bond purchases. The fall in liquidity across portions of the bond market comes amid a jump in volatility, making it more important for Fed officials to telegraph their tightening plans well ahead of time. The Fed's nightmare scenario is in surprising markets, exposing investors to the liquidity risks it fears, and causing a spike in borrowing costs that hurts economic growth.

"Some open-ended mutual funds offer daily withdrawal privileges but invest in assets that take longer to sell and settle," Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said in a speech last month. Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart have offered similar warnings about liquidity in the last few months.

Asset managers have said they are systemically safe. But Fed officials have noted a surge in asset management inflows and concentration. One example is fixed income exchange-traded-fund assets, which reached $246 billion in 2013 from their inception in 2002, according to Greenwich Associates.

New York Fed President William Dudley has warned that investors are less inclined to hold liquid assets as memories of the 2008 crisis fade. The Fed could slow or delay rate hikes "if financial conditions were to tighten a lot," Dudley said this week. Still, the Fed will be as clear as possible. "I'll be very surprised if, whenever normalization occurs, it will be a big surprise to anyone - if we're doing our job properly," he added....


SO, PREPARE TO BE "SURPRISED", EVERY ONE

[Demeter]

7. US 'Acting against Gazprom Moves in Greece'

http://www.novinite.com/articles/168084/US+%27Acting+against+Gazprom+Moves+in+Greece%27

The US is seeking to block a proposal Gazprom made in Athens on a Greek leg of the so-called "Turkish Stream" pipeline, the Greek Foreign Minister has said.

In an interview with the Associated Press Greece's top diplomat Nikos Kotzias quoted US Secretary of State John Kerry as saying Washington would send its top energy envoy Amos Hochstein to Athens to make a "counter-offer", according to Sputnik International and the Athens News Agency.

Kotzias is currently on a five-day US visit whose schedule coincides with Tuesday's talks between Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and the Russian energy giant's CEO Alexey Miller. Miller also met with Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, telling him "47 billion cubic meters of gas will be transited through Greece".

The Greek leg is planned as an extension to the "Turkish Stream" gas pipeline which was announced as an alternative to the abandoned South Stream project in December of last year. The idea is now to link Turkish Stream, which will start from Russia, go across the Black Sea and reach the Turkey-Greece border, with the EU pipeline network, a move for which the EU is not beginning preparation despite assurances from Moscow that gas transit via Ukraine will be halted once that Turkish Stream is ready in end-2010s. -

[Demeter]

8. France to refund Moscow for undelivered 'Mistral' warship

http://www.dw.de/france-to-refund-moscow-for-undelivered-mistral-warship/a-18402100



French President Francois Hollande has said his country would reimburse Russia for a failure to deliver the "Mistral" warship. Paris suspended the Mistral delivery last year because of the Ukraine conflict. Francois Hollande (pictured above, left) announced on Wednesday that his government was unable to deliver Mistral warships to Russia and that Moscow would be refunded.

"If you don't deliver, you must refund. So far, the delivery of the Mistral is not possible," Hollande said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Paris had suspended the deal last year because of the conflict in Ukraine. A French diplomat told the Associated Press that France had begun negotiating refund payments with Russia so that penalties could be avoided in the future...There was still hope for the deal, though. Hollande said he was meeting the Russian leader in Armenia on Friday, where representatives from the two countries would participate in a ceremony to commemorate the centenary of mass killings of Armenians in 1915.

THE POLITICS OF THE POSSIBLE...

[Demeter]

9. More Craven Arguments Used to Sell TPP and Fast Track to Congress, With Mixed Results

PROGRESS REPORT ON TPP...AND LOOK! OBAMA'S SUGAR MOMMY, PENNY PRITZER, LEADS THE CHARGE!

MUST READ

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/craven-arguments-used-sell-tpp-fast-track-congress-mixed-results.html#comment-2435257

[Demeter]

11. Gaius Publius: What’s Wrong with Wyden-Hatch-Ryan’s Fast Track Bill – The Specifics

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/gaius-publius-whats-wrong-wyden-hatch-ryans-fast-track-bill-specifics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29


By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, Americablog, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. This piece first appeared at Down With Tyranny...

When we first reported on the introduction of Fast Track legislation — the bill that makes it possible for Obama and corporate Congress men and women to pass TPP, the next NAFTA-style “trade” agreement, by neutering Congress’ role in the process — we said that the new bill was being analyzed...That analysis is done, and the results are in. This version of Fast Track is worse than the last version, a bill which failed to pass Congress in 2014. Here are the specifics (pdf) via Lori Wallach at Public Citizen, the go-to person for “trade” analysis. I’m going to focus on the main problems so you’re not overwhelmed with detail. Your take-aways:

What was bad in the prior agreement is worse, despite Wyden’s intervention.
Every attempt in the bill to make TPP conform to mandated worker, environmental and currency protections is unenforceable.

Note that the bill failed to attract a single Democratic co-sponsor in the House. This is not a bipartisan bill; it’s a Wyden-plus-Republicans bill, at least so far. Wallach starts (my emphasis everywhere):

The trade authority bill introduced today would revive the controversial Fast Track procedures to which which nearly all U.S. House of Representatives Democrats and a sizable bloc of House Republicans already have announced opposition. Most of the text of this bill replicates word-for-word the text of the 2014 Fast Track bill, which itself replicated much of the 2002 Fast Track bill. Public Citizen calls on Congress to again oppose the outdated, anti-democratic Fast Track authority as a first step to replacing decades of “trade” policy that has led to the loss of millions of middle-class jobs and the rollback of critical public interest safeguards.

In the past 21 years, Fast Track authority has been authorized only once by Congress – from 2002 to 2007. In 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down Fast Track for President Bill Clinton, with 71 GOP members joining 171 House Democrats.

Click through in the first paragraph to see the extent of the declared opposition in Congress. There is considerable undeclared opposition as well, hidden in the “not sure” statements of members, especially Republicans.

Now some of what’s wrong. (For a side-by-side comparison of this Fast Track bill with the failed last one, click here; it’s enlightening. Hardly anything changed.)

Fast Track Grants “Trade Authority” to the Next President As Well

Wallach, from the Public Citizen press release:

Today’s bill explicitly grandfathers in Fast Track coverage for the almost-completed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and would extend Fast Track procedures for three to six years. …

“Congress is being asked to delegate away its constitutional trade authority over the TPP, even after the administration ignored bicameral, bipartisan demands about the agreement’s terms, and then also grant blank-check authority to whomever may be the next president for any agreements he or she may pursue,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

Not a small issue for a Republican-dominated Congress facing Hillary Clinton as the likely next Democratic nominee.

The Bill Makes Congress’ Declared “Negotiating Objectives” Unenforceable

Wallach:

The trade authority proposal does not require negotiators to actually meet Congress’ negotiating objectives in order to obtain the Fast Track privileges, making the bill’s negotiating objectives entirely unenforceable. …

Today’s bill would empower the executive branch to unilaterally select partner countries for a trade pact, determine an agreement’s contents through the negotiating process, and then sign and enter into an agreement – all before Congress voted to approve a trade pact’s contents, regardless of whether a pact met Congress’ negotiating objectives as promised in the Fast Track bill.

Under this Fast Track bill, this president and the next one can sign any agreement she or he wishes with anyone she or he wishes, containing any provisions she or he wishes, regardless of what Congress declares as its “negotiating objectives.” Then that trade bill would come before Congress for an up-or-down vote. The bill would also:

Require votes in both the House and Senate within 90 days, forbidding any amendments and limiting debate to 20 hours, whether or not Congress’ negotiating objectives were met.

More:

The Hatch bill includes several negotiating objectives not found in the 2002 Fast Track authority, most of which were also in the 2014 bill. However, the Fast Track process that the legislation would re-establish ensures that these negotiating objectives are entirely unenforceable. Whether or not Congress’ negotiating objectives are met, the president could sign a pact before Congress approves it and obtain a yes or no vote in 90 days.

Is the unenforceability of these “objectives” an accident or a feature? From Obama’s point of view (and Hillary Clinton’s?) it has to be a feature, since it enshrines executive power. One doesn’t usually neuter your opponents in a knock-down drag-out fight by accident. That tends to be the goal. Keep this in mind — nothing any progressive cares about will be allowed in a Fast Tracked trade bill. When some corporate Democrat talks about how this Fast Track bill puts requirements on the administration in areas like environmental protection, labor practices (including union-busting and even -murdering), and currency manipulation, just say, “Read the language; isn’t gonna happen.” Those “requirements” do not have to be met under this law.

SPECIFIC DETAILS AND HORROR AT LINK

[Demeter]

21. Democrats Balk At Obama Plan To Cut Funding For Workers Hurt By Trade Deals

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/22/tpp-job-protection_n_7122592.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

The rift between President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats over trade policy deepened Wednesday as the administration opposed an effort to fully restore aid for American workers who lose their jobs to international trade. The conflict threatens to undermine Obama's repeated claim that he is revamping trade policy to fix problems Democrats have cited in prior trade pacts. The president is pushing hard to win over a Democratic caucus that is overwhelmingly skeptical of his Trans-Pacific Partnership -- an agreement being negotiated with 11 Pacific nations -- that Democrats fear will exacerbate income inequality and empower multinational corporations to challenge key regulations before an international tribunal. The administration contends the deal will fuel economic growth without sacrificing progressive values.

The two factions are at loggerheads over the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which provides financial aid and job training to U.S. workers who lose their jobs as a result of international trade. During a markup hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced that Obama endorsed providing $450 million a year to the Trade Adjustment Assistance program -- a cut of more than 20 percent from the $575 million a year provided by the last TAA bill that passed in 2011. Wyden had agreed to the $450 million figure in talks with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a staunch opponent of the TAA program. Wyden was the only Democrat on the Finance Committee to oppose an amendment from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that would have restored the $575 million funding level. Every Republican on the panel except Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) opposed the amendment, which failed by two votes.

TAA is a sensitive issue on Capitol Hill. Democrats frequently criticize the program for underestimating job losses associated with free trade deals, and see it as a superficial salve for a trade agenda that has broadly undermined the U.S. manufacturing sector for decades. Most Republicans oppose the program, but have accepted it in the past as a necessary compromise to pass trade agreements they generally have supported. Obama's latest budget proposal included $575 million for TAA, but Wyden said Wednesday that the administration has since calculated that $450 million would be sufficient. The White House and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative directed HuffPost to the Department of Labor for comment on the administration's position.

MORE BLOVIATING AT LINK

[Demeter]

22. FREE TRADE, DEFINED:

[Demeter]

27. TPP negotiators agree on rules for six categories JAPAN

http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/tpp-negotiators-agree-on-rules-for-six-categories

Negotiators for the Trans-Pacific Partnership have agreed trade rules for six broad categories as officials race to conclude a trade pact, a Japanese government source said on Thursday. The United States, Japan and 10 other countries have been locked in talks over the TPP, a U.S. proposal that would cut trade barriers and harmonise standards covering two-fifths of the world economy and a third of global trade.

Officials from all countries met on Thursday for the next round of formal negotiations near Washington, so any progress would be a welcome sign for talks that have often been delayed due to the sheer complexity of the trade zone. Negotiators have agreed on common rules for telecommunications infrastructure providers and services firms working across borders, said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the subject. Negotiators have reached agreement on harmonising competition rules, visas for short-term business travel, simplifying customs and provision of technical support to enforce the trade pact, a document obtained by Reuters showed.

Given the scale of the task, negotiators have divided their work into 12 broad categories or themes, but some categories have been easier to negotiate than others. Officials also agreed on some aspects of how to manage the ambitious trade bloc, the document showed, but tough debate on intellectual property remains to be resolved.

AND NOT A MENTION OF THE SANCTITY OF RICE FARMERS...

[Demeter]

28. Obama To Democratic Trade Critics: 'I Take That Personally'

SO DO WE, BUD, SO DO WE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/obama-tpp-opposition_n_7132208.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

President Barack Obama fought back on Thursday against the biggest domestic obstacle to the Pacific trade pact he wants to conclude before he leaves office: the trade skeptics in his own Democratic party. Trade unions, environmental groups and high-profile Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have come out swinging against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying it would send American jobs overseas.

"When people say that this trade deal is bad for working families, they don't know what they're talking about," Obama told a group of about 200 volunteers and donors with Organizing for Action, an advocacy group formed by his former campaign team. "I take that personally. My entire presidency has been about helping working families.

"The Chamber of Commerce didn't elect me twice - working folks did," he said.

Obama argued it would be illogical for him to sign a trade deal that would hurt middle-class jobs given his efforts to expand health care insurance, bail out the auto industry and overhaul Wall Street regulations.

"I spent a lot of time and a lot of political capital to save the auto industry," Obama said, banging the lectern with a pointed finger for emphasis. "Why would I pass a deal that would be bad for U.S. auto workers?"

*****************

Obama said he understands the fears, but said the criticism was out of date, arguing the new deal will include strong protections for labor and the environment, and warning that a failure to pass it would cede economic power to China.

"You need to tell me what's wrong with this trade agreement, not one that was passed 25 years ago," he said, urging his supporters to spread the word.

"We can't just oppose trade on reflex alone."

I'M GOING TO GO QUIETLY BANG MY HEAD ON A WALL, NOW....

[mother earth]

30. Perhaps what we are missing here might be in order to be competitive with China, we must become

third world laborers like China. You know, give up all the protections in every shape and form, and live to serve & on slave wages. Makes me wonder how strong our dollar really is, if our president seems to think a trade deal like this is what is needed to remain competitive.

I wonder what the new definition of "middle class" will be after TPP?

I wonder what our nation will look like under TPP, the lakes, the fields, the streams, and how safe infrastructure, buildings, products of all kinds will be after TPP.

[Demeter]

12. Exclusive: Clinton charities will refile tax returns, audit for other errors

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/us-usa-election-clinton-taxes-exclusive-idUSKBN0NE0CA20150423

Hillary Clinton's family's charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit other Clinton Foundation returns in case of other errors. The foundation and its list of donors have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. Republican critics say the foundation makes Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, vulnerable to undue influence. Her campaign team calls these claims "absurd conspiracy theories." The charities' errors generally take the form of under-reporting or over-reporting, by millions of dollars, donations from foreign governments, or in other instances omitting to break out government donations entirely when reporting revenue, the charities confirmed to Reuters.

"CHARITIES" PLURAL?

The errors, which have not been previously reported, appear on the form 990s that all non-profit organizations must file annually with the Internal Revenue Service to maintain their tax-exempt status. A charity must show copies of the forms to anyone who wants to see them to understand how the charity raises and spends money. The unsettled numbers on the tax returns are not evidence of wrongdoing but tend to undermine the 990s role as a form of public accountability, experts in charity law and transparency advocates told Reuters.

"If those numbers keep changing - well, actually, we spent this on this, not that on that - it really defeats the purpose," said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency advocacy group.

THAT'S NOT A BUG, THAT'S A FEATURE!

For three years in a row beginning in 2010, the Clinton Foundation reported to the IRS that it received zero in funds from foreign and U.S. governments, a dramatic fall-off from the tens of millions of dollars in foreign government contributions reported in preceding years. Those entries were errors, according to the foundation: several foreign governments continued to give tens of millions of dollars toward the foundation's work on climate change and economic development through this three-year period. Those governments were identified on the foundation's annually updated donor list, along with broad indications of how much each had cumulatively given since they began donating.

FOUNDATION DEFENDS TRANSPARENCY

"We are prioritizing an external review to ensure the accuracy of the 990s from 2010, 2011 and 2012 and expect to refile when the review is completed," Craig Minassian, a foundation spokesman, said in an email. The decision to review the returns was made last month following inquiries from Reuters, and the foundation has not ruled out extending the review to tax returns extending back 15 or so years. Minassian declined to comment on why the foundation had not included the necessary break-down of government funding in its 990 forms. He said it was rare to find an organization as transparent as the foundation.

"No charity is required to disclose their donors," he said. "However, we voluntarily disclose our more than 300,000 donors and post our audited financial statements on our website along with the 990s for anyone to see."

Separately, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), the foundation's flagship program, is refiling its form 990s for at least two years, 2012 and 2013, CHAI spokeswoman Maura Daley said, describing the incorrect government grant break-outs for those two years as typographical errors. CHAI, which is best known for providing cheaper drugs for tens of thousands of people with HIV around the world, began filing separate tax returns in 2010, and has previously refiled at least once both its 2010 and 2011 form 990s. For both those years, CHAI said its initial filings had over-reported government grants by more than $100 million. Some experts in charity law and taxes said it was not remarkable for a charity to refile an erroneous return once in a while, but for a large, global charity to refile three or four years in a row was highly unusual.

"I've never seen amendment activity like that," said Bruce Hopkins, a Kansas City lawyer who has specialized in charity law for more than four decades, referring to the CHAI filings.

HAD ENOUGH, FELLOW SUFFERERS? THERE'S MORE AT LINK...

[Demeter]

19. Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html

The headline on the website Pravda trumpeted President Vladimir V. Putin’s latest coup, its nationalistic fervor recalling an era when its precursor served as the official mouthpiece of the Kremlin: “Russian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.” The article, in January 2013, detailed how the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosatom, had taken over a Canadian company with uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West. The deal made Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain. But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one. Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well. And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

At the time, both Rosatom and the United States government made promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the company’s assets to the Russians. Those promises have been repeatedly broken, records show.

The New York Times’s examination of the Uranium One deal is based on dozens of interviews, as well as a review of public records and securities filings in Canada, Russia and the United States. Some of the connections between Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation were unearthed by Peter Schweizer, a former fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and author of the forthcoming book “Clinton Cash.” Mr. Schweizer provided a preview of material in the book to The Times, which scrutinized his information and built upon it with its own reporting. AND IT RUNS FOR PAGES....GO READ! HILLARY IS TOAST, SHE JUST WON'T ADMIT IT, EVER.

Donations to the Clinton Foundation, and a Russian Uranium Takeover

By WILSON ANDREWS APRIL 22, 2015

Uranium investors’ efforts to buy mining assets in Kazakhstan and the United States led to a takeover bid by a Russian state-owned energy company. The investors gave millions to the Clinton Foundation over the same period, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s office was involved with approving the Russian bid.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2015/04/21/uranium-clinton-foundation/4750cb4039600b0e05d2e5fcca3680b25971802b/uranium-artboard-720.svg

[Demeter]

13. Exclusive: Oklahoma City Bombing Breakthrough, Part 1 of 2 by Roger Charles

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/04/22/exclusive-oklahoma-city-bombing-breakthrough-part-1-of-2/

Two decades have passed since the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing. It was the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history, and 168 people died, including 19 children. The attack on the Murrah Federal Building was said to be the work of Timothy McVeigh and two confederates, described as right-wing extremists with an anti-government agenda. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection and Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier were given prison sentences.

Now, however, major cracks have appeared in the federal government’s story—a story long considered by some victims’ families to be little more than a stonewall of mendacity and distortion. New revelations suggest that the government may be covering up prior interactions between intelligence services and the accused. In this way, Oklahoma City poses some of the same questions raised by 9/11 and the Boston Marathon Bombing—other national security traumas where Washington has worked hard to block potentially devastating disclosures.

***

Probably the most significant new development is multiple confirmations of past allegations that a German intelligence operative with ties to one or more US agencies, Andreas Strassmeir, aka “Andy the German,” had a close and extensive relationship with McVeigh.

Based on 19 years of active investigation by this reporter—including hundreds of interviews, over two score field trips, and unique access to critical documents—information presented herein leads to a hugely important finding: the FBI was aware of the Strassmeir–McVeigh relationship and was monitoring McVeigh’s activities at a never-before-revealed level approaching “close surveillance.” Contrary to Strassmeir’s long-standing claim, endorsed by the Department of Justice, that he and McVeigh had a single, brief, inconsequential meeting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, gun show two years before the bombing, several credible sources assert the relationship was far more substantive. If correct, that could fundamentally alter Americans’ understanding of the way their government goes about protecting American lives—or, in the case of Oklahoma City, failing to… with tragic results.

SEE ALSO PART II AT http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/04/23/exclusive-oklahoma-city-bombing-breakthrough-part-2-of-2/

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE A CLEAR CASE OF LIHOP ON THE PART OF US INTELLIGENCE, WITH THE FALSE FLAG SETUP BEING OUTSOURCED TO GERMAN OPERATIVE....

HOW MANY DECADES BEFORE WE FIND OUT THAT THE FBI SUPPLIED THE BOSTON BOMBERS WITH THE BOMBS? IT'S UNBELIEVABLE AND AMAZING THAT THE SOURCE OF THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION DID NOT COME OUT AT TRIAL...THEY WERE TOO BUSY WHALING AWAY ON THE YOUNGER BROTHER.

[Demeter]

14. These Are the Happiest Countries in the World

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/these-are-the-happiest-countries-in-the-world

The U.S. is the 15th happiest country of the 158 covered by the survey, which obtained its data primarily from the Gallup World Poll. That puts the U.S. just behind Mexico (14) but ahead of Brazil (16), Britain (21), Japan (46), Russia (64), China (84), and Iran (110).



ANOTHER DEFINITION COULD BE: THESE ARE THE COUNTRIES MOST ISOLATED FROM GLOBALISM, AND IN THE CASE OF THE USA, THE MOST DELUSIONAL DUE TO EXCELLENT PROPAGANDA.

IF ONE LOOKS AT ANY HISTORICAL TRENDS, THE US SHOULD BE THE MOST UNHAPPY...ITS PEOPLE ARE LOSING MAJOR GROUND THEY HAD SECURED ON A DAILY BASIS...INCLUDING ECONOMIC SECURITY, PUBLIC HEALTH, DEMOCRACY AND EQUALITY.

BUT I AM GUESSING THAT POOR PEOPLE DON'T GET POLLED...

[Demeter]

15. THE 20 UNHAPPIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

[Demeter]

16. Puerto Rico officials warn government shutdown imminent

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/puerto-rico-officials-warn-government-shutdown-imminent-072028570--business.html

Puerto Rico's top finance officials said the government of the U.S. territory will likely shutdown in three months because of a looming liquidity crisis and warned of a devastating impact on the island's economy. In a letter to leading lawmakers, including Governor Alejandro Padilla, the officials said a financing deal that could potentially salvage the government's finances currently looked unlikely to succeed. It warned of laying off government employees and reducing public services

"A government shutdown is very probable in the next three months due to the absence of liquidity to operate," the officials said. "The likelihood of completing a market transaction to finance the government's operations and keep the government open is currently remote."

The letter, dated April 21, was also sent to the heads of Puerto Rico's Senate and House as well as the governor. It was signed by the government's fiscal team, including the head of the Government Development Bank and the Treasury Secretary.

Puerto Rico, which has a total debt of more than $70 billion, is trying to raise $2.95 billion in financing, while pushing through unpopular tax reforms such as a higher value-added tax and increasing a levy on crude oil to help pay for it. Puerto Rico is largely reliant on hedge funds for its financing needs. Those hedge funds have been pushing the government to carry out tax reforms to improve its fiscal position as a condition for providing extra financing.

IT WORKED SO WELL FOR THE GOP....MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

17. Argentina and Russia Ink $5B Worth of Energy Deals

President Cristina Fernandez says Argentina and Russia are “partners in energy.”

Russia and Argentina agreed Thursday to consider stamping out the use of the U.S. dollar for bilateral trade, along with a slew of other high level deals.

“We have agreed to carry out comprehensive consultations on the question of using national currencies in trade,” Argentine president Cristina Fernandez stated.

The agreement comes as Russia and Argentina prepare to dramatically ramp up trade and cooperation. Close to US$5 billion in energy deals between the two nations have been inked over Fernandez's two-day visit to Moscow, including US$1 billion in joint gas exploration deals between Russia's state owned petroleum company Gazprom, and its Argentine counterpart YPF.

Additionally, Russia has agreed to assist Argentina in the construction of a nuclear power plant “We are on track to becoming partners in energy,” Fernandez stated.

The two countries have also renewed military and technological ties. In particular, Russian president Vladimir Putin said he will expedite the development of the GLONASS satellite navigation system for Argentina. Developed in Russia, GLONASS is an alternative to GPS, which is a global positioning and navigation system that uses satellite imaging.

In a final show of support to Argentina, Putin backed Buenos Aires' long standing claim of sovereignty over the disputed Malvinas Islands. Known as the Falklands to the British, the islands which are just off Argentina’s coast are claimed by both Argentina and the United Kingdom.

"Russia supports Argentina's striving for direct talks with Britain to achieve prompt resolution to the Malvinas Islands dispute," Putin said.

Fernandez has previously voiced support for Crimea's recent reunification to Russia, comparing Moscow's claim to the peninsula to Argentina's claim over the Malvinas. She has also accused Western nations of responding to Crimea's annexation with “double standards.” “You can't insist on the territorial integrity of Ukraine but not of Argentina,” she said earlier this year.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Argentina-Russia-Ink-US5Bn-in-Energy-Deals-20150423-0007.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

[Demeter]

20. Judge seems skeptical of government's AIG bailout terms

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/04/22/aig-bailout-greenberg-starr-lawsuit/26184917/

A federal judge on Wednesday appeared openly skeptical toward the government's claim that it had the authority to take a majority stake in American International Group (AIG) in exchange for a bailout at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

Judge Thomas Wheeler repeatedly challenged a government lawyer's argument that the Federal Reserve's decision to take an 80% interest in the insurance giant was not an illegal taking of property and was justified because it rescued the firm from bankruptcy.

"All of the company's people who had been running the operation….were gone and the government is running the show, completely," Wheeler told Justice Department lawyer Kenneth Dintzer. "How can it be there wasn't some sort of illegal (taking) for that to happen?"

His remarks came in the closing arguments of former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit accusing the government of illegally taking controlling ownership of AIG without "just compensation."

MORE--THIS GETS MORE INTERESTING EVERY TIME

[Demeter]

23. It's now 26F and there's heavy frost on the roofs, cars, and probably the fruit blossoms

The temperature has risen 1/2 of a degree in 2 hours...

I've posted all the stuff I had open in Windows, clearing the deck for my short trip out of Dodge...it's nice to know that those enemies I had have not changed their minds in the span of years...but then, they have neither sought nor accepted any new information tossed their way...their loss, to be sure. Experience is a dear teacher, but the lazy will not learn any other way.

Enjoy the Weekend, everyone, and thanks again to MattSh, for taking on the responsibility. Keep the faith! Truth will out, if we don't give up the struggle. Because Reality always wins, even over the stubbornest of human delusions.

[Demeter]

29. What proportion of the global economy is comprised of banks? By Investopedia

Last edited Fri Apr 24, 2015, 07:38 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042215/what-proportion-global-economy-comprised-banks.asp?partner=YahooSA

SHORT ANSWER: Most estimates put the banking sector between one-sixth and one-quarter of total global activity.

LONG ANSWER AT LINK

IT REALLY OUGHT TO BE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 1 AND 5%, FOR A HEALTHY ECONOMY, BY MY ESTIMATES.

[Hotler]

31. Fucking cops.

It is easier to shoot and kill then spend forth a little effort to solve a problem.

15 loose buffaloes that crossed New York highway are killed

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/15-loose-buffaloes-that-crossed-new-york-highway-are-killed/ar-AAbDzDr

COEYMANS, N.Y. (AP) — Fifteen buffaloes that escaped from a farm were intentionally shot and killed Friday after they dashed past a group of police, crossed a major highway and ended up near some schools, authorities said.

"The last thing we wanted to do was put these animals down," Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said. "But it wasn't a safe scene."

Three men hired by the farm opened fire on the animals Friday afternoon in woods in the town of Coeymans, about 10 miles south of the capital.

[Hotler]

32. Holy shit!!!

Who are those people over in GD (Jones Town)?
There is a shit-pot full defending TTP and sticking up for president Obama for forcing it through without transparency. I say paid trolls for the PTB.