From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Zero Hedge – by Bill Blain of Shard Capital
“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!”
As it’s a Friday I am contractually entitled to have a rant and whine about whatever I want to write about. Which, today, isn’t really the cut and thrust of markets. Continue reading “Blain: There Is Too Much Money Pushing up Prices, And It All Ends With A Guillotine”
U.S. consumer prices rebounded more than expected in October and underlying inflation picked up, which together with abating trade tensions and fears of a recession, support the Federal Reserve’s signal for no further interest rate cuts in the near term.
The Labor Department said on Wednesday its consumer price index increased 0.4% last month as households paid more for energy products, healthcare, food and a range of other goods. That was the largest gain in the CPI since March and followed an unchanged reading in September. Continue reading “US consumer prices increase more than expected in October”
In a controversial new landmark ruling that has enraged and frustrated Israeli leaders, Europe’s top court has ordered that all goods produced by Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights be labeled as such.
Specifically the European Court of Justice decision on Tuesday forbids any products from settlements to be labeled simply as “made in Israel”; instead, they must have a “clear and non-misleading indication of origin” in line with the EU’s consumer policy, as stated by an EU official communicating the ruling to Tel Aviv. Continue reading “All Products From Israeli Settlements Must Be Labelled: EU Court In Landmark Ruling”
The Trump administration announced Friday that it is proposing to increase fees on immigrants filing applications in the U.S., including a controversial $50 fee on asylum applications that quickly drew Democratic opposition.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposed rule that would adjust fees in what it says is a move to meet operational needs. It says the average increase is 21 percent. If left at their current level, USCIS would be underfunded by $1.3 billion a year, the agency said. Continue reading “Trump administration proposes fees on asylum applications, DACA renewals”
DALLAS (Reuters) – As the U.S.-China trade war drags on, more farmers are expected to take out debt against the land they own – their collateral of last resort – to keep their operations going, according to a survey of lenders.
The survey found that bankers are increasingly worried about farmers facing cash-flow problems: 46% of bankers expect an increase in loans secured by farmland for the 2019/20 growing year, up from 37% for the previous period. Continue reading “U.S. farmers to leverage land as farm economy deteriorates: survey”
There has been a lot of talk the past year about a civil war in the US, so much so that even the mainstream media is pushing the concept lately. A poll from Rasmussen in 2018 claimed that 31% of US voters believed that America would see a second civil war within the next five years. A more recent poll from The Institute Of Politics And Public Service shows that 7 out of 10 voters believe the US is two-thirds of the way towards civil war. Continue reading “Trump Impeachment And The Civil War Scenario”
by Steven Charles Hance
Another day, another trade-deal headline saying nothing new but good enough for the algos…
US equity markets love it… Continue reading “Trump Celebrates “A New Record” As Stocks, Bond Yields, & The Dollar Soar”
CBS has fired a female staffer believed to have had access to a candid tape of ABC host Amy Robach complaining that in 2016, the network shelved her scoop on Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes, according to Page Six.
“I’ve had the story for three years… we would not put it on the air,” Robach said on a hot mic moment leaked to Project Veritas. “It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything.” Continue reading ““CBS Sided With A Pedophile”: Network Fires Staffer Who Had Access To Robach-Epstein Rant”
WAUCHULA, Fla. (AP) — A 33-year-old orangutan granted legal personhood by a judge in Argentina is settling into her new surroundings at the Center for Great Apes in central Florida.
Patti Ragan, director of the center in Wauchula, Florida, says Sandra is “very sweet and inquisitive” and adjusting to her new home. She was born in Germany and spent 25 years at the Buenos Aires Zoo before arriving in Florida on Nov. 5. Continue reading “Orangutan granted ‘personhood’ settles into new Florida home”
Today I saw this piece of American history as it made a stop straight South of us. Continue reading “Big Boy No. 4014”
President Trump on Tuesday offered U.S. assistance as he called on Mexico to “wage war” against the country’s murderous drug cartel “monsters” in response to the brutal killing of multiple Americans a day earlier.
“If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” Trump tweeted. “The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!” Continue reading “Trump calls for ‘war’ against Mexican drug cartel ‘monsters’ after Americans murdered”
In typical carnival barker fashion, Donald Trump was all over the media bragging on himself for the supposed killing of so-called ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But as with virtually everything else pertaining to America’s phony “war on terror,” this is just continued propaganda. This is Donald Trump’s attempt to upstage Barack Obama’s “killing” of Osama bin Laden. Continue reading “Continued Propaganda Regarding The “War On Terror””
As we reported earlier, Q3 GDP printed far stronger than expected, with US households going on an all-out spending spree and at 1.93%, or contributing 100% of the bottom line 1.93% GDP print, personal consumption soared an annualized 2.9%, far stronger than expected. Continue reading “For The Second Consecutive Quarter, This Is What Americans Spent The Most Money On”
Stunning video recorded by a local CBS affiliate captures the aftermath of a bus that was swallowed by a giant sink hole that opened up in downtown Pittsburgh during the Monday morning rush hour.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene after the entire back half of a Port Authority bus went into the ground at Penn Avenue and 10th Street just before 8am as the gaping hole opened up. A statement by the city’s Port Authority indicated the bus “was stopped at a red light when the hole opened underneath it.” Continue reading “Public Bus Swallowed By Massive Sink Hold In Downtown Pittsburgh Rush Hour”
The Pentagon has threatened that American forces deployed around Syrian oil fields will use “military force” against any party that may seek to challenge Washington’s control of those sites, even if it is Syrian government forces or their Russian allies.
Speaking at a news briefing on Monday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper referred to “multiple state and non-state” forces vying for control of Syrian territory and resources. Continue reading “US threatens ‘military force’ against ‘any group’ challenging occupation of Syria oil fields”
Having sent growing numbers of troops into eastern Syria explicitly to control the oil, President Trump now says he is seeking a deal with Exxon Mobil or “one of our great companies” to go into occupied Syria and take the oil.
Trump has long suggested that in his view, the US should be able to just take oil from countries it is involved in militarily, as a way to recover some of the costs of his various wars. Trump said on Sunday that the oil is valuable and “we should be able to take some also.” Continue reading “Trump Wants Deal With Exxon or Other Company to Take Syrian Oil”
Seventy percent of millennials in a new poll say that they are somewhat or extremely like to vote for a socialist candidate.
The YouGov–Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation poll released on Monday also found that 50 percent of millennials, defined as between the ages of 23 and 38, and 51 percent of Generation Z, or those ages 16 to 22, have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of capitalism, an increase of 8 and 6 percentage points, respectively, from last year. Continue reading “7 in 10 millennials say they would vote for a socialist: poll”