CNN Boss Admits "Democrats Bigger First Amendment Threat Than Trump"

"...the real threat to the First Amendment came from the Democrats' side more...The press tends to miss that because they tend to lean that way too charitably, and therefore they were supporting what they were viewing..."

Italian Government Prepares To Nationalize Monte Paschi

"It's a de-facto nationalization with a strong presence by the state that can attract other investors and allow the transaction to be completed."

Colorado "Hamilton Electors" Sue To Block Trump, Void Vote Mandate

Just a day after a Texas Republican "faithless elector" explained why he will not cast his vote for Donald Trump, The Denver Post reports two Democratic Colorado electors are filing suit challenging a state law requiring them to vote for the winner of the state’s popular vote. Their hope is to set a precedent enabling Republican electors in other states to vote for a third-party candidate to keep Trump from receiving 270 electoral votes.

Time Urges 65 Million Americans Who Voted For Hillary Not To Pay Taxes

Under the twisted premise of losing the popular vote and "no taxation without representation", TIME's Mark Weston proclaims that the approximately 65 million Democrats who voted for Hillary Clinton should pledge "we won’t pay taxes to the federal government.. until democracy is restored."

Tech Titans Team Up Block "Extremist Content" With Centralized Censorship Database

"We hope this collaboration will lead to greater efficiency as we continue to enforce our policies to help curb the pressing global issue of terrorist content online."

Meanwhile On Main Street, Fast-Food Traffic Drops For The First Time In Five Years

According to restaurant tracker NPD Group, traffic at U.S. fast-food restaurant fell 1% in the third quarter, the sector’s first traffic decline in five years. The reason: higher costs of eating out, changing consumer behavior and higher bills for items such as rent and drugs.

The Equation That Explains It All

There’s only one word for it now as to explain just how beholden the market is adhering to, and repeating the below calculus. And it just so has it, Einstein said it best: “Insanity.”

The Biggest Gold Heist Of All Time

...When the pirates arrived, they robbed the island of 100 talents of gold (worth just shy of $100 million today), an unfathomable sum at the time...It’s amazing that thousands of years have passed, and yet that very same gold could still be traded in modern financial markets.

Meet Donald Trump's Cabinet (So Far)

A Pessimists' Guide To 2017: When Everything That Can Go Wrong, Does Go Wrong

WTI Pops Despite Biggest Cushing Inventory Build Since 2008

With OPEC behind us, perhaps the market's focus will swing back to fundamentals (as opposed to headlines) and following last week's huge build across products, API reported the second week in a row of crude inventory draws (bigger than the expected 1.37mm drop). However, Gasoline and Distillates saw major builds but Cushing inventories rose over 4mm barrels - the most since 2008. WTI seemed to focus on the crude draw at first...

Trumpgasm Returns: Dow Hits 11th Record Since Election As Small Caps Soar

Trader Exclaims "Markets Are In An Alternate Universe"

"This has been a momentum-driven market rather than one driven by well-reasoned fundamental analysis... It’s amazing what pseudo-intellectual havoc can be caused by a couple hundred points bounce in the markets..."

Bill Gross Reveals The "Global Establishment's Overall Plan" In Eight Simple Steps

Having exposed the "current global establishment’s (including Trump’s) overall plan" consisting of 8 simple steps to solve the global debt crisis,Bill Gross then goes on to say that "it pays to not fight the tiger until it becomes obvious that another plan will by necessity replace it."

China Admits "Economic Downturn Just Beginning", Slashes Salary Guidelines

"The decrease reflects Chinese economic downturn, which is just now beginning and will last a long time since China has passed its economic boom period in which many problems were hidden but now those problems will gradually surface."

Is Trump Calling Out Xi Jinping?

Across Asia, every capital is waiting to see how Xi Jinping responds, for a matter of face would seem to be involved.

Reasons To Doubt "The Year Of The Strong Dollar" Doctrine

It was interesting to note that the dollar weakened yesterday after the strongest ISM print in more than a year. Maybe positioning is already quite stretched?

Not Remotely Data Dependent

Should the FOMC “hike” in December, it will again have nothing to do with economy or recovery.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, What’s In YOUR Closet?

by SGT, SGT Report.com:
CNN’s Jake Tapper likes to malign #SpiritCooking and #PizzaGate as “fake news” without ever bothering to address any of the troubling FACTS and circumstantial evidence that suggest a penchant for pedophilia among the ranks of Washington DC’s elite.
It’s certainly a strange coincidence that almost a year ago (February 6, 2015) Tapper’s wife Jennifer professed her love for Comet Ping Pong and Buck’s Fishing and Camping, naming them specifically as her “favorite date-night restaurants”,  which is weird because both establishments have been named by Pizzagate researchers as worthy of further investigation.  And perhaps even stranger, Jennifer Tapper also told Washingtonian magazine that Comet Ping Pong is her “favorite restaurant with the kids.”
Small world. It kinda makes you wonder, just how close is Jake Tapper to John Podesta’s inner circle, and what exactly is lurking in his closet?
Read More

Why Can’t We Focus More On All Of The Good News In The World?

by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream:
Why does “the news” have to be 99 percent bad news? It is certainly very true that our world is facing great challenges, and those challenges are only going to become more intense during the years ahead, but why can’t we celebrate the good things that are happening as well? For decades, one of the mantras in news organizations all over the country has been “if it bleeds, it leads”, but life is not all about death and destruction. Yes, if we only focus on the positive our life will be out of balance, but the same thing is true if we only focus on the negative. For those of us that are “news junkies”, it is way too easy to slip into the mindset that everything is bad in the world. Without a doubt, things are dark and getting darker, but there are also a whole lot of people out there that are doing their best to be lights in their communities.
Read More

American Alternative Media Threatens Defamation Lawsuit Against Washington Post for Red Baiting

from Washington’s Blog:
Yves Smith – who runs the respected liberal website Naked Capitalism – has retained a top gun lawyer to sue the Washington Post for defamation unless it retracts its smear piece calling alternative media sites “Russian propaganda.”
Smith has also launched PropOrNot.org … a satirical site complaining about the lack of first-rate propaganda by the powers-that-be.
Read More

Trump Sets Stage for Huge Gold Rally in 2017

by James Burgess, Wolf Street:
Global political tensions have not been this palpable since 9/11, when gold prices jumped 32.87% in a single day, and the amount of uncertainty being ushered in for 2017 promises to be great for the precious metal—our age-hold hedge against chaos and instability.
For a fully-funded junior gold miner backed by heavy hitters in one of the world’s hottest venues–Fiore Exploration Ltd (TSXV–F.V) the timing is excellent, the production costs appealing, and the future golden.
Read More

Meet Chinese Education Companies — How U.S. Colleges Sell Enrollment to the Highest Bidders

by Michael Krieger, Liberty Blitzkrieg:
This past Friday, Reuters published one of the most important articles I’ve read in a while relative to the attention being paid to the issue. It details a streamlined practice through which Chinese “education” companies essentially bribe college admissions officers at top U.S. universities to accept tuition paying Chinese students. It’d be bad enough if these students were actually qualified, but in many cases these companies complete the entirety of the applications for the students, including writing their essays. It’s not uncommon for these student-clients to never see their own applications.
Read More

Yes Prime Minister Modi: You Are Right. “In India Even Beggars are Going Cashless”

from Countercurrents, via Global Research:
Prime Minister, you said that in India even Beggars are going Cashless. You are absolutely true. I keep seeing the Whaatsapp message that you work for 18 hours a day, haven’t taken a single leave for the last many years, left your family. All these sacrifices you are making to take India to a digital world. Then why poor should be left out of this digital revolution. They should not. They should also go cashless.By this act they would only contribute to eradicating Black money. Of course, they have accumulated black money through years of hard earned savings, but just saved in a few thousands.
Yes Prime Minister, it is not a problem, if the poor do not earn even Rs. 32 a day (the official definition of poverty) to survive. It is not necessary if they do not get full employment and their income is erratic. They have solution at their hands. They still can go cashless and manage with Debit cards, Credit cards, e-Wallets with a Rs. 32 deposited into their Jan-dhan accounts.
Read More

Covert Depopulation? Mysterious “Thunderstorm Asthma” Now Strikes Kuwait – 5 Dead, 844 Hospitalized

by Mac Slavo, SHTF Plan:
The mystery deepens.
A week or so ago, conspiracy theorists were scratching their heads as to why more than 8500 people in Australia would suddenly have to a hospitalized in a concentrated wave allergies that left several people dead.
Now, a similar event has been reported in Kuwait, where reports claim that thunderstorm activity has triggered a mass reaction and nearly a thousand people were taken to the hospital with severe asthma; again, several people died.
So what is really going on? Is a covert, deadly substance being deliberately sprayed from planes (as governments did back in the sixties, and countless times since)? Or is is just something harmful being swept up from nearby farms and factories?
Read More

Trump, The Fed and Systemic Risk

by Jim Rickards, DailyReckoning:
The most decisive factor in the implementation of the Trump economic plan is the reaction of the Federal Reserve. While a Fed rate hike in December is a certainty, the path of rates in 2017 following the December hike will be dispositive with regard to the success or failure of Trump’s plans.
The Role of the Federal Reserve
The Fed can choose to be highly accommodative in the face of Trump’s larger deficits. In effect, the Fed will not anticipate inflation, but will wait until it actually emerges. Actual inflation is still well below the Fed’s target inflation rate of 2%. Since the Fed is targeting average inflation of 2%, it could allow inflation to run above 2% for a while, which would be consistent with 2% average inflation, given today’s lower level.
Read More

/