U.S. State Department: Don’t Hurt ISIS

from Washington’s Blog:

The U.S. State Department does not want the government of Syria to defeat or weaken ISIS, at least not if doing so means any sort of gain for the Syrian government. Watching a recent video of a State Department spokesperson speaking on that subject might confuse some U.S. war supporters. I doubt many residents of Palmyra, Virginia, or Palmyra, Pennsylvania, or Palmyra, New York could give a coherent account of the U.S. government’s position on which enemy should control the ancient Palmyra in Syria.
The U.S. government has been arming Al Qaeda in Syria. I doubt many people in the United States, of whatever political extraction, could explain why.
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As Seen On CraigsList: "Get Paid $15 An Hour To Protest At The Trump Rally"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 12:59

Does Someone Know Something About The Result Of The Wisconsin Primary?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 12:45

Former Bush Official Laments "We Are The Death Merchants Of The World"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 12:10 Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to former secretary of state, Colin Powell, has grown tired of "the corporate interests that we go abroad to slay monsters for." Today’s war machine "is more pernicious than Eisenhower ever thought it would be," Wilkerson laments “we’ve privatized the ultimate public function: war.”

New bill introduced to Congress strips policing powers away from BLM and Forest Service, shifts them to Sheriffs

by XKeyscore, Intellihub:

A new bill introduced to Congress on Mar. 16, by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, will strip authoritative policing powers from the Bureau of Land Management along with the U.S. Forest Service and hand the powers over to local Sheriffs as was originally intended.
The bill, titled “H.R.4751 – Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act of 2016,” was introduced following numerous reports of gross negligence on the part of the BLM and other agencies, leading up to the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, which ended with the death of rancher LaVoy Finicum and the arrest of other ‘conspirators.’
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Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad Have Liberated Syria from the U.S. and “Jihadist Alliance”

by Eric Zuesse, Global Research:

It has been an alliance between the leaderships of U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE; but, regardless of whether it’s called “the U.S. alliance” or “the Saudi alliance,” or even (possibly) “the Turkish alliance” (and it could be called by any of those three names), it’s the jihadist alliance, and it now seems to be near its final defeat, by, quite clearly, the Russian alliance: Russian air power has enabled the Syrian army (called the SAA or “Syrian Arab Army”) of Bashar al-Assad, plus Lebanon’s Shiite warriors (called “Hezbollah”), plus organization by Iran’s generals, to exterminate thousands of ISIS jihadists. The pro-Syrian alliance, under Russian air-power, are now making final preparations to finish the job, in the Syrian headquarters of ISIS — the city of Raqqa, where ISIS’s “Caliph” is, who could soon be meeting his end..
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U.S. Home Prices Are 14% Overvalued According To Bank of America

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 12:29 In order to gauge the ‘fair value” of home prices, we typically compare prices to the trend in income. The logic is simple – the more income one earns, the more housing he/she can access. However, prices will occasionally diverge from income, as we are experiencing now and clearly did during the early 2000s. As we have been arguing, home prices are currently overvalued - by our estimates 14% on a national level.

IBM Laying Off 1000 Workers In Germany

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 12:27 In recent weeks, the stock of IBM has staged a dramatic rebound surging from a February 11 low of $118 to $150 today, on what we previously assumed had to be another long-overdue bout of stock buybacks. However, for that to make sense, the company - already at risk of being downgraded if it did not take further cost-cutting measures to offset the additional debt interest expense - would need to engage in another round of mass layoffs. This is precisely what happened moments ago when Germany press reported that Big Blue is cutting some 1000 jobs in Germany.
 

Former science chief: ‘MMR fears coming true’

by Sue Corrigan, Daily Mail:

A former Government medical officer responsible for deciding whether medicines are safe has accused the Government of “utterly inexplicable complacency” over the MMR triple vaccine for children.
Dr Peter Fletcher, who was Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health, said if it is proven that the jab causes autism, “the refusal by governments to evaluate the risks properly will make this one of the greatest scandals in medical history”.
He added that after agreeing to be an expert witness on drug-safety trials for parents’ lawyers, he had received and studied thousands of documents relating to the case which he believed the public had a right to see.
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Belligerent 15-Year-Old Girl Pepper Sprayed At Trump Rally As GOP Pollster Warns "Someone Will Be Killed"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 10:04 "I am actually afraid that someone could get killed between now and election day."

Silver Bulls Are Buying-The-Dip As ETFs Gain Most Since 2013

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 11:50 The recent weakness in Silver has done nothing to dissuade precious metal 'hoarders' from buying-the-dip. Silver ETF holdings rose 846 metric tons in March (so far) - the biggest jump since August 2013 - to the highest since April 2015. And all of this buying has occurred as prices dropped to one-month lows, as it seems - like China and Russia - taking advantage of lower precious metal prices amid the collapse of central bank credibility around the world.

As Net-Long Positions Near Records, Is The Oil Rally Overdone?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 11:29 Just as the rally was supercharged by short sellers abandoning their positions, the oil markets are at risk of snapping back in the other direction in the next few weeks as net-long positions are undone. If speculators start to get the sense that the market is changing directions, they will start to unwind their net-long positions. But, of course, these things tend to move quickly. Once the herd starts to see the market heading down, a stampede for the exits could ensue.

Trump, Cruz Rip Up GOP Unity Pledges Amid Wife Wars

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 11:10 The remaining three Republican presidential candidates held a town hall meeting hosted by CNN and Anderson Cooper on Tuesday evening and while the hours-long spectacle scored a "zero" on substance it clocked in at a solid "nine" on entertainment value. If there was a meaningful takeaway from the event it was that all three candidates either explicitly or implicitly reneged on their promises to unite behind whoever the GOP nominee ends up being.

Bonds Are Getting Battered

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 11:08 After yesterday's super-strong day in Treasuries, following Janet's jawboning into uber-dovish-land, it appears the world is in panic-selling mode and is dumping the long-bond by the most in 7 weeks. 30Y yields have spiked from 2.59% to 2.68% - one-week highs - as illiquidity rears its ugly head once again.

Fed's Flip-flopping Causes Technicians To Lose The Plot

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 10:46 " I would only add that even if one were Bullish at this point, which is perfectly reasonable (not my call, but reasonable), that with almost 94% of stocks above their 50 day ma while volatility, currencies and inflation expectations have surged into levels which coincided with prior inflection points across the risk spectrum, a consolidative pause and pullback remains on the table. 2077-2086 stop."

Crude Pops & Drops As US Production Tumbles To 16-Month Lows

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 10:38 Following last night's API-reported near-expectations build in crude, DOE reports a smaller-than-expected 2.3mm build (against expectations of a 3.1mm build) and draws in Cushing, Gasoline, and Distillates. Oil prices surged on this. Production is more in focus now as it has fallen 9 of the last 10 weeks to its lowest since Nov 2014.  Crude prices dropped pre-data, then spiked,. but are struggling to maintain gains.

Noose Tightens On Clinton As Second Federal Judge Grants Discovery In E-Mail Fiasco

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2016 - 10:35 In the latest developments from the never-ending Hillary Clinton e-mail saga, a second federal judge will allow Judicial Watch to seek sworn testimony from officials. "Where there is evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith, as here, limited discovery is appropriate, even though it is exceedingly rare in FOIA cases," U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said, in an order entered on Tuesday.

“Spike in Defaults”: Standard & Poor’s Gets Gloomy, Blames Fed

from Wolf Street:

“Hangover from years of lenient credit may become painful.”
Credit rating agencies, such as Standard & Poor’s, are not known for early warnings. They’re mired in conflicts of interest and reluctant to cut ratings for fear of losing clients. When they finally do warn, it’s late and it’s feeble, and the problem is already here and it’s big.
So Standard & Poor’s, via a report by S&P Capital IQ, just warned about US corporate borrowers’ average credit rating, which at “BB,” and thus in junk territory, hit a record low, even “below the average we recorded in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 credit crisis.”
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