Sep 25

Today’s News 25th September 2016

  • Washington Mall Shooter Caught: Suspect Is 20 Year Old Turk

    Following last night’s shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, WA mall, when an unidentified gunman killed 5 then managed to slip away from authorities for nearly 24 hours, moments ago the Washington State Patrol tweeted that the shooter has, after a daylong manhunt, been captured.

    The man was arrested without incident, and is in custody, said Sgt. Keith Leary, of the Washington State Patrol.

    Below is a photo of the arrest courtesy of Q13fox

    As reported early this morning, the suspect fled the Cascade Mall after the deadly shooting at Macy’s. The motive behind his shooting is still not yet known. 

    While the police previously described the mall shooter as Hispanic, according to unconfirmed reports – as the police still hasn’t released the suspect’s name – the identity of the shooter is Arcan Cetin, aged 20…

    …. who according to his Facebook profile is originally Turkish, from the city of Adana.

    Several photos of Cetin’s Myspace page were released on twitter, suggesting he had a fascination with weapons:

    Some more of his facebook pictures:

    And then there was this odd tweet from January 2015:

    … followed by this one from April, 2015

  • Bill Clinton's Ex-Girlfriend, Gennifer Flowers, Confirms She Will "Definitely Be At The Debate"

    Following Trump's earlier tweet, "If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!"; Bill Clinton's old girlfriend confirmed she will indeed be attending the debates on Monday.

    In response to Hillary Clinton giving Mark Cuban front row seats at the debate, Trump tweeted:

    As a reminder, Bill Clinton testified under oath in 1998 that he had a sexual affair with Flowers.

    In his January 1998 deposition, the President, though finally confirming a sexual encounter with Ms. Flowers, was precise in denying Ms. Willey's report that he had sought to kiss her and feel her breasts in an encounter in his private dining room off the Oval Office.

    Trump said earlier this week that he did not plan to bring up the Clintons’ marriage at the debate.

    “I don’t think I’m looking to do that Bill. I don’t know what I’m going to do that exactly,” Trump said during an interview on “The O’Reilly Factor.” “It depends on what level she hits you with, if she’s fair, if it’s unfair, but certainly I’m not looking to do that.”

    That may have changed, however. To be sure, Saturday isn't the first time Trump has referenced Bill Clinton's infidelity. He brought the former president's sex scandals into the campaign late last year around the time Hillary Clinton announced her husband would join her on the campaign trail. At the time, she had recently accused Trump of having a "penchant for sexism" over his charge that she had been "schlonged" in the 2008 primary.

    "Hillary Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but HE'S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate!" Trump tweeted in December. Trump later labeled Clinton "one of the great women abusers of all time."

    Sure enough, just to make Monday's debate even more memorable, moments ago Gennifer Flowers confirmed she will be at the debate.

    Grab your popcorn because the "best. election. ever" just got even better.

     

  • Charlotte Police Release Dashcam, Body-Cam Footage Of Keith Scott's Death, Chief Says "Absolutely" Had A Gun

    Update:  Charlotte police have just released the following bodycam footage of the event.

    Here is the dashcam footage…

     

     

    And additionally, the Charlotte Police released evidence images…

     

    *  *  *

    As we detailed earlier, having exclaimed "drop the gun" 11 times in the video of the fatal shooting of Keith Scott provided by his mother, Charlotte police have just stated in a press cobnference that they have agreed to release the body-cam video of the event. Despite earlier saying that it wouldn't release police video for fear of compromising its review, the State Bureau of Investigation has succumbed to public pressure despite a lack of "absolute, definitive, visual evidence" that Scott brandished a weapon at the officers.

    Keith Scott's mother's view of the event…

    OFFICER: Hands up!

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him.

    OFFICER: Don’t shoot. Drop the gun. Drop the fucking gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him.

    OFFICER: Drop the gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: He didn’t do anything.

    OFFICER: Drop the gun. Drop the gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: He doesn’t have a gun. He has a T.B.I. (Traumatic Brain Injury).

    OFFICER: Drop the gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: He is not going to do anything to you guys.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: He just took his medicine.

    OFFICER: Drop the gun. Let me get a fucking baton over here. [muffled]

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, don’t let them break the windows. Come on out the car.

    OFFICER: [muffled]

    OFFICER:Drop the gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith! Don’t you do it.

    OFFICER: Drop the gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, get out the car. Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it! Don’t you do it! Keith!

    OFFICER: Drop the gun.

    RAKEYIA SCOTT:Keith! Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it! [SHOTS]

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: Fuck. Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be fucking dead. He better not be fucking dead. I know that fucking much. I know that much. He better not be dead. I’m not going to come near you. I’m going to record, though. I’m not coming near you. I’m going to record, though. He better be alive because …I come You better be alive. How about that?Yes, we here, over here at 50 … 50 …9453 Lexington Court. These are the police officers that shot my husband, and he better live. He better live. Because he didn’t do nothing to them.

    OFFICER: Is everybody good? Are you good?

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: He good. Nobody … touch nobody, so they’re all good.

    OFFICER: You good?

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: I know he better live. I know he better live. How about that I’m not coming to you guys, but he’d better live. He better live. You all hear it, you see this, right? He better live.

    OFFICER: [muffled]

    RAKEYIA SCOTT: He better live. I swear, he better live. Yep, he better live. He better fucking live. He better live. Where is…He better fucking live, and I can’t even leave the damn…I ain’t going nowhere. I’m staying in the same damn spot. What the fuck. That’s O.K. did you all call the police? I mean, did you all call an ambulance?

     

    Some have argued that there was a gun seen…

    *  *  *

    Press Conference has concluded.

    The body-cam footage will be released by 1715ET.

    During the press conference, Charlotte police chief Putney said "Officers are absolutely not being charged by me, but again, there's another investigation ongoing." Putney said that Scott was "absolutely in possession of a handgun," and that officers also saw marijuana in his car — prompting officers to act.

    • There was a crime that Keith Scott had committed that led cops to him and "the gun exacerbated the encounter."
    • He can't assure Keith Scott's wife and 7 children that every effort was made to avoid deadly force.
    • Officers Are ‘Absolutely Not Being Charged By Me at This Point’
    • Keith Scott Had Marijuana and Gun, Prompting Police Encounter
    • "No single piece of evidence…proves all the complexities" of Keith Lamont Scott case
    • Police have said Scott was shot on Tuesday because he refused commands to drop a handgun. Residents have said he was unarmed. Putney says Scott "absolutely" had a gun but that it's not shown in his hand in the videos.

     

  • Here's How CIA Puppet-Masters Are Deliberately Picking A 'World War III Level' Fight

    Via DasiyLuther.com,

    It’s really quite embarrassing on a global scale when members of our own government seem to be deliberately trying to pick fights with people who aren’t interested in fighting with us. If you’ve traveled outside of the United States much, you probably know that we Americans have a rather negative reputation off of our own shores. Now, generally speaking, that isn’t our fault as individuals. You and I don’t create headlines that make waves throughout Europe and Asia.

    While average Americans aren’t directly responsible for this, our federal officials are. I’ve written recently about President Obama doing things in Syria that are worsening the conflict there. I’ve also written about the fact that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin are starting to butt heads. And finally, I’ve warned time and time again that war is upon us – and everyone knows but the US.

    Michael Morell is the director of the CIA. Here’s a little blurb from Wikipedia about him.

    Michael Joseph Morell (born September 4, 1958) is an American intelligence analyst. He served as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency as well as its acting director twice, first in 2011 and then from 2012 to 2013. Since November 2013, he has been a Senior Counselor to Beacon Global Strategies LLC. He is a proponent of the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques which many consider to be torture, and is also a proponent of the CIA’s targeted killings by drones.

    Wow, and just think. He’s a guy that has almost unfettered power to call a hit on anyone in the world.

    This video shows us how the global situation is being manipulated towards war by our own Central Intelligence Agency. Watch as Michael Morell boasts about how the CIA operates – and then watch as his boasting comes to life.

    This is the creepy, sadistic little puppetmaster that is going to deliberately get our sons and daughters sent off to fight the next war “for our freedom.” This is just more proof that nothing we see on the mainstream news is as it seems and that the federal alphabet agencies are never what they present themselves to be.

  • Extensive Immigration Study Finds Impact On "Aggregate Wealth Of Natives Is, At Best, A Wash"

    Immigration has been and will continue to be a hot button topic in the 2016 presidential campaign.  Trump has called for a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico and a halt to all immigration from certain “countries of concern to national security.”  Meanwhile, Hillary has called for more relaxed immigration policies that would grant illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and a surge in Syrian refugees. 

    But, no matter where you stand politically on immigration, a group of the nation’s “smartest” professors from the most elite schools in the country recently came together to publish a 500-page study for the “National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine” on the economic and fiscal impacts of immigration.  After what must have been countless months of research, the report seems to confirm what most people could have derived from applying simple logic, namely that while immigration expands the economy it also negatively impacts the employment of low-skilled native workers and places undue burden on federal and state entitlements like food assistance programs and Medicaid.

    The full 500-page immigration study can be reviewed at the end of this post but here are the key takeaways…

    First, the study finds that the lower median age of immigrants is a positive offset to the aging U.S. population and serves to enlarge the economy but notes that the key beneficiaries are the immigrants themselves and not the native citizens.

    Immigration enlarges the economy while leaving the native population slightly better off on average, but the greatest beneficiaries of immigration are the immigrants themselves as they avail themselves of opportunities not available to them in their home countries.

    Immigration

     

    That said, low-skilled immigrants, which represented nearly 50% of the total in 2012, were found to have a higher employment rates than low-skilled natives indicating that U.S. citizens are being displaced at least at the lower bound of the income spectrum. 

    Shortly after arrival in the United States, immigrant men—especially recent cohorts—experience a disadvantage relative to native-born men in terms of the probability of being employed. However, for cohorts of immigrants arriving since the 1970s, after this initial period of adjustment in which their probability of employment is lower, they became slightly more likely to be employed than their native-born peers. The higher employment rate among immigrant men is mainly represented in the population with education of a high school degree or less.

     

    Immigration

     

    Immigrations

     

    Finally, first-generation immigrants were found to be more costly for entitlement programs than native-born citizens.

    Beyond wage and employment considerations, policy makers and the general public are interested in the impact that an expanding population, and immigration in particular, has on public finances and the sustainability of government programs. All population subgroups contribute to government finances by paying taxes and add to expenditures by consuming public services—but the levels differ. On average, individuals in the first generation are more costly to governments, mainly at the state and local levels, than are the native-born generations; however, immigrants’ children—the second generation—are among the strongest economic and fiscal contributors in the population.

     

    Immigrant households’ use of food assistance programs and Medicaid is much higher than that of native-headed households—not as a result of not working (in 2009, 95 percent of immigrant households with children had at least one person working) but because of lower levels of education and income.

    But perhaps, Harvard University’s George Borjas summed up the study best by telling the Wall Street Journal simply that “the impact of immigration on the aggregate wealth of natives is, at best, a wash.“

     

  • America's 24/7 Circus Maximus

    Authored by Pepe Escobar, originally posted op-ed via SputnikNews.com,

    Perplexed global public opinion holds its breath at the (circus) best American “democracy” is able to conjure.

    The first cage match this coming Monday between a Queen of War profiting from a mighty (Clinton) Cash Machine and a billionaire uber-narcissist adored by a “basket of deplorables”.

    This is a circus quite fitting for a self-described “indispensable nation” where “evil” has been propelled – seriously – to the status of philosophical category.

    For the basket of deplorables, and even beyond their circle, the temptation is immense to equate voting for Donald Trump with raising a finger against the establishment.

    Ultra-savvy at playing mainstream media for invaluable free publicity, elevating Outrageousness to an art form and being impervious to irony and derision, Trump has been a master at tapping wave after wave of anger against the new liberal elite — including a nomenklatura of crypto-intellectual Ivy league-educated “experts” who could not give a damn about understanding the (real world) consequences of United States Government (USG) policies.  The anger is manifested by declassified blue collars, the unemployed, the functionally illiterate, white trash. Whatever you call them, they are the excluded form the Neoliberal Banquet, not only economically but also culturally. But this being Trump, a master of self-promotion, the battle is more like Ego against The Establishment. And it gets juicier when we learn from powerful, discreet New York-based interests – supporters of Trump’s platform — about who’s really winning:

    “The Trump campaign is hardly spending any money at all and holding all over. They may use their money in the last month after the debates if Hillary recovers for those debates from what appears to be an attack of Parkinson’s. He has a shot though no matter who wins I predict there will be peace with Russia; the oil price will rise; imports from Asia of military parts will be repatriated and rigging of currencies is over; there will be offsetting measures to stop the flood of immigrants and products under mis-valued currencies. The masters do not lose.”

    The “masters” are of course the Masters of the Universe who really run the USG.

    And here’s the clincher on how’s in control:

    “Both sides are controlled and that explains everything. Lenin said that the way to defeat our opponents is to take over their leadership of the opponent. Look at the Moral Majority which Jerry Falwell disbanded when it became too powerful.  Look at Ross Perot who exited when he started making a real dent. Both were taken care of and Ross made money out of it.”

     

    “Their internal lingo for it is the concept of  “dynamic silence”. This is a technique by the masters to block out all news coverage of let’s say a Nazi so that he could gain no following. That they could have done to Trump if he were not theirs. Who could have complained? He was just an apolitical real estate operator that no one was interested in.”

     

    “So what do we have in the end? An entertaining gladiatorial contest that they control both sides of and the winner gets all the money — as with the Clinton Foundation. And the public is no wiser.”

    The 24/7 Circus Maximus 

    There are subtle gradations to this scenario. Rothschild interests are not supporting Trump – according to these well-connected sources, because Trump has not been anointed by the club and is thus unreliable. They recall, for instance, how “Greenspan was so incompetent that Wall Street leaders had to give him trades so he could make money before they put him as the head of Federal Reserve. Then he was so out of it that they had to direct his every move as he had no comprehension what they do.” “They”, of course, meaning Rothschild interests.   On the Cold War 2.0 front, things are even hazier. Since 2010, when Obama was ordered to keep the US nuclear first-strike strategy, Russia and China know where this is heading. It’s no wonder Trump is being relentlessly attacked as Putin’s own Trojan Horse – because he’s against Cold War 2.0 and the demonization of Russia.

    But the Pentagon’s strident Ash Carter, soon out of a job, is one thing; another thing entirely is what the Masters of the Universe really want, according to these Trump-supporting sources; “Hillary would be following Trump’s guidelines should she win, as the US military will explain to her that she has no other options based on Russian military superiority in submarines, and defensive and offensive missiles. Trump’s policies are wise.”

    There’s even a P.R. move that could literally devastate the already wobbly Hillary campaign:

    “Hillary’s reckless threats against Russia, risking nuclear war, could bring back the Lyndon Johnson TV ads against Goldwater by Donald Trump, where we had a little child in a meadow picking flowers while a nuclear bomb goes off. It was an ad of genius and destroyed Goldwater. The first strike nuclear attack policy and the reckless provocations combine to form an excellent Johnson style ad. This time Trump can use it against the Democrats, who have created almost all the wars in the last 125 years.”

    The daisy cutter ad is here.

    A Force for Farce?

    Even considering that virtually the whole US establishment – from the Beltway nomenklatura to Wall Street — is arrayed against him, the jury is still out on whether Trump is a real threat to their interests.

    Because Trump could also be the perfect Trojan Horse. Evidence relies for instance on his appointment of perfect insiders Larry Kudlow and Steven Moore as his senior economic advisors. That’s the Trump as a Force for Farce scenario. So “dynamic silence” seems to be the rule. Here’s how dynamic silence works;

    “If you oppose those above the President, the news media blacks you out and the masses do not hear anything, so how can they be stirred up? Donald is an insider and he represents the military industrial complex including the CIA, DIA, etc. They will deny it, of course, so they have deniability and he can say he is against the establishment when he is an insider.”

     

    “That is the first line of defense. If you manage to outsmart them, then they characterize you as a nut. That is the second line of defense.

     

    Now, if you persist in making them uncomfortable, then you end up as William Colby, Vince Forster or Jack Kennedy.  Richard Nixon was ousted and he went quietly so that, to quote Tricky Dick, “I am not going to end up as Jack” as he went out the back door of the White House.”

     

    “The key here is Donald is receiving more publicity than Hillary, and by attacking him for being an America Firster his polls have risen dramatically. The public loves it so the Masters of the Universe are helping him. The military industries have to be repatriated as we no longer control the seas and this will require either currency adjustments or tariffs. Hence, Donald’s correct calls for an end to currency rigging which had as part of their purpose the building up of Germany and Japan at the sacrifice of our industries. Absurd that we did that but that is how it was. That is ending now with Donald and the emergency situation of lack of control of the Pacific Ocean for the component transportation by sea for our military production. Japan and Germany will be cut loose.”

     

    “Brzezinski said that if any opponent leaps ahead of the United States militarily, the US ceases to be a global power. That is the case and the military knows it.  And Trump knows it or he would not have said that much. They need a crash program to catch up. That costs big money.  It will probably require force and base reductions and an increase in technological expenditure in a massive way. That is what the Russians did. They can obtain this from massively reducing the welfare transfers on illegal immigrants. That is what Donald is committed to.”

    If this analysis is correct, it ties in with Trump’s push to organize an immediate rapprochement with Russia in case he’s elected, so the US industrial-military-surveillance complex can catch up and at least try to remedy the danger of losing the next war Hillary and her own  neocon bag of deplorables are so bullish on.

    As we approach the first cage match, the jury is still out on whether the Queen of War may lose the election because millennials absolutely detest her, because the “basket of deplorables” absolutely detests her, or both.

    But one thing seems to be certain in the whole Les Deplorables saga – at least for those Masters of the Universe-connected sources; who the real winner will be. So let’s give them the last word, for now; “It will be very difficult for Hillary to beat Trump in a debate as he is quick on his feet and will take no prisoners. Let me say this. If Hillary were to win, and we don’t think she will, she will do what she is told and follow the same policies as Trump would.

  • "Eight Election Trades For November 8th"

    No matter the outcome of the presidential election, according to BofA’s Chief Investment Strategist, Michael Hartnett, 2017 will likely be a year of small absolute returns as the bank expects higher rates will collide with high bond and equity valuations, but it will be a year of big rotations “as investors shift from ZIRP winners like bonds, US, growth stocks to ZIRP losers like commodities, banks and Japan”, where BofA forecasts 20,000 on Nikkei, although for that to happen the currency would have to implode in what may be a terminal loss of faith in the central bank.

    Still, with all attention now focused on the key risk event until a potential December rate hike, namely the November 8 presidential election, BofA provides 8 specific election trades for the election.

    In a note titled “Eight election trades for Nov 8th”, Hartnett shares a variety of trade ideas, some “election-specific and some result-dependent: long VIX futures; long AUDUSD vol; long TIPS;  long global E-commerce, short fast restaurants (inequality); long US materials and largecap banks (fiscal); long US small caps, short emerging markets (Trump protectionist); long gold, short EU banks (Trump geopolitics); long Mexican peso (Clinton victory).”

    This is what he says:

    On November 8th, the US Presidential election will take place. Below we list eight trades, all specific to the election, some applicable to whoever wins, some dependent on the election result:

    Long VIX futures. It seems an obvious trade, but the election is likely to be close (see latest projected electoral college result – Chart 4). There could even be a statistical tie in the Electoral College if Trump wins FL, OH, NC, WI, IA, and Clinton wins PA, VA, CO, NV, MI, NH, arguably the most volatility-inducing event of all. VIX futures are the most liquid expression of volatility, and ahead of the first Presidential debate, the cost of a Nov’16 hedge has fallen to the 19th percentile vs. the past year.

    Long AUDUSD volatility. One way to invest in a risk-off scenario in the event of a Trump victory is long AUDUSD volatility. In our most recent FMS, a Republican victory was seen as a much greater “tail risk” for markets than a Democratic win. Trump has a more protectionist stance, and has threatened import tariffs against China, a stance that would unsettle Asian FX markets. David Woo recommends buying AUDUSD volatility to hedge election uncertainty. AUDUSD volatility is correlated with quant-fund selloffs: it is a top hedge for our BofAML MAST index.

    Long TIPS. Populism is on the rise across the globe and both candidates have redistributive policies targeted at raising wages and reducing inequality. This could lead to higher inflation. It could lead to stagflation. Either way, it will likely be positive for TIPS.

    Long Main Street, short Wall Street. Both candidates want to boost Main Street rather than Wall Street and thus propose higher minimum wages, paid family leave and higher taxation on the rich. This would be positive for US municipal bonds (U0A0). Main Street-Wall Street pair trades: long global E-commerce (BIGECOM), short fast restaurants (BINAFCRC); long mass retailers (BRUSMASS), short luxury goods makers (SPGLGUP).

    Long fiscal stimulus. Best way to leverage fiscal stimulus under either president is via infrastructure spending and defense spending. Clinton has proposed $1.65tn of additional fiscal spending and Trump has proposed $2tn, according to the justreleased Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget report; Congress-approved budgets are likely to be significantly lower. Nonetheless, the direction is clearly toward more fiscal stimulus. Long US aerospace & defense (S5AEROX), US materials (S5MATR), and large-cap banks (S5BANKX). Fiscal stimulus is the primary reason our rates strategists see higher US bond yields in 2017.

    Protectionism pair-trade: anti-globalization is on the rise, and Trump has a more isolationist/protectionist agenda; our economists believe that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is at greater risk under Trump; a reduction in global trade would likely be most negative for EM and the mercantilist economies of Germany and Japan; should US protectionism lead to a bout of inflation in the US, we think US small caps would benefit from inflation and have less foreign exposure. In our view, the best protectionist pair trade: long US small caps (RTY), short emerging markets (MXEF).

    Geopolitical pair-trades: a Trump win could mean lower capital flows to the US, a rise in Treasury yields, and a weaker US dollar, all of which would be positive for gold. A Trump victory would also raise expectations that populist parties in Europe in 2017 could rise to power and increase the European Union disintegration risk premium. Long gold, short European banks (SX7E).

    Short USD/MXN on a Clinton victory as MXN appears 15% undervalued after better Trump polls. Long health care services (SPSIHPTR), short biotech (XNBI). Best way to leverage a Clinton win, with promised tax break for health care services versus higher pharmaceutical regulation.

  • Dead People Are Voting In The Key Swing State Of Colorado

    Colorado has been a key swing state in recent presidential elections after flip-flopping back and forth between support for Democratic and Republican candidates.  Obama won the state in the past two elections but George Bush prevailed for the two preceding contests while Bob Dole narrowly eked out a victory against Clinton in 1996. 

    That said, the margin of victory has often been very tight in Colorado which is what makes the recent discovery of voter fraud there so concerning.  An investigation by CBS Denver recently found that dozens of deceased Colorado citizens continued voting multiple years after their death…even though Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams assured CBS that “it is impossible to vote from the grave legally.”  While we’re disturbed by the voter fraud in Colorado, we’re so glad that the legality of the issue could be cleared up so easily. 

    According to CBS, one of the most glaring cases of voter fraud they found was of Sara Sosa who lived in Colorado Springs. Sosa died on Oct. 14, 2009 but CBS found that she continued to cast her ballot in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.  Likewise, her husband, Miguel, died on Sept. 26, 2008 but voted later in 2009.

    Colorado’s Secretary of State confirmed the cases of voter fraud discovered by CBS, saying:

    “We do believe there were several instances of potential vote fraud that occurred.  It shows there is the potential for fraud.  It’s not a perfect system. There are some gaps.”

     

    Of course Colorado isn’t the only place where voter fraud occurs.  Project Veritas recently recorded a  series videos in Michigan showing just how easy it is to vote as someone else.  In the following video, the Project Veritas journalist claims she is Jocelyn Benson, the Dean of Wayne State University Law School, but that she lost her ID.  The “Poll Supervisor” is quick to reassure Mrs. Benson that as long as she signs the affidavit on the back of the ballot she is free to vote.  When the journalist pushes back and insists that she feels an obligation to prove her identity the Poll Supervisor reassures her that “nobody can vote twice” because if the real Jocelyn Benson subsequently comes in she won’t be able to vote “because you already voted.”  Perfect logic if we understand it correctly.  So just to clarify, each registered voter only gets one ballot…great, this seems reasonable…but it doesn’t necessarily matter so much who casts that ballot…wait, what?

    PV Journalist:  “I feel like I should prove that I am who I am.”

     

    Poll Supervisor:  “Your word is your proof is right here.“

     

    PV Journalist:  “And that’s fine?”

     

    Poll Supervisor:  “Yup.  Because if somebody else comes in and says that they’re you, they can’t because you already voted.  So, you can’t vote twice, nobody can vote twice.  So once you vote, I don’t care who you are.“

     

    PV Journalist:  “You guys are fine with me just voting.”

     

    Poll Supervisor:  “Yup I’m fine.  You’re not the first one that’s left you ID at home.

     

     

     

    All signs point to a very interesting 2016 election.  Which candidate do you think appeals to dead voters the most?

  • Foreign Buying Plummets In Vancouver: Sales To Foreigners Crash 96%

    China’s favorite offshore money laundering hub is officially no longer accepting its money.

    According to data released by British Columbia’s Ministry of Finance on Thursday, foreign investors officially disappeared from Vancouver’s property market last month after the local government imposed a 15% surcharge to curb a record-shattering surge in home prices. Overseas buyers accounted for a paltry 0.7% of the C$6.5 billion of residential real estate purchases in August in Metro Vancouver; this represents a 96% plunge from the seven weeks prior, when foreigners were responsible for 16.5% of transactions by value.

    According to the latest data overseas buyers snapped up C$2.3 billion of homes in the seven weeks before the tax was imposed, and less than C$50 million in the next four weeks. The government began collecting data on citizenship in home purchases on June 10. The ministry said auditors are checking citizenship or permanent residency declarations made by buyers and also reviewing transactions to determine if any were structured to avoid tax (spoiler alert: most of them were).

    Across the province, the participation of foreigners dropped to 1.4% of transactions by value in August, from 13% in the preceding seven weeks.

    Prior to the new real estate tax home prices were almost double the national average of C$473,105; however we expect a sharp corretion in the coming weeks – as we pointed out at the beginning of September, the average price of detached Vancouver properties promptly crashed following the news tax, dropping 17% on the month, and 0.6% on the year, to C$1.47 million ($1.13 million) in August, wiping away one year of gains in a few weeks.

    As Bloomberg notes, the plunge in foreign participation joins other signs of a slowdown in Canada’s most expensive property market. 

    The silver lining is that while transactions may have ground to a halt, the government did pick up some extra tax revenues: British Columbia has raised C$2.5 million in revenue from the new levy since it took effect. Budget forecasts released last week indicated that the Pacific coast province expects foreign investors to scoop up about C$4.5 billion of real estate through March 2019.

    That may prove optimistic, because as reported two weeks ago as Chinese buyers wave goodbye to Vancouver, they have set their sights on another Canadian city: Toronto.

    According to the Star, sales of $1-million-plus Toronto-area single-family homes rose 83% year over year in July and August. That’s 3,026 homes, with 55 per cent of them inside Toronto’s borders.  That’s not entirely surprising given that the average cost of a detached home in Toronto was about $1.2 million, said Sotheby’s CEO Brad Henderson.

    “While $1 million is still a considerable amount of money, it’s difficult to find a single-family home in the city of Toronto for less than $1 million and it is not uncommon to find homes in the $2-million, $3-million or even $4-million-plus range,” he said.

    Sotheby’s says sales of homes in the $4-million-and-up category rose 74 per cent in the region and 58 per cent in the city in July and August. Sotheby’s said it expects Toronto’s luxury market to take the lead among Canada’s cities, outpacing Montreal, which probably will become a target for investors from Europe, China and the Middle East.

    “What the (Vancouver) tax introduced is . . . some uncertainty as to what other policy issues the city or the province may introduce, which would adversely affect investors,” Henderson said, adding that  investors are looking elsewhere, including cities outside Canada.

    “But, if they are looking in Canada, we believe Toronto will be the most logical place for people to consider. Montreal and Calgary will probably also get a look-see,” Henderson said.

    Or maybe not.

    As CBC reported earlier this week, economist Benjamin Tal of CIBC said that Ontario will have little choice but to copy Vancouver and implement a tax on foreign house buyers.  In a recent note to clients, the economist said the biggest problem facing policymakers with regard to hot housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver is a limit on the supply of new homes.

    “The main reason behind higher prices in the [Greater Toronto Area] is a policy-driven lack of land supply,” Tal said. “And with no change on that front, policymakers have to use demand tools to deal with what is essentially a supply problem.”

    Tal doesn’t speculate how much of a tax could be under consideration for Toronto, nor does he have any insight as to when and how it might be implemented.

    A foreign buyer tax is not the only possible response to the problem of high house prices. Among other possibilities, Tal cites:

    • Compelling banks to tighten their lending practices by making them pay for their own mortgage insurance.
    • Raising the down payment minimum to 10 per cent, even for homes under $1 million,
    • Closer monitoring of lending to subprime buyers.
    • Offering tax incentives to developers to make more purpose-built rental buildings, including more flexible rent control rules, as ways of cooling Toronto’s housing market.

    Tal says Toronto’s housing market has been inflated by cheap lending to people who would have no business getting a mortgage if rates returned to more typical levels.

    Of course, if Toronto does what Vancouver did and tries to spook away foreign buyers, the housing bubble will simply keep jumping city to city, first in Canada, then in move to the US, and back over to Europe, until soon the entire world makes it clear that China’s $30 some trillion in deposits that are just itching to be parked offshore are no longer welcome, forcing the Chinese government to finally deal with the alarming consequences of its own unprecedented monetary injections, which now amount to some $4 trillion in new money creation mostly by way of bank “loans” (and thus deposits) every single year.

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