Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Christmas 2018




Answering Questions No One Asked

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ... made a ... weird statement about how the nation’s six largest banks have more than enough credit to extend to businesses and households. ... No one can quite figure out why “Mnuchin answered a question that no one seemed to be asking.” ... “It’s like sending out a message saying our space shields can intercept incoming asteroids. Uh, I didn’t know there were any coming our way.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin left many Wall Street insiders scratching their heads Sunday after he made a series of unusual phone calls that led to a weird statement about how the nation’s six largest banks have more than enough credit to extend to businesses and households. That could be seen as a bland vote of confidence in an economy after the worst selloff for U.S. markets in a decade. But the problem is that no one can quite figure out why “Mnuchin answered a question that no one seemed to be asking,” as Bloomberg puts it. Liquidity was not seen as a problem in the economy now and some wondered whether the phone calls signaled that it in fact could become a problem in the near future.

Jill Stein's Bad Judgement

One of the sad things about the 2016 election was that Russia was everywhere, pulling strings wherever they could. When you are sitting next to Michael Flynn and Vladimir Putin, you should start asking why:
Building support for Stein was one of a “roster of themes” the Moscow-sanctioned internet trolls “turned to repeatedly” in their effort to disrupt the election, according to a research team led by the New Knowledge cybersecurity firm. The researchers also found that the campaign to bolster Stein gained in intensity in the final days of the presidential campaign and largely targeted African-American voters.

The reports, prepared by separate groups of cyber experts, add to the growing body of evidence that the Russians worked to boost the Stein campaign as part of the effort to siphon support away from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and tilt the election to Trump.

Life Is Better At The Dump

Where the pigeons fly free. Which reminds me, it’s time to go to the mall.

Nothing Better To Do, I Guess

Toppled grave marker at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Super Angry