Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, June 9, 2015


I'm baaack...!

Heeer's... BILLY....!!!

(*GUFFAW*)


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18 comments:

William R. Barker said...

* JUST RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING FROM THE SCOTT WALKER CAMPAIGN IN THE FORM OF AN EMAIL (THUS... NO LINK).

Dear Conservative,

Over the weekend, Gov. Scott Walker gave some hard-core, straight talk about the growing reign of terror and death by ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

In fact, Gov. Walker even refused to rule out the nightmare scenario of a "full-blown invasion of Iraq and Syria" by U.S. military troops.

(*ROLLING MY EYES*)

* ENDLESS WAR... THAT'S WHAT THESE NEOCONS LIVE FOR.

Here is the transcript of Gov. Walker's interview on Sunday's ABC "This Week":

When host Jon Karl asked, "You have been critical of the president's handling of ISIS. Do you think we send ground troops?"
Walker replied, "I don't think we should rule it out. I think that is a big mistake this president has made here and elsewhere about saying how long we would go or how much we would invest."

* WHAT'S THIS "INVESTMENT" CRAP? INDEED, WHAT'S THE "WE" CRAP - THIS "WE" AGAINST MY WILL CRAP? HOW MUCH TREASURE (NOT TO MENTION BLOOD) HAVE WE POURED INTO AFGHANISTAN? IRAQ? AND WHERE EXACTLY HAS IT GOTTEN US...???

Walker said, "I'm not arguing that's the first approach. I'll tell you the three specific things we should do in Iraq. First we should re-engage the strength of the American forces that are there. Once you do that, you empower the allied forces that are there to reclaim the territory that ISIS has taken. Third, you just make sure you do it in a way that doesn't provide safe haven in places like Syria once you push them out."

* SO... INVASION (RE-INVASION) AND OCCUPATION (RE-OCCUPATION)?

(*HEADACHE*)

"So, would you rule out a full-blown invasion of Iraq and Syria?" Karl asked.

Walker replied, "I don't think we should ever a message to our foes of how far we're willing to go ... I wouldn't rule out boots on the ground. If the national interest of this country are at stake here at risk in this country or abroad."

* NOTICE ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION OF CONGRESS... NO MENTION OF THE CONSTITUTION... BOTH MEN SIMPLY ASSUME AMERICAN PRESIDENTS HAVE THE POWER (WHICH UNFORTUNATELY THEY DO - THE POWER... BUT NOT THE AUTHORITY... NOT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY) TO UNILATERALLY TAKE THIS NATION INTO PROACTIVE WAR.

(*SIGH*)

* AND, FOLKS... THIS IS WALKER'S OWN CAMPAIGN "BRAGGING" ABOUT WALKER'S POSITION!

(*MIGRAINE*)

June 9, 2015 at 11:17 AM
William R. Barker said...

* MUST-READ TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/june/07/soros-pushes-us-bailouts-and-weapons-for-ukraine/

If you look at the track record of the interventionists you might think they would pause before taking on more projects.

* YEAH! RIGHT! (FRIGGIN' IDIOTS...)

Each of their past projects has ended in disaster yet still they press on.

* HEY... IT'S NOT THEIR SKIN IN THE "GAME." BEYOND THAT... THEY'RE EITHER MAKING MONEY OR BUILDING POWER BASES - IN EITHER CASE IT'S PERSONAL.

* THOUGH... TO BE FAIR... THERE ARE SOME PATRIOTS WHO ARE SIMPLY WRONG-HEADED ABOUT THIS. THEY CAN'T BREAK THROUGH A LIFETIME OF INDOCTRINATION AND OR SELF-DELUSION.

(*SIGH*)

Last week the website Zero Hedge posted a report about hacked emails between billionaire George Soros and Ukrainian President Poroshenko. Soros is very close to the Ukrainian president, who was put in power after a U.S.-backed coup deposed the elected leader of Ukraine last year.

(*SIGH*)

In the email correspondence, Soros tells the Ukrainian leadership that the U.S. should provide Ukraine “with same level of sophistication in defense weapons to match the level of opposing force." In other words, despite the February ceasefire, Soros is pushing behind the scenes to make sure Ukraine receives top-of-the-line lethal weapons from the United States.

(Of course it will be up to us to pay the bill because Ukraine is broke.)

* AND THE FACT THAT WE'RE BROKE TOO DOESN'T SEEM TO MATTER TO THE NEOCONS, MILITARISTS, AND OTHER ASSORTED SO-CALLED "CONSERVATIVES." (AMAZING, ISN'T IT? IMAGINE WE'RE TALKING LIBERALS DEFENDING UNRESTRAINED "SAFETY NET" SPENDING...)

But Soros seems to have the money part covered as well. In an email to Ukrainian leaders, he wrote that Ukraine’s "first priority must be to regain control of financial markets." Soros told Poroshenko that the IMF would need to come through with a $15 billion package, which was confident would lead the Fed to also come through with more money. He wrote: “the Federal Reserve could be asked to extend a $15 billion three months swap arrangement with the National Bank of Ukraine. That would reassure the markets and avoid a panic.”

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE TABLE*)

How would the Fed be convinced to do that? Soros assured Poroshenko: “I am ready to call Jack Lew of the US Treasury to sound him out about the swap agreement.”

* GREAT! JUST GREAT! SOROS AND LEW ARE "BUDDIES."

(*SIGH*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 11:44 AM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING THIS "MUST-READ" (Part 2 of 2)

So George Soros will use his influence in the U.S. government to put the American people on the hook for a bankrupt Ukraine - forcing us to pay for weapons, more military training, and Ukraine’s crippling debt.

* AND NO DOUBT THIS WILL BE GREATED BY MORE APPLAUSE FROM REPUBLICAN OFFICEHOLDERS THAN DEMOCRATS! (GOD HELP THIS COUNTRY!)

Who is thrilled with Soros’ drawing the U.S. government into more intervention in the region? The military-industrial complex for one is happy at the prospect of big weapons “sales” to Ukraine. The bankers are thrilled. Washington power-brokers are thrilled. There is something in this for everyone who is politically well-connected. The only losers are the people who will be forced to pay for it, the American taxpayers.

* YEP...

No one seems to ask why we are involved in Ukraine at all.

(*RAISING MY HAND*) (*JUMPING UP AND DOWN*)

* I'VE BEEN ASKING!

Is it really any of our business if the east wants to break away from the west? Is it a vital U.S. interest which flag the people wish to hang in Donetsk?

* THE CHINESE ARE OUR ENEMY. SO WHAT DO THE NEOCONS AND OTHER ASSORTED MILITARISTS DO - THEY PUSH RUSSIA INTO THE ARMS OF CHINA... "FORCE" AN ANTI-U.S. ALLIANCE. (RUSSIA SHOULD BE OUR ALLY - NOT OUR ENEMY!)

(*MUTTERING TO MYSELF*)

One thing we should be sure of is that Ukraine’s debt will not be paid.

(*SILENCE*)

As in other bailouts, much of it will be transferred to the U.S. taxpayer through the IMF and the Federal Reserve.

(*CONTINUING SILENCE*)

All of this is only possible because of the perception that the dollar is still the world’s reserve currency. But this too is coming to an end. U.S. military and financial interventionism worldwide are only speeding up the process.

(*NOD*)

* THAT AND OBAMA'S POLICY OF ALIENATING EVERY ALLY WE'VE EVER HAD...

(*SIGH*)

June 9, 2015 at 11:45 AM
William R. Barker said...

* THREE-PARTER (AT LEAST!)... (Part 1 of 3)

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-warren-buffet-economy-why-its-days-are-numbered-part-1/?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Mailing+List+PM+Monday

During the 27 years after Alan Greenspan became Fed chairman in August 1987, the balance sheet of the Fed exploded from $200 billion to $4.5 trillion. Call it 23X.

Let’s see what else happened over that 27 year span:

Well, according to Forbes, Warren Buffet’s net worth was $2.1 billion back in 1987 and it is now $73 billion. Call that 35X.

During those same years, the value of non-financial corporate equities rose from $2.6 trillion to $36.6 trillion. That’s on the hefty side, too - about 14X.

When we move to the underlying economy that purportedly gave rise to these fabulous gains, the X-factor is not so generous. As shown above, nominal GDP rose from $5.0 trillion to $17.7 trillion during the same 27-year period - 3.5X.

Next we have wage and salary compensation, which rose from $2.5 trillion to $7.5 trillion over the period - 3.0X.

Then comes the median nominal income of U.S. households. That measurement increased from $26K to $54K over the period - 2.0X.

the sum of aggregate labor hours supplied to the non-farm economy? That metric of real work by real people rose from 185 billion to 235 billion during those same 27 years - 1.27X.

Further down the Greenspan era rabbit hole, we have the average weekly wage of full-time workers in inflation adjusted dollars. That was $330 per week in 1987 and is currently $340 (1982=100). Call that 1.03X.

Finally, we have real median family income... call it a round trip to nowhere over nearly three decades!

OK, its not entirely fair to compare Warren Buffet’s 35.0X to the median household’s 0.0X. There is some “inflation” in the Oracle’s wealth tabulation, as reflected in the GDP deflator’s rise from 60 to 108 (2009 =100) during the period. So in today’s dollars, Buffet started with $3.8 billion in 1987. Call his inflation-adjusted gain 19X then, and be done with it. (And you can make the same adjustment to the market value of total non-financial equity. In 2014 dollars, today’s aggregate value of $36.7 trillion compares to $4.5 trillion back in 1987. Call it 8.0X.)

Here’s the thing. Warren Buffet ain’t no 19X genius nor are investors as a whole 8X versions of the same. The real truth is that Alan Greenspan and his successors turned a whole generation of gamblers into the greatest lottery winners in recorded history.

(*NOD*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 12:09 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

That happened because the Fed grotesquely distorted and financialized the U.S. economy in the name of Keynesian management of the purported “business cycle.” The most visible instrument of that misguided campaign, of course, was the Federal funds or money market rate, which has been pinned at the zero bound for the last 78 months.

(*SIGH*)

Not only did the Fed spend 27 years marching toward the zero bound, but in the process it has gotten addicted to it.

During the last 300 months, it has either cut or kept flat the money market rate 80% of the time. And it has now been 108 months since it last raised interest rates by even 25 bps!

The single most important price in all of capitalism is the money market rate of interest. It sets the cost of carry in all asset markets, and therefore indirectly fuels the bid for all debt, equity and derivative securities in the global financial system. The simple truth is, the Fed has caused systematic, persistent and massive falsification of prices all along the yield curve and throughout all sectors of the financial market.

* YEP...

Needless to say, when the cost of money is set at — and held at — zero in nominal terms, and driven deeply negative in after-inflation and after-tax terms, it becomes the mothers' milk of speculation. Accordingly, it is neither a slightly lower trend rate of CPI inflation over the past 27 years nor an improvement in the art of central banking which has driven the core reference rate in the world financial markets (the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note) down by 80%. Instead, the true agent of that decline is massive central bank intrusion into financial markets, wholesale manipulation of prices and fraudulent monetization of public debt and other securities.

(Just since 2006, the combined balance sheets of the world’s central banks have expanded from $6 trillion to $22 trillion, meaning that the scale of the implicit monetary fraud has been monumental.)

Needless to say, the plunge of the world markets' core “cap rate” to what are false and unsustainably low levels caused two powerful distortions. In the DM economies - like the U.S. - it generated an enormous expansion of unproductive debt that funded fiscal expansion, household consumption and business financial engineering.

(*NOD*)

The result was a massive financialization of the economy that took the sum of business debt and market equity from about $12 trillion at the time of Greenspan’s arrival at the Eccles Building to $93 trillion today. Stated differently, the value of debt and equity securities mushroomed from about 2.4X GDP to 5.4X.

(*HEADACHE*)

It was this massive financial bubble that begat paper wealth gains of 8X and 19X and even more.

* OH... THE WEALTH IS REAL ENOUGH... IN TERMS OF ENRICHING THE INSIDERS AND GAMBLERS. BUT "REAL" DEPENDS UPON A MOMENT IN TIME. SHOULD THE MARKET CRASH... THIS PAPER WEALTH WILL FAIL TO BE REALIZED - AT LEAST TO THE EXTENT PEOPLE "STAY THE COURSE" AND KEEP THEIR MONEY WHERE IT IS.

(*SHRUG*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 12:10 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

Secondly, the worldwide central bank financial repression led by the Fed resulted in massive over-investment in fixed productive assets on a global basis, but especially in China and the EM. The impact was a one-time acceleration of global economic activity that temporarily inflated current income and further goosed the value of financial assets. This central bank fueled boom will ultimately be paid for in the form of a prolonged deflationary contraction.

* MAYBE. BUT DEFLATIONARY OR NOT... WE'RE HEADING FOR A FALL.

Then, trillions of uneconomic assets will be written off, industrial sector profits will collapse and the great inflation of financial assets over the last 27 years will meet its day of reckoning.

* ALONG WITH OUR RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS... (AT LEAST FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS...)

On the morning after, of course, it will be asked why the central banks were permitted to engineer this fantastic financial and economic bubble. The short answer is that it was done so that monetary central planners could smooth and optimize the business cycle and "save" world capitalism from its purported tendency toward instability, underperformance and depressionary collapse.

As will be shown in Part 2, the whole case for this sweeping and unprecedented Keynesian demand management by the monetary authorities was a crock. Accordingly... the days of the Warren Buffet economy are indeed numbered.

June 9, 2015 at 12:10 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/09/obama-fisa-court-surveillance-phone-records

The Obama administration has asked a secret surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the NSA the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months.

* GEEZUS...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* MOST TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY, HUH?

The legal request, filed nearly four hours after Barack Obama vowed to sign a new law banning precisely the bulk collection he asks the secret court to approve...

* UNFRIGGIN'BELIEVABLE! (ONLY... IT'S REALLY NOT; IT'S ACTUALLY PAR FOR THE COURSE.)

...also suggests that the administration may not necessarily comply with any potential court order demanding that the collection stop.

* NO DICTATORSHIP HERE, FOLKS; MOVE ALONG... NOTHING TO SEE...

(*SNORT*)

U.S. officials confirmed last week that they would ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court – better known as the Fisa court (a panel that meets in secret as a step in the surveillance process and thus far has only ever had the government argue before it) to turn the domestic bulk collection spigot back on.

Carlin asked the Fisa court to set aside a landmark declaration by the second circuit court of appeals. Decided on 7 May, the appeals court ruled that the government had erroneously interpreted the Patriot Act’s authorization of data collection as “relevant” to an ongoing investigation to permit bulk collection. Carlin, in his filing, wrote that the Patriot Act provision remained “in effect” during the transition period.

* TRANSITION FROM "PATRIOT ACT" TO "FREEDOM ACT."

(*SNORT*)

“This court may certainly consider ACLU v Clapper as part of its evaluation of the government’s application, but second circuit rulings do not constitute controlling precedent for this court,” Carlin wrote in the 2 June application. Instead, the government asked the court to rely on its own body of once-secret precedent stretching back to 2006, which Carlin called “the better interpretation of the statute”.

* "ONCE" SECRET...???

(*HEADACHE*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 12:27 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

The second circuit court of appeals is supposed to bind only the circuit’s lower courts. But the unique nature of the Fisa court – whose rulings practically never became public before whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations – has left ambiguous which public court precedents it is obliged to follow.

* GOD BLESS EDWARD SNOWDEN!

“While the Fisa court isn’t formally bound by the second circuit’s ruling, it will certainly have to grapple with the second circuit’s interpretation of the ‘relevance’ requirement. The [court] will also have to consider whether Congress effectively adopted the second circuit’s interpretation of the relevance requirement when it passed the USA Freedom Act,” said Jameel Jaffer, the deputy legal director of the ACLU, which brought the lawsuit the second circuit decided.

The second circuit did not issue an injunction stopping the bulk collection. It deferred to the then-ongoing congressional debate over the USA Freedom Act, citing legislation as the more appropriate mode of relief.

And yet... Carlin’s request to the Fisa court suggested the Obama administration would not consider the second circuit the last word...

* WELL... TO BE FAIR... THERE'D BE NOTHING WRONG (LEGALLY) WITH THE ADMINISTRATION APPEALING TO A HIGHER COURT...

(*SHRUG*)

Carlin told the Fisa court that the government was “considering its litigation options in regard to the second circuit’s opinion,” which would have to mean a challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court.

(*NOD*)

Carlin added in a footnote: “In the event an injunction of some sort were to issue by the district court, the government would need to assess, in light of the nature and scope of whatever injunction the district court issued, its ability to carry out authority granted under an order issued by this court.”

* BASICALLY... OBAMA IS THREATENING TO VIOLATE THE LAW.

On Friday, the conservative group FreedomWorks filed a rare motion before the Fisa court, asking it to reject the government’s surveillance request as a violation of the fourth amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. (Fisa court judge Michael Moseman gave the justice department until this coming Friday to respond – and explicitly barred the government from arguing that FreedomWorks lacks the standing to petition the secret court.)

* GOOD FOR THE FISA COURT!

“The only federal appeals court to have considered this surveillance concluded, after very careful analysis, that it’s unlawful. It’s disturbing and disappointing that the government is proposing to continue it,” said Jaffer, of the ACLU.

June 9, 2015 at 12:27 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/06/08/border-crisis-re-emerging-says-national-border-patrol-council-70-women-and-children-in-1-hour/

In the past few weeks, the numbers of unaccompanied minors and incomplete family units have begun soaring again, according to the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), the organization that represents nearly 17,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents.

“This is starting to resemble the summer border surge of 2014,” said Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera. “We are not nearly at the numbers we were last year, but it looks like we are in the opening stages. We had two groups equal a little over 70 in one hour today. These were women and children,” said Agent Cabrera. “We’ve also seen a lot of children traveling alone.”

(*SIGH*)

Agent Cabrera said that many of these children and women are simply turning themselves in again. He said they were seeking out Border Patrol agents instead of trying to avoid or elude them. “This is really the mark that indicates a coming crisis,” said Cabrera. “When the women and children start seeking out agents, we know there is word spreading in their home countries that they can come and be set free.”

(*NOD*)

June 9, 2015 at 12:33 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.wnd.com/2015/06/hillarys-plans-to-stuff-the-ballot-box/

* LISTEN... FOLKS... AS REGULARS KNOW, I DON'T MAKE A HABIT OF POSTING NEWS/OPINION FROM SITES LIKE WND. THAT SAID... THIS OP-ED IS WORTH CONSIDERING. (AT LEAST... I THINK IT IS.)

Obama promised an end to wars in the Middle East, a more prosperous economy for the average American and more harmonious race relations, but all three problems have only gotten worse.

* IN RESPONSE...

Hillary Clinton has laid out her game plan for winning back the White House for herself and her husband next year.

She apparently decided it won’t be enough to rely on the 66 million people who voted twice for Barack Obama, many of whom are disillusioned by the failure of “hope and change.” Since Mrs. Clinton won’t have the youthful exuberance that propelled Barack Obama to his unlikely double victory, she plans to build a "whole new electorate" out of people who didn’t vote for Obama. (That’s the gist of her speech in Houston last week, which her friends at MSNBC called a “far-reaching vision for expanding access to the ballot box.”)

Who are the new voters to whom Hillary wants to give “access to the ballot box”? They include felons and non-citizens, along with those who can’t prove identity, citizenship, or residence within the voting precinct.

She also plans to harvest millions of new votes by expanding the dangerous practices of same-day registration and early voting, which enable Democrats to badger, berate, bribe, or bamboozle reluctant low-information voters to the polls. (Democratic Party and union workers can identify reluctant voters and harass them until the party worker verifies that they have actually cast their ballot.)

While Hillary gave lip service to the notion that “every citizen” should vote, her Democratic allies are in court trying to stop every reasonable means of verifying a voter’s citizenship.

* THERE'S SIMPLY NO DENYING THE TRUTH OF THIS CHARGE.

(*SHRUG*)

According to a recent Rasmussen survey, a majority - 53% - of Democrats believe that non-citizens, including even illegal immigrants, should be allowed to vote.

(*SILENCE*)

Hillary’s commitment to voting by “every citizen” is belied by her earlier promise to “go even further” than Obama on amnesty for illegal immigrants. By “go even further,” she explained, she would include all 11-plus million (not just Obama’s 5 million), and she would give them full citizenship with voting rights, not just “legal status” with permission to work.

* SHE... WOULD... GIVE... (UNDER WHAT AUTHORITY...?!?!)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 2:56 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

The Census Bureau estimates that 22 million non-citizen adults, both legal and illegal, are living permanently in this country.

That’s almost 10% of our entire population 18 and over...)

And more than half of those non-citizens are concentrated in just five states.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Arizona, which is on the front lines of illegal immigration, has been trying to require proof of citizenship as part of voter registration ever since that simple requirement was approved by Arizona’s voters in 2004. The Obama administration refused to add the proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal form Arizona must use for motor-voter registrations.

(*SILENCE*)

Hillary has assigned her top lawyer to sue Wisconsin to overturn its effective voter-ID law, one of the best in the nation. But that’s not all. The New York Times just reported that Left-wing Hungarian billionaire George Soros has agreed to pour $5 million into a national effort to "protect and expand" early voting.

* FOLKS... THEY CALL IT ELECTION "DAY" FOR A REASON...

* OR AT LEAST THEY USED TO...

Federal law provides that voting in federal elections take place in even years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, also known as “Election Day.” Just as no member of a jury should vote on guilt or innocence until all the evidence has been presented at a trial, voters should not cast their ballots before political campaigns are over.

* MAKES SENSE!

The U.S. Constitution requires that the delegates to the Electoral College cast their ballots for president on the same day.

* WHICH KINDA INDICATES WHERE THE FOUNDERS WERE ON THIS QUESTION...

(*SNORT*)

Many states continue to adhere to the tradition of Election Day being on one day in November, not spread out over the ridiculous 35 days that resulted in a political circus in Ohio in 2012.

* CREATING CHAOS IS THE DEMOCRATIC GOAL! (REMEMBER "NEVER LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE," FOLKS?) (FOLKS... I'M NOT MAKING THIS $HIT UP!)

The integrity of elections is just as important as the universally accepted rules for jury trials, whereby jurors are asked to keep their minds open and withhold judgment until after closing arguments. Spreading out voting over an extended period of a month or more makes it impractical for poll watchers to monitor the voting for fraud.

* GOOD POINT...

(*NOD*)

June 9, 2015 at 2:56 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/Rape-Teenage-Girl-Gang-Members-Brentwood-Long-Island-Police-Arrest-MS-13-Prosecutor-306300081.html

Two teenagers and a man who are reputed members of the MS-13 street gang...

* "REPUTED...?!?!" (UH... DON'T THE GANG TATS TELL THE STORY...???)

...were ordered held without bail Friday on charges they forced a 16-year-old into a wooded area of a Long Island golf course, where two of them took turns raping her while the third stood as a lookout.

"This is one of the most brutal, heinous crimes that I have seen in a long, long time," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said at a news conference following the suspects' arraignments.

"This poor young woman is so lucky that... quite frankly... that she is alive. These are vicious young men... vicious young men... and what they did to her was absolutely terrible."

Spota, calling the attack "barbaric," identified the suspects as 17-year-old Jose Cornejo, 18-year-old Bryan Larios and 17-year-old Joel Escobar, all of Brentwood.

* ONLY... NOT REALLY!

All three are from El Salvador...

* WHICH IS A LONG WAY FROM BRENTWOOD...

...and are members of the MS-13 street gang, Spota said.

* ANY REASON TO DOUBT THEY'RE MEMBERS OF MS-13?

The teenagers are being charged as adults.

Their attorneys entered not guilty pleas to a grand jury indictment charging them with rape, assault, sexual abuse, robbery and other crimes. An attorney for Larios denied his client was involved. Cornejo's attorney said he is just beginning to investigate the charges and Escobar's attorney had no comment.

Prosecutors said the three were arrested on May 29, hours after the attack occurred. Spota said police identified Cornejo as one of the suspects because the victim gave investigators a detailed description of a tattoo he has on his chin and police were familiar with him.

(*SMIRK*)

* YEAH... I'D WAGER SPOTA IS CORRECTLY INDENTIFYING THESE ANIMALS AS MS-13 MEMBERS.

The prosecutor described the tattoo as a distinctive skull adorned with flames; Spota said Cornejo tried to leap out of a window to elude police when they came to arrest him.

* TOO BAD HE DIDN'T SUCCEED IN BREAKING HIS OWN NECK...

The three are accused of approaching the girl and a male friend at a Brentwood middle school.

* MIDDLE SCHOOL...

They allegedly robbed and beat the friend, who then fled the scene.

* YES... OF COURSE... "ALLEGEDLY." (PERHAPS THE FRIEND BEAT HIMSELF/HERSELF UP...)

(*SMIRK*)

The trio then allegedly told the girl they had a weapon and forced her to walk about a half-mile to a secluded area of the Brentwood Country Club golf course. It was there, prosecutors said, that Cornejo and Escobar raped the girl while Larios acted as a lookout.

The "alleged" victim was later found walking out of the woods nearly naked by golfers, who called police.

Attorneys for the suspects said their clients were high school students, but Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Opisso disputed that, saying he did not believe any of the three attended school.

* THE RECORDS WILL TELL THE TALE...

Escobar and a fourth man — also a suspected MS-13 gang member — were charged with robbing and beating a man on April 28 at the same middle school.

Escobar was also charged with threatening the victim with violence if he reported the incident to police. (His attorney also pleaded not guilty on his behalf to those charges.)

* HOW DID THESE ANIMALS GET INTO OUR COUNTRY...??? OBAMA...? (OR MAYBE BUSH...???)

June 9, 2015 at 3:36 PM
William R. Barker said...

* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)

http://www.epi.org/blog/et-tu-mickey-mouse-disney-pads-record-profits-by-replacing-u-s-workers-with-cheaper-h-1b-guestworkers/

The Disney Corporation had its most profitable year ever, with profits of $7.5 billion — up 22% from the previous year.

Disney’s stock price is up approximately 150% over the past three years.

The company prides itself on its recipe for “delighting customers,” a recipe it says includes putting employees first.

Disney touts this as a key to their success in creating “a culture where going the extra mile for customers comes naturally” for employees.

One method of creating this culture is referring to its employees as “cast members.” In fact, Disney is so proud of its organizational culture that it’s even created an institute to share its magic with other businesses (for a consulting fee, of course). So... you would expect a firm that "puts its employees first" to share the vast prosperity that’s been created with the very employees who went above and beyond to help generate those record profits.

(CEO Bob Iger took home $46 million in compensation last year.)

Well, how did Mr. Iger repay his workers — sorry, I mean cast members — for creating all this profit?

Not with bonuses...

[Not with] big raises...

Instead, as the New York Times just detailed in a major report, he forced hundreds of them to train their own replacements — temporary foreign workers here on H-1B "guest worker" visas — before he laid them off.

What motivates a company to replace its American workers with H-1B guest workers? One word: Profit.

The H-1B guest workers are cheaper than American workers and don’t have much bargaining power, and any company would be foolish not to take advantage of this highly lucrative business model that has been inadvertently created by Congress and multiple presidential administrations.

Of course this business model is paid for by destroying the livelihoods and dignity of tens of thousands of American workers...

* BUT "WHAT THE HELL?" RIGHT?

(*SNORTING AS I SPIT ON THE GROUND*)

* ANYONE WANNA GUESS WHICH PARTY AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY IGER IS IDENTIFIED WITH...???

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 3:56 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

The costs are also borne by American taxpayers, through foregone tax revenue and the additional social services that need to be provided for those newly unemployed American workers.

When it comes to using the H-1B to cut costs, Disney is far from an isolated case. The Disney news comes on the heels of multiple reports of corporate layoffs with H-1B replacements at Southern California Edison, the Fossil Group in Texas, Pfizer and Northeast Utilities in Connecticut, Harley Davidson in Milwaukee and Kansas, and Cargill in Minnesota.

(*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

The full story of Disney’s injustice hasn’t yet come to light, because the company isn’t willing to speak about it, and displaced American workers are afraid to talk because they fear they won’t be hired elsewhere.

Furthermore...

* WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...

...the Obama administration has refused to investigate any of the recent listed H-1B abuse cases.

We know that Disney hired HCL, a major India-based offshore outsourcing firm, to bring in its H-1B workers.

(HCL is one of the top H-1B employers in America.)

HCL was the sixth largest recipient of H-1B visas in fiscal year 2013, with the Obama administration approving 1,713 H-1B visas for its workers.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Like most top H-1B employers, government data reveal that HCL uses the program for cheap, temporary labor rather than as bridge to permanent immigration. In fiscal 2013 it applied for only 128 green cards, compared to its 1,713 new H-1B workers...

(*SMIRK*)

* THAT WORKS OUT TO 7%, FOLKS!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 9, 2015 at 3:57 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

According to government data acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request, the median wage HCL paid those 1,713 H-1B workers was $61,984, which is essentially the entry level wage for an information technology (IT) worker, and more importantly, a 25% discount on the median wage of $82,710 for Computer Systems Analysts in the United States. Moreover, it’s almost certain that Disney’s 25% H-1B discount is an understatement, because many of the laid-off Disney workers I spoke with were earning approximately $100,000, and had been employed there for many years, so they had also earned and accumulated benefits packages based on their seniority.

(*SIGH*)

* JUST "BUSINESS," RIGHT? WELL IF SO... TO HELL WITH "BUSINESS." AND TO HELL WITH OBAMA AND CONGRESS! FOLKS... THE OLIGARCHY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT AMERICANS! THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT AMERICA! THEY CARE ABOUT ENRICHING THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILIES, AND THEIR FRIENDS. PERIOD.

It’s important to point out that Disney is not an outlier; it’s the norm.

Loopholes in the H-1B program make it irresistible to corporations, whose sole goal has become to maximize profits and shareholder value.

* SHORT-TERM SHAREHOLDER VALUE... SHORTSIGHTED EFFORTS TO MAXIMIZE SHORT-TERM PROFITS...

(*SIGH*)

Appealing to patriotism, corporate social responsibility, or even a sense of moral decency is a fool’s game. (If you don’t believe me, look no further than Disney, which brags about its awards for its corporate social responsibility.)

We may not like it but in the contemporary U.S. business environment, ten out of ten corporate executives will choose to replace Americans with cheaper guest workers — it would supposedly "be a dereliction of their fiduciary duty" to shareholders if they failed to take advantage of this.

* BULL$HIT!

Congress, the president, and the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security should not sit idly by while this happens. They should reform the program so it can’t be used to undercut American workers and exploit foreign workers.

June 9, 2015 at 3:58 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/06/rubios-luxury-speedboat-is-a-fishing-boat-208515.html

* THIS IS KINDA INTERESTING... SOMEONE AT POLITICO MAY HAVE A CONSCIENCE!

(*SNORT*)

In an effort to showcase Sen. Marco Rubio's history of financial struggles...

* IN A BLATANT HIT PIECE...

...The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Florida Republican had spent "$80,000 for a luxury speedboat" even as he faced outstanding debts.

* I'VE YET TO READ THE ARTICLE; I WILL THOUGH.

But while Rubio did indeed spend $80,000 on a boat, the vessel in question is not the glamorous "luxury speedboat" the Times article portrayed. It is, in fact, an offshore fishing boat.

On Tuesday, Rubio spokesperson Alex Conant sent POLITICO a link to a website showing the make and model of the boat Rubio owns: an EdgeWater 245CC Deep-V Center Console. The manufacturer, Edgewater, notes that the boat is perfect for "safety-minded family boaters and avid anglers."

* THIS NEXT BIT IS ESPECIALLY INTERESTING... A DIRECT SHOT ACROSS THE BOW DIRECTED AT THE NYT...

In a place like Miami, home to billionaires and stars who have multimillion-dollar yachts, an “$80,000 luxury boat” can seem like a contradiction.

(*SNORT*)

* TRUE... AND, AGAIN... NOT SOMETHING I'D EXPECT POLITICO TO NOTE.

Rubio’s campaign said his boat purchase included two new 150-horsepower 4-stroke Yamaha engines, a relatively standard amount of horsepower. According to eBay, each engine could cost as much as $16,000 — making the value of the boat hull itself less than $80,000.

The Times reported that Rubio "splurged" on this "extravagant purchase" after receiving an $800,000 advance on a book deal. "At the time, Mr. Rubio confided to a friend that it was a potentially inadvisable outlay that he could not resist," the article stated. "The 24-foot boat, he said, fulfilled a dream."

* WHO IS THE "FRIEND" AND WHY WOULD THE NYT RUN WITH AN UNSUBSTANTIATED QUOTE? (RHETORICAL QUESTION!)

The Times reported that this purchase reflected "a series of decisions over the past 15 years that experts called imprudent: significant debts; a penchant to spend heavily on luxury items like the boat and the lease of a $50,000 2015 Audi Q7; a strikingly low savings rate, even when Mr. Rubio was earning large sums; and inattentive accounting that led to years of unpaid local government fees."

* "THE EXPERTS...???"

(*SNORT*)

* A $50,000 CAR...??? SERIOUSLY...? (SURE THIS ISN'T A TYPO... PERHAPS THE REAL NUMBER IS $150,000...?) (*WRITTEN SARCASTICALLY*)

Times political editor Carolyn Ryan and spokesperson Eileen Murphy did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the characterization of Rubio's boat. We will update here if and when we hear back.

* AGAIN... WHAT'S INTERESTING IS POLITICO GOING AFTER THE NYT.

June 9, 2015 at 7:16 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/gop-aiming-for-friday-trade-vote-but-snag-remains-118797.html

House leaders...

* JOHN BOEHNER... REPUBLICAN SPEAKER OF A REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED HOUSE...

...confident but not yet certain they have the support to pass sweeping trade legislation, are aiming to bring the package to a floor vote by the end of this week — even as they rush to resolve a last-minute hang-up over how to pay for aid to displaced workers.

* LET'S PRAY THE DEMOCRATS - WITH TEA PARTY SUPPORT - CAN STOP THEM.

“We’re doing very well, we’re close,” Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who’s been at the forefront of the GOP effort to round up support, said Tuesday of the current vote count.

* I WOULDN'T SHED A TEAR IF RYAN WERE RUN OVER BY A BUS...

(*SPITTING ON THE FLOOR*)

* IN FACT... I'D TRACK DOWN THE BUS DRIVER AND BUY HIM OR HER A DRINK!

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been holding small meetings with lawmakers in his office as he seeks to maximize Republican “yes” votes...

* TRUE CONSERVATIVES HAVE NO PARTY...

(*SIGH*)

...and he huddled late Tuesday with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)...

* CASE IN POINT.

(*SIGH*)

The White House, meanwhile, is working with House GOP leadership...

* CASE IN POINT...

(*SHRUG*)

Behind the scenes, Boehner and Ryan are consulting with Pelosi, the White House and other senior Democrats...

(*SIGH*)

* ENOUGH...

(*HEADACHE*)

June 9, 2015 at 11:40 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/finance/244375-fast-talk-from-the-fast-track-salesmen

President Obama's GOP salesmen are telling fellow House members that fast-track trade promotion authority (TPA) will "constrain the president" to do what Congress wants when he negotiates the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Sounds reassuring, but there's one problem: It's just not true.

Pointing to the negotiating objectives the Senate-approved bill lays out, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) says that "TPA makes the president follow dozens of strict objectives in his negotiations so that your priorities come first — not his."

First, let's be clear: The Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have been underway for six years. According to the U.S. trade representative, they are in the "end game" and will be wrapped up once TPA is approved. Scalise and company are a little late setting objectives for negotiations that have already taken place.

More importantly, if you look at the language of the TPA bill, you see the claim that TPA "makes the president follow dozens of strict objectives" is transparently false.

Section 103(b)(2) of the Trade Act of 2015 says a trade agreement will be considered under the expedited rules of TPA "if such agreement makes progress in meeting the applicable objectives described."

Notice that it doesn't say the agreement must meet the objectives, or even that it must meet 99% of the objectives. No, if it "makes progress" in meeting the objectives, that's good enough. Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations.

And who decides if Obama made progress? The same folks desperate to get the deal through Congress in the first place.

Even if a member were to suggest that President Obama did not "make progress" in obeying the wishes of Congress (imagine that), the complaint would be referred to the Ways and Means Committee. Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his pro-TPA stalwarts would be under no obligation to bring the complaint up for a vote or send it to the full House. The move to cancel fast-track stands about as much chance as civil rights legislation in a Dixiecrat-run committee in the 1940s.

In addition to talking about make-believe handcuffs for the president, leadership's salesmen are trading imaginary ice cream feasts and other goodies for TPA votes.

They are telling members who may have concerns, "Don't worry, we have this customs enforcement bill and we'll give you all kinds of goodies in that legislation — anti-dumping, currency manipulation, immigration, a pony, whatever you want — if you give me your vote on fast-track/TPA."

Essentially, members are to give leadership their vote for TPA now, but wait for what they want in a separate bill in the future. But they'll discover that the future never comes.

June 9, 2015 at 11:44 PM

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