Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Moscow court orders US investor detained over $37mn fraud allegations


RT
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 10:38 UTC
Michael Calvey
© Sputnik / Ramil SitdikovMichael Calvey seen at court on February 15, 2019.
The founder and senior partner of Baring Vostok private equity fund, Michael Calvey, will be detained in Moscow for two months after his bail got rejected. The US citizen is accused of a large-scale fraud involving a Russian bank.

The investor was put in pre-trial custody by a Moscow court on Saturday. The court rejected the request of Calvey's defense to release him on 5 million rubles ($75.5 thousand) bail. The prosecution, on its part, insisted that the detention was an absolute necessity, as the US citizen might try and flee the country.

Calvey's defense has already vowed to challenge the detention order.
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Wall Street

Zombie economics & the collapse of global revenue growth

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 10:38 UTC
Federal Reserve
© ETHNews.com
We have previously discussed extensively (here, here and here) how a decade of ultra low rates ushered in by central banks has spawned a generation of "zombie companies": corporations which under any other conditions would not survive due to their massive debt load and subpar cash creation, yet which continue to thrive thanks to ZIRP and NIRP, which make their interest expense sustainable preventing inevitable defaults, which in turn lead to subpar productivity and a general contraction in economic and corporate output.

And while we won't spend more time on a topic that has been extensively dissected here in the past, we'll point out several observations from a recent presentation by Goldman which details the creeping zombification of the world, as increasingly manifest in both economic and market indicators, starting with the collapse in long-term real global GDP growth, which is now at a "historical low." Whereas much of investor focus in recent months has been on cyclical growth risks, spurred by concerns over rising interest rates, a slowing US fiscal boost, QT and US/China trade relations, Goldman's Peter Oppenheimer points out that we are already in if not growth hell, then certainly purgatory, as "there is a more important structural story on growth that is likely to have a meaningful impact on equity and asset market pricing over the medium term: trend growth has slowed."
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NPC

No imaginary transgression is too small for the mob of virtue-signalling SJWs on Instagram

Kathrine Jebsen Moore
Quillette
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 00:20 UTC
whte yarn knitting needles
"Knitting is just so white. Let's hope it gets better." I overheard this puzzling remark in my local yarn store in Edinburgh, Scotland, last week. The store is in the affluent area of Marchmont, just outside the city centre. Its Edwardian and Victorian tenement flats, adjacent to huge green spaces, are popular with students and families alike. Two customers were chatting to the store owner: "It's about time we had the conversation," one of them offered. Her companion nodded in solemn agreement.

Knitting, which helps lower the blood pressure and keep the mind busy, has enjoyed an upsurge in popularity in recent years. The Internet has allowed for the proliferation of new platforms from which to buy yarn and patterns, and has helped connect artisans and hobbyists worldwide. Usually, it's a calming and creative pastime focussed on aesthetics rather than politics. However, a short browse through the knitting posts on Instagram steered me in the direction of the source of the exchange I had overhead and the "conversation" it had produced.

Comment: What could be a more clear sign that society is losing its collective mind?

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Handcuffs

6 illegal immigrants linked to Mexican cartel arrested in NC for massive drug trafficking operation, officials say

Frank Miles
Fox News
Sun, 17 Feb 2019 22:48 UTC
Drug gang
A massive drug operation with ties to a Mexican drug cartel resulted in the arrest of six immigrants in the country illegally. From left to right, upper row: Oscar Rangel-Gutierrez, Raul Rangel-Gutierrez, Regulo Rangel Gutierrez; lower row ( L to R) Rodolfo Martinez, Rigoberto Rangel-Gutierrez and Francisco Garcia-Martinez.
Six illegal immigrants with ties to a Mexican drug cartel - a rival of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, whose notorious leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was convicted last week- were arrested in an elaborate drug trafficking operation in North Carolina, according to reports.

The massive drug operation included transporting large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine across state lines - for instance, from Texas to Georgia and North Carolina, WSOC reported.

The feds identified the suspects as Oscar Rangel-Gutierrez, Regulo Rangel-Gutierrez, Francisco Garcia-Martinez, Rodolfo Martinez, Raul Rangel-Gutierrez and Rigoberto Rangel-Gutierrez.

"Members of the investigative team believe - based on wire intercepts, surveillance and other facts discovered from the investigation - that Oscar and Regulo transport illicit proceeds, derived from the sales of narcotics, when they travel from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte," according to federal court documents, as WMBF reported.

Comment: See also: Drug lord El Chapo found guilty on all counts at trial

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Flashlight

Apprehensions up 400% on US-Mexico border as smugglers try to overwhelm US officials

Peter Svab
The Epoch Times
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Migrants
© Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesMigrants stand together along the U.S./Mexican border wall as they wait to turn themselves over to the U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso, Tex., on Feb. 12, 2019.
Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal trespassers increased by nearly 440 percent in the El Paso Sector in the past four months compared to a year ago. Local Border Patrol officials believe the human smugglers and drug cartels are trying to overwhelm the authorities in order to get more contraband through.

The El Paso Sector, covering some 270 border miles in westernmost Texas and the whole stretch across New Mexico, used to be one of the least eventful. During the slow months of October 2011 to January 2012, it averaged about 20 apprehensions of illegal border crossers a day-a rather light workload for an agent force of 2,400 (pdf).

Fast forward to those same months seven years later, and the workload has increased more than 14-fold, while the workforce remains the same.

Most of the blame falls on human smugglers and drug cartels, who "work hand in hand" and have moved their operations toward El Paso from south Texas, where increased Border Patrol presence starting a few years ago made their operations difficult, according to Ramiro Cordero, Border Patrol Special Operations Supervisor in the El Paso Sector.

"They did start hitting us here in El Paso, I'm going to say about a year, year and a half ago, little by little," he said in a Feb. 14 phone call.

Since the 2019 fiscal year started in October, however, the influx has intensified. Four months in, the nearly 35,000 apprehensions have already surpassed the number of apprehensions for the whole of fiscal 2018.

Comment: President Trump enacted his power to declare a national emergency regarding the US southern border with Mexico. See also:

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Megaphone

Video shows Yellow Vest protesters smashing up police van while it's stuck in traffic


RT
Sun, 17 Feb 2019 18:58 UTC
Lyon yellow vest
© Alternative Police Nationale / FacebookA photo of the damaged police van in Lyon
A terrified French policewoman was left in tears after an astonishing and violent attack on a police van by a swarm of Yellow Vest protesters in Lyon.

Distressing footage of the attack on Saturday shows two road safety officers stuck in gridlocked traffic as they are increasingly surrounded by Yellow Vest protesters, who suddenly turn on their vehicle.

The officers can be seen filming the angry protesters as they swarm and throw rocks and bricks at the van, shattering the windows. Protesters jump on the hood of the vehicle and continue to bombard it with projectiles as the driver becomes more upset and tries to guide the vehicle safely through the lines of traffic.

Comment: If the officers in the video lost an eye, had their hand blown off, or were killed, then the violence would be on par with that which the police mete out to Yellow Vest protesters on a regular basis: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Will Globalists' War on Nationalism Lead to Bloody Revolution?

Gilets jaunes blessés




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Propaganda

Arizona Democrat wants to ban 'In God We Trust' license plates because it funds an "extremist hate group"

Caleb Parke
Fox News
Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
AZ license plate
An Arizona state lawmaker is trying to get rid of "In God We Trust" specialty license plates because he says an "extremist hate group" is benefiting from each purchase. The non-profit says it is the victim of a "misinformation campaign."

Democratic state Sen. Juan Mendez introduced a bill seeking to bar the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) from selling the plate with the national motto because proceeds go to the Scottsdale-based religious freedom law firm, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

Arizona allows non-profit organizations, like ADF and the University of Arizona, to create specialty plates. A portion of the purchase, no tax dollars, go to the group.

The Secular Coalition for Arizona, a group that opposes religion in government, directed Mendez to find out where the money from the plates was going, AZ Central reported.

Comment: See also: Atheist suing to have "so help me God" removed from US citizenship oath despite being given opportunity to recite alternative oath

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Eye 2

Leftist group #AbolishICE helped kill New York's Amazon HQ deal

John Carney
Breitbart News
Sun, 17 Feb 2019 18:46 UTC
ocasio cortez campaign button
Amazon's decision to cancel its plans to build a second corporate headquarters in New York City came after left-wing activists and politicians demanded that the company advance their immigration agenda in exchange for nearly $3 billion in government subsidies.

Democratic socialism advocates and New York politicians, emboldened by the leftward lurch of the Democrat Party, which the election of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) crystallized, stepped up their demands on Amazon in recent weeks, according to a person briefed on the matter. One such demand included that the company pledge not to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Amazon refused to say it would not cooperate with U.S. immigration laws, the person said.

Comment: So much for being a "people's party". Ocasio-Cortez and her insane ilk deny their constiutent's will to continue their march to remake the world in their schizoid vision.

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Stock Up

Number of anchor babies in California is twice Wyoming's total population

John Binder
Breitbart
Sat, 16 Feb 2019 18:30 UTC
us immigrants
© AP Photo/David J. Phillip
The number of United States-born children of illegal aliens in the sanctuary state of California is about twice the entire population of Wyoming, data reveals.

The U.S.-born children of illegal aliens are commonly known as "anchor babies," as they anchor their illegal alien and noncitizen parents in the U.S. when they are granted immediate birthright citizenship. There are at least 4.5 million anchor babies in the country, a population that exceeds the total number of annual American births, as about 300,000 anchor babies are born every year, exceeding the total number of American births in 48 states. Currently, the U.S. and Canada are the only developed nations in the world that offer unrestricted birthright citizenship.

Data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute finds there are at least 1.2 million anchor babies under the age of 18 residing in the state of California with their illegal alien parents. This is about twice the entire population of Wyoming, where about 570,000 residents live.

About 400,000 of those 1.2 million anchor babies in California are born to two parents who are both residing in the U.S. illegally.
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Pistol

Cancún shooting: five people gunned down in Mexico's resort city


The Guardian
Sat, 16 Feb 2019 21:44 UTC
Beach with red flag
© Eduardo Verdugo/APThe Mexican tourist hub of Cancún has experienced a rise in drug-related violence.
Five people have been shot dead and five more wounded in Cancún after gunmen burst into a bar in the Mexican resort city and opened fire.

Quintana Roo state prosecutors said the attack on Saturday took place in a club called La Kuka, on a main avenue in central Cancún about 6km (4 miles) away from the Caribbean resort city's seaside tourist hotel zone, situated on the Yucatán Peninsula.

Prosecutors said four men carrying a long gun and three handguns entered and began shooting. Two of the injured were in critical condition.
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