Society's Child

House Monetary Policy Committee member pointedly questions Treasury and Fed regarding gold activities

Money Metals Exchange
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

A Member of Congress posed some pointed questions to the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury this week about their activities involving America's gold reserves, including, apparently, efforts to "drive gold out of the world financial system in favor of the Federal Reserve Note or Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund."

In a letter dated April 24, Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) wrote to Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, raising concerns about their formal policy to devalue the Federal Reserve Note (e.g. "inflation targeting") and requesting information about the United States' use of, and position on, gold.

"The purchasing power of our currency has fallen some 97% since Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, with an acceleration in the rate of decline occurring since the early 1970s when the final link to gold was severed," wrote Mooney while also pointing out there had been almost no inflation in the U.S. prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve System.

"This Fed policy of creating inflation has the effect of driving up the cost of virtually everything my West Virginia constituents consume, while simultaneously reducing the real value of their pensions, savings, and fixed income payments," Mooney continued.

Comment: Congress shouldn't even have to ask these questions.

Journalists targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh
The Electronic Intifada
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

© Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills
Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been injured while covering the Great March of Return protests in Gaza.

The Great March of Return series of protests have been bloody.

The Israeli military has reacted with deadly and purposeful force, killing and wounding at seemingly random. And still people have come from all over Gaza to demonstrate and protest their right of return to the lands from where they, their parents and grandparents, were once evicted.

With them we came, the journalists, watching and filming, bearing witness to the events as they transpired and talking to people to hear their stories and motivations.

For us, too, the protests have been dangerous. I was lucky to have a dermatologist father-in-law who could give me the required cream for a rash on my shoulder and abdomen that appeared hours after being exposed to tear gas on the day of the first demonstration on 30 March.

And from that relatively mundane example to the deadly, journalists have been very much in the line of fire.

So far, there have been two fatalities among those covering the protests. There have been a high number of injuries to journalists - as many as 66 over the four demonstrations held so far, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesperson for Gaza's ministry of health - prompting calls for the protection of journalists and investigations into the violence. Human right organizations and international watchdogs like the Committee to Protect Journalists have been at the forefront of these calls. These have had little effect on Israel's behavior.

Comment: Kill the messenger to stop the message by sending another.

Might Joy-Ann Reid or MSNBC face legal trouble for submitting apparently false hacking claims to FBI?

Colin Kalmbacher
Law & Crime
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 06:49 UTC

MSNBC personality Joy-Ann Reid appears to have changed her story about those homophobic blog posts. And with this sea change in Reid's defense, there could be legal trouble ahead.

At first, Reid claimed she was hacked. That story completely fell apart when The Daily Beast - where Reid had her own column until it was suspended over those same posts - published a thorough dissection and dismissal of Reid's claims.

In no uncertain terms, Kevin Poulsen writes, "the evidence provided crumbles under scrutiny." Citing to alleged "evidence" obtained by Reid's "cybersecurity expert," Jonathan Nichols, Poulsen observes, "Blog posts that Nichols claimed do not appear on the Internet Archive are, in fact, there. The indicators of hacked posts don't bear out."

Throughout Poulsen's piece, various of Nichols' statements are walked back and Reid's story is thoroughly undercut by actual data and evidence. Let's underscore this next bit for Reid's erstwhile defenders on Twitter and elsewhere:

Today Nichols says Reid and her team no longer believe the archive was hacked, and the Internet Archive has denied any such manipulation could have occurred.

Comment: See also:

North and South Korea to merge time zones in May

RT
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 01:30 UTC

North Korea will synchronize its time with South Korea as early as this week, Pyongyang announced on Monday. The North created its own time zone in 2015, turning back the clocks by 30 minutes to defy Japanese colonial legacy.

The decision to return to the same time is one of the many symbolic highlights of the historic Friday summit between North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The state-run KCNA agency reported that Kim said it was a "painful wrench" for him to see the two clocks hanging above the negotiation table at 'Peace Village' in Panmunjeom showing a different time.

The gesture should pave the way for rapprochement between the North and the South, and serve as "the first practical step for national reconciliation and unity," according to Kim, as cited by KCNA.

On Monday, North Korea's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, the highest state body between the assembly's sessions, voted to adopt a decree codifying the changes that will take effect on May 5.

At present, North Korea's time is lagging 30 minutes behind that of South Korea. North Korea introduced its own "Pyongyang time" in August 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of liberation from the Japanese rule. The time, which will be now shared by the two Koreas, was set by Japan, which ruled the peninsula from 1910 to 1945, to coincide with its own.

Comment: Time for a change!

University of Texas starts program to treat masculinity as 'mental health' issue

Toni Airaksinen
PJ Media
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

The Counseling and Mental Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin recently launched a new program to help male students "take control over their gender identity and develop a healthy sense of masculinity."

Treating masculinity as if it were a mental health crisis, "MasculinUT" is organized by the school's counseling staff and most recently organized a poster series encouraging students to develop a "healthy model of masculinity."

The program is predicated on a critique of so-called "restrictive masculinity." Men, the program argues, suffer when they are told to "act like a man" or when they are encouraged to fulfill traditional gender roles, such as being "successful" or "the breadwinner."

Though you might enjoy "taking care of people" or being "active," MasculinUT warns that many of these attributes are actually dangerous, claiming that "traditional ideas of masculinity place men into rigid (or restrictive) boxes [which]... prevent them from developing their emotional maturity."

Comment: Who needs evidence of what works in a mental health program if you can use radical leftist ideology?

South Koreans surprised to hear Kim Jong-un speak in strange accent

Crystal Tai
South China Morning Post
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:45 UTC

Livestreaming reveals that the North Korean leader has a unique 'Swiss-influenced' accent, a result of his years studying at a German-language boarding school near Bern

While all eyes have been on the historic summit meeting between the two Koreas, those who kept their ears cocked were in for a surprise.

Kim Jong-un's multicultural accent stole the show as viewers around the world were able to hear the North Korean leader address South Korean President Moon Jae-in, with parts of the sessions livestreamed over the internet. South Korean viewers were surprised by Kim's non-North Korean sounding "Swiss-influenced" accent. After all, he is the leader of the world's most isolated country - one that has historically stressed ethnic and cultural purity.

Kim spent his formative years studying at a German language boarding school near Bern, Switzerland, where he lived under the pseudonym "Pak-un" from the age of 15, which explains his unusual accent.

How liberals tend to vote against their own best interests

Bruce Bialosky
Townhall
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 00:01 UTC

As a Jew I have always said that Jews are the only political interest group that constantly vote against their own self-interest. They aren't the only ones. Many liberals talk about how invasive government harms them or their business interests, but then when they enter the voter's booth they pull the lever for those who promulgate more invasive laws.

Last summer, I went to visit someone who had started a new business. As I do wherever I go, I take reading with me because you never know what will happen and it eases any anxiety from waiting/wasting time. At the time I was reading the book Shattered, written by Jonathan Allen and Arnie Parnes about the 2016 Clinton campaign.

My friend/client noticed the book when I sat down. He noted I was reading it, but he said he understood because I am a Republican. This did not make much sense to me because the authors are two liberal journalists and the book was principally aimed at Democrats to understand what went wrong with the Clinton campaign. He then launched into a commentary on the fact that no one he had spoken to believed Trump would last the year (2017) as president. His thinking: Trump was not actually interested in being president and he will hit a wall from all the controversy and walk away. Needless to say I let all of this silliness pass by and moved on to discussing his new business.

Brigitte Macron interview discusses Melania Trump's restricted lifestyle and magnanimous personality

Inessa S
Fort Russ
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:52 UTC

The other day Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron became honored guests at the residence of Donald and Melania Trump. The first lady of France was able to communicate closely with Melania, who, incidentally, speaks French fluently.

In an interview with Le Monde, Macron said that her American colleague is severely restricted by the security service and her life in the White House is hard to call "free": "She should not do anything without permission. Melania can not even open a window in her residence. She has no right to go for a walk, without permission. I live much easier, because I can visit Paris every day. "

Macron added that the wife of the American president has to be cautious in her statements and be reserved in public, but she is "benevolent, charming, educated and very open," and she also has a great sense of humor: " Melania can easily make you laugh, but she rarely shows emotions to strangers, unlike me. "

Toronto's van attack was not because of 'toxic masculinity'

Debra Soh
The Globe and Mail
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:38 UTC

Over the past few days, the word "incel" has found its way into the mainstream vernacular as the result of Toronto's devastating van attack making international headlines. On Tuesday, Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder, with an additional charge to come. As the worst mass killing in Canadian history in almost 30 years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it "a senseless attack and a horrific tragedy."

Incel refers to involuntary celibacy, an online subculture of men who are frustrated at their inability to obtain sex, validation and love from a romantic partner. Some within this community go as far as advocating rape as a means by which to gain sexual gratification. Soon after Mr. Minassian's arrest, a post was discovered on his Facebook page, announcing that the "Incel Rebellion" had begun and "all the Chads and Stacys" (sexually attractive men and women) would be overthrown.

Comment: Toxic masculinity has become a catch-all buzz-term that gets applied to any act of violence, both gratuitous and petty. But the term means absolutely nothing. Masculinity is not toxic. It's the natural expression of about 50% of the population. And stifling one's natural expression is never a good thing.

See also:

Michelle Wolf's attack on Trump staff was worse than you think

Tyler O'Neil
PJ Media
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 20:22 UTC

On Saturday night, one Washington crowd tried to give President Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, while another Washington crowd stood up against the most offensive "jokes" a "comedian" has ever uttered. When Michelle Wolf spoke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, her monologue descended into an x-rated tirade most infamous for attacks on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Wolf's attacks on Sanders proved disgusting from about every angle, but only those familiar with the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale - or the Margaret Atwood novel on which it is based - could understand the worst aspect of this tirade.

Comment: Unfortunately we are most likely not living in a better world, and Wolf is already being hailed as a hero in the SJW universe.

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ReRan

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TJ1776

I can think of a few corporations that could use a good hack about now!

InfoWithJo

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ReRan

It's also an indication of underactive Thyroid gland, which is absolutely rampant now.

bentpenny

Society's Child

House Monetary Policy Committee member pointedly questions Treasury and Fed regarding gold activities

Journalists targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza

Might Joy-Ann Reid or MSNBC face legal trouble for submitting apparently false hacking claims to FBI?

North and South Korea to merge time zones in May

University of Texas starts program to treat masculinity as 'mental health' issue

South Koreans surprised to hear Kim Jong-un speak in strange accent

How liberals tend to vote against their own best interests

Brigitte Macron interview discusses Melania Trump's restricted lifestyle and magnanimous personality

Toronto's van attack was not because of 'toxic masculinity'

Michelle Wolf's attack on Trump staff was worse than you think

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