Update from the Heartland
No.705
15.6.15 – 21.6.15
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
Yet another tragedy played out in
Charleston, South Carolina. The
details of the crime and the apprehension of the perpetrator have been well
covered. I can add nothing. However, I do have one consuming
observation. Angry young men like
Dylann Roof are not born with hatred or animosity toward innocent people. He was taught to hate. The Press has focused considerable
attention on his racism. While it
is important to see what he has become, I am far more interested in the parents
who created this mad man. The
parents (or whomever raised Dylann) should be subjected to intense scrutiny,
and I strongly suspect we will find the genesis of Dylann’s hatred. The only explanation for the reticence
to the Press to dig into the contribution of the parents may well be similar
logic as that proffered by Charleston County Chief Magistrate James B. ‘Skip’
Gosnell, Jr., at Dylann’s bail hearing, who proclaimed, “We have victims — nine
of them. But we also have victims
on the other side. There
are victims on this young man’s side of the family.” Really!?! The urge to let loose a string of profanity is taxing my
sense of restraint and propriety to its bloody limit. Gosnell went on to say, “Nobody would have ever thrown them
[presumably, Dylann’s parents and family] into the whirlwind of events that
they are being thrown into. We
must find it in our heart at some point in time not only to help those that are
victims but to also help his family as well.” NO! You are
flat-ass wrong. I would bet good
money the real culprits in this tragedy are in fact the parents. They created this boy, and if they did
not directly teach him the racial hatred that consumed him, they sure as hell
produced the environment in his head that made him so easily susceptible to
racial animosity in the community around him. If he had been taught from birth to respect all human
beings, regardless of their genetic skin pigmentation, he would not have become
who he is today. The parents
should be put on trial for crimes against society.
I
am angry, very angry, which makes my praise for the families and parishioners
of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South
Carolina, all the greater. They
are far better people than me. I
can only aspire to be a fraction of the goodness they have presented to all of
us. They have handled themselves well
and the often-oppressive insistence of the Press far beyond my threshold of
tolerance. To them I say, I mourn
with you in your hour of such horrific loss.
Lastly,
since I am already well into a rant, I emphatically and publicly condemn
Magistrate Gosnell for his idiocy and ignorance. Beyond the foolishness noted above, on 6.November.2003, in a
bond reduction hearing for a defendant with dark skin pigmentation, he said,
and I quote exactly, “There are four kinds of people in this world: black
people, white people, red necks, and niggers.” I wrote the word because he said it, and it deserves
impact. The Supreme Court of South
Carolina publicly reprimanded Gosnell [24.June.2005] for that ridiculous
statement in court. Gosnell is most likely a product of his
childhood teachings, as well. I
say to Gosnell, No, Judge, you are as wrong as wrong can be. There are only human beings. We learn and attach social factors that
govern or drive our associations and attitudes, but none of those social factors
– not a one – alter our status as human beings and the right to the dignity and
respect our common humanity deserves.
News from the economic front:
--The Federal Reserve indicated its benchmark interest rate
near zero “remains appropriate.”
The Fed also signaled it is likely to raise interest rates in the months
ahead now that signs of an economic slowdown earlier in the year are diminishing,
but the course of rate increases could be less steep than officials anticipated
before.
London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
Debacle [552]:
-- Well, well, well!
We see another benefit of public trial.
“Libor trial: Hayes handed over a UBS 'instruction manual' on
rigging, prosecution says – Serious Fraud Office received the bank's internal
guide on submitting Libor”
by Marion Dakers and agencies
The
Telegraph [of London]
Published: 4:32 PM BST 18 Jun 2015
The first trader to stand trial in the Libor-rigging scandal – Thomas ‘Tom’
Hayes, 35, a former trader for Swiss bank UBS – handed over the bank’s “Guide
to Publishing Libor Rates” to the Serious Fraud Office, which Hayes claims was “an
instruction manual on fixing Libor.”
If true and substantiated in court, the revelation may lead deeper into
the bank’s management hierarchy.
An interesting twist, if I may say so.
-- So we don’t lose focus . . . the infamous 16, involved,
international banks are:
- · Barclays [UK] – US$454M fine [550, 701]; Singapore sanctions [600]; three charged {Johnson, Mathew, Contogoulas} [636]
- · Bank of America [U.S.] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · BTMU [Japan] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Citigroup [U.S.] – Singapore sanctions [600] [701]
- · Credit Suisse [Switzerland] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Deutsche Bank [Germany] – US$654M LIBOR profit [578]; set aside €500M (US$641M) for LIBOR liability [589]; Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Lloyds TSB [UK] – fined US$370M [659]
- · HSBC [UK] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · HBOS [UK]
- · JPMorgan Chase [U.S.] – Singapore sanctions [600][701]
- · Norinchuckin [Japan]
- · Rabobank [Netherlands] – fined €774M (£663M, US$1.06B); CEO resigned; 30 others censured [620]; three charged {Robson, Thompson, Motomura} [631]
- · RBC [Canada]
- · RBS [UK] – £390M (US$612.6M) in fines, 21 employees involved [582, 701]; Singapore sanctions [600]
- · UBS [Switzerland] – US$1.5B fine, two charged {Hayes, Darin} [575, 701]; Singapore sanctions [600]
- · West LB [Germany]
Added to the list by the Monetary Authority of Singapore [600]:
- · ING [Netherlands] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · BNP Paribas [France] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Crédit Agricole [France] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · DBS [Singapore] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation [Singapore] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Standard Chartered [UK] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · United Overseas Bank [Singapore] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. [Australia] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Macquarie [Australia] – Singapore sanctions [600]
- · Commerzbank [Germany] – Singapore sanctions [600]
Others involved:
- · R.P. Martin Holdings Ltd. [UK] – two charged {Farr, Gilmour} [583]
- · ICAP [UK] – fined US$87M + three executives charged {Read, Wilkinson, Goodman} [615]
- I trust none of us will lose sight of what these banks have done. Lest we forget!
Continuation
from Update no.702:
“I believe much of what we see in our world with the main players
is 'resource wars' for all finite/precious resources with the focus most likely
on energy sources. Tapping
asteroids or the moon, now that will be interesting to apply for a fracking job
on another planet.
“Interesting views we have on standing up to Russia/PRC, or the
other angle that they are threatened by perceived USA/NATO expansion and
hegemony.”
My reply:
Re:
resource wars. Such motivation
will only get worse. To my knowledge, Russia has vast resources, many as yet
untapped. I do not think Russia
seeks resources in Ukraine.
USA/NATO
hegemony . . . really? Eastern
Europe seeks affiliation with NATO for freedom from the oppression of
Russia. I’m not aware of any
efforts to impose our values on Eastern Europe. The West is NOT a threat to Russia. The only question is, how long and much
we will tolerate Russia’s intimidation and imposition of her neighbors?
Comments and contributions from Update no.704:
Comment to the Blog:
“I tire of the discussion of what Muslims ‘should’ be and do based
entirely on interested parties' analysis of their professed religion. We do not
do that to Christians here in the U.S., nor do we assume that all of our
citizens are Christians. Also, I see no reason to believe that time brings
maturity to a religion. The strongest example of a religion acting in
international affairs is Israel. Their Judaism is the parent to both
Christianity and Islam, and they as a nation are insane. They fight all their
neighbors all the time and drain resources from the co-dependent United States
without remorse.
“The contents of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade bill at
the center of the current debate are a secret even from Congress, which is
nevertheless expected to vote on it. That creates a great deal of stress. The
TPP is being promoted by President Obama and by some of the Republicans. The
opposition comes from progressives and from Democrats and Republicans who want
to know what they are passing or blocking. Given that trade agreements are
already in place and working well with most of the nations concerned, few
believe that the TPP is a sincere effort to improve international trade.
“We shall disagree on the intentions of Greece. At this point, the
European Union has no future without a stronger effort at real unity by the
more prosperous nations. (Let us remember that the EU could control the bankers
if it would.) In its current state, the EU economic authority is merely another
way for the wealthy to exploit everyone else. That has become obvious, and a
rebellion has been brewing. I find it curious that you support big banks in
that case while seeing them very differently in such instances as LIBOR and the
2008 damage to the U.S. economy. In some cases, these are the same entities.
Why would they be doing honest business with Greece while crashing the U.S.
economy due to their greed and deception? My role model for dealing with bankers is Iceland, which
jailed some of them after the 2008 recession. Iceland’s economy is doing quite
well.
“A note on funding ‘terrorists’: one reason we may never know the
funding of organizations that we currently oppose is that some of them have
been supported in the past by the U.S. The Taliban and the Saddam Hussein
regime in Iraq stand out in my mind in this context, but I am sure there are
others. The manipulative and ever-shifting nature of current U.S. foreign
policy even makes us fight ourselves sometimes, as with al-Qaeda fighting on
our side in Syria even as we fight against them elsewhere.”
My response to the
Blog:
Re:
Muslims. I am certainly not trying
to impose anything on Muslims.
They are entitled to believe and live as they wish, if they only let me
believe and live as I wish (and every other human being). What they will NOT be allowed to do is
impose their values, their beliefs, their opinions on others, in the name of
political correctness, or any other rationale, including Sharia. If women in bikinis offend them, do not
go to the beach or visit any other Western country. Muslims do NOT have the right to demand women cover up in
this country or any Western country . . . there country yes, but not here.
Re:
Israel. I guess you are not a
fan. Israel is NOT a
theocracy. The government may be over-the-top
in advancing Judaism, but they are not killing non-believers.
Re:
Trade Act of 2015. Interesting
perspective. I cannot see the
secrecy you mention. What this
really appears to be is a labor fight, not significantly different from the
organizing fights of the early 20th Century. Given your opinion, what do you see as the motive to pass
H.R. 1314?
Re:
Greece. Wow! So, Greece borrowing more money for
social programs and corruption they could not pay for is some kind of banker
conspiracy to default Greece?
Really? Why do you think it
is the banker who must be “controlled” rather than the insane spending of
Greece? I understand Greeks want
to be as prosperous as Germans, but they do not have the industry to support
their artificial property. I do
not see the connection between the LIBOR criminal conduct and Greece’s
brinksmanship on their debt.
Perhaps you can enlighten me to the criminal conduct you see in the
Greece financial crisis? We have
discussed many times generalizations; the same points apply to bankers as any
other group; they are not all greedy, money-grubbing, bottom-dwellers. Greece has no right to expect the rest
of the world to pay for their socialism.
Re:
terrorist funding. Well, you
pegged that one. Yes, the U.S. did
fund & supply the Taliban when they fought Soviet hegemony in Afghanistan,
and yes, the U.S. funded & supplied Saddam Hussein’s Iraq when they fought
similar hegemony by the Islamic Republic of Iran. To my knowledge, we are not funding or supplying ISIL in
Syria. Yes, we are trying to
figure out how to support the anti-Assad forces without helping ISIL. I think the U.S. would support ISIL
against Assad, if they were not violently imposing their radical version of
Islam on everyone they can and exporting their violence to Europe, the U.S.,
and beyond.
. . . follow-up comment:
“I do not understand where you got a comment about imposing
anything on Muslims, and I have no clue where you got the notion that Muslims
would try to impose their customs on Western nations.
“Israel is not a theocracy? This is the nation founded for the
purpose of giving Jews a homeland, and it acts the part. The Israelis kill
non-believers, especially Palestinians, by means of their law enforcement, by
using their military at every chance, and they do many other things to cause
them harm. That is not limited to Palestinians, either. Just ask the Lebanese.
“If you cannot detect the secrecy around the Trans Pacific
Partnership, I refer you to any news network, with the possible exception of
Fox ‘News.’ Members of Congress are allowed to see the text of that agreement
only under restricted conditions and may not take notes by any means or discuss
what they have seen. We cannot know the motivation behind this thing or its
potential outcomes without knowing the contents.
“Your discussion of the Greek situation appears to be founded on
long-discredited trickle-down economics (what George H.W. Bush called ‘voodoo
economics’) and on the notion that bankers would not misuse others' trust in
their expertise to manipulate Greek officials in the same ways they manipulated
U.S. consumers. They had the same advantage; they could depend on government
officials to collect for them or to bail them out just as the U.S. government
did. I share neither that view of economics nor the willingness to believe in
innocent or well-meaning international bankers.
“My point in addressing the funding of terrorists was to point out
that U.S. manipulations in the Middle East and elsewhere have met with more
failure than success in the long term at least back to Vietnam. We need to find
some more effective way to reach our objectives or, better yet, use what is
left of our national wealth and our young people to rebuild our own nation.”
. . . my follow-up response:
Re:
“I
do not understand where you got a comment about imposing anything on Muslims.” Well, in your original contribution,
you said, “I tire of the discussion of what Muslims “should” be and do based
entirely on interested parties' analysis of their professed religion.” That sounds an awful lot like someone,
presumably Christians, are attempting to tell Muslims what they “should and
should not” do, i.e., imposition of beliefs. I was simply responding to my understanding of your words.
Re:
“Muslims
would try to impose their customs on Western nations.” I trust that was a sarcastic
statement. In case it was not, the
destruction of history and historic sites that are as much our heritage as it
is theirs is certainly a graphic example.
The beheading of non-believers is another. Those examples are about as extreme imposition as we have
seen in contemporary times.
Re:
“The
Israelis kill non-believers.” Whoa dawgy . . . way too far! The Israelis kill people who are trying to kill them. Is there collateral damage? Yes, absolutely, as there is in all
war. An enemy cannot attack and
then claim immunity by hiding among civilians. While I will agree, the Israelis can be a bit heavy-handed
at times, I absolutely cannot agree with your statement. Further, I have never agreed with the
Israeli West Bank settlement policy.
Re:
“TPP.” I do not know enough to go
farther.
Re:
Greece. The responsibility for due
diligence belongs squarely and totally with the Greek government; no body
forced them to sign the papers and take those loans. If any bankers gave the government fraudulent counsel,
prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. It is absolutely unreasonable for the Greeks to expect the
rest of the world to pay for their neglect, malfeasance, incompetence, or
whatnot. I would agree in general
that international bankers, or even local bankers, are not innocents in this
tragedy; after all, they are motivated by profit, not nation-state
welfare. I’ve seen no effort by
the Greek government to prosecute bankers who did not perform properly.
Re:
U.S. foreign policy failures. I
will agree. Public debate on the
use of available public funds – international vs. national – is certainly quite
appropriate. There is plenty of
room for that debate. I will not
defend the choices of the USG in all cases.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
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