Update no.700

Update from the Heartland

No.700

11.5.15 – 17.5.15

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

Aspen Shae, our oldest grandchild, graduated from high school on Sunday evening.  She will attend and play Fußball (soccer) for Butler Community College, El Dorado, Kansas.  Aspen still has regional and hopefully state championship matches to play before she is completely done.  We are so very proud of her accomplishments and eagerly look to the next stage of her life.  Aspen is the first of our grandchildren to leave the nest . . . so to speak.

The follow-up news items:

-- The House of Representatives passed the Senate’s version of H.R. 1191 [House: 400-25-0-7(3); Senate: 98-1-0-1(0)] [699], which is now titled: Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015.  The text is now available to the public.  The legislation inserts a new section into the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [PL 83-703; 68 Stat. 919; 30.8.1954] [509] – §135, Congressional Review and Oversight of Agreements with Iran.  The language is rather direct and innocuous, reflecting congressional apprehension with respect to compliance and enforcement.  The real question with this bill hangs upon interpretation by Congress and the Judiciary, which is impossible to predict.  At the end of the day, I still urge President Obama to veto this bill.

-- Surprise, surprise!  The Boston Marathon bombing trial jury deliberated just 14 hours before reaching its decision to sentence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev [592, 699] to death for his contribution to the brutal and deadly terrorist action.  I truly wish the death penalty would never be invoked, but alas, as long as there are evil men who carry out such horrific acts of violence, they deserve to be eradicated like the vermin they are.  Now, the appeals process begins.  It took six years to execute McViegh [302]; I expect a comparable review of Tsarnaev’s conviction and sentence.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R.2048 [House: 338-88-0-6(3)], provisionally titled: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015, or USA FREEDOM Act of 2015, and sent the bill to the Senate.  The legislation offers reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) [PL 95-511; 92 Stat. 1783; 25.10.1978], applying constraints while continuing to enable domestic electronic surveillance by the U.S. Government (USG).  As I read the text, the bill appears to be a reasonable attempt to find balance between protecting our fundamental right to privacy and the USG’s tools to wage war successfully in the War on Islamic Fascism.

News from the economic front:

-- The European Union's statistics agency EuroStat reported the combined GDP of the 19 Eurozone countries was 0.4% higher in 4Q2014, and grew 1.6% on an annualized basis. For the first time since the first half of 2010, all four of the eurozone's largest economies recorded growth.

London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) Debacle [552]:

-- The Justice Department announced it has voided its 2012 settlement with Swiss bank UBS AG, related to the LIBOR interest-rate rigging conspiracy – an unprecedented move with a major financial institution that indicates an increasingly aggressive negotiating posture in governmental action.  From a casual, public, observation perspective, UBS has been one of the most cooperative of the major banks, so this USG action peaks my curiosity as to what it means to the agreements with other banks and to those banks not yet concluded.  I would like to think we might see more criminal charges as part of any ‘deals’ to settle the banks’ misconduct in this affair.

Fm 552/575 -- 582:

[MAKE SURE TO COPY CHANGES FORWARD]

-- So we don’t lose focus . . . the infamous 16, involved, international banks are:

• ·      Barclays [UK] – US$454M fine [550]; 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]
• ·      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]
• ·      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]; Singapore sanctions [600]
• ·      UBS [Switzerland] – US$1.5B fine, two charged {Hayes, Darin} [575]; 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!

Comments and contributions from Update no.699:

Comment to the Blog:

“Cal Thomas continues struggling to hold back the tide. As a history buff, I find it annoying that Justice Kennedy and others would use ‘millennia,’ which exposes their ignorance of the history they cite. Millennia ago, marriage little resembled today's emotional and individual commitment. It was a joining of family business interests, not expected to be emotionally rewarding except by coincidence. Another change is that nowadays civil society may sanction marriages as well as religious organizations, and that changes the institution's place in the larger society. Worse yet, I suspect Justice Kennedy and Mr. Thomas are attempting an underhanded citing of the Bible. That document does not support monogamy. If we look to Abraham for our best example, the founder of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam was not monogamous sexually, and that is a key point in his story. Other examples of polygamy and/or open concubinage abound. More to the topic at hand, the Bible is subject to interpretation in its treatment of non-heterosexuals, and various quotes and analyses are in use to support differing views.

“I agree with you that the issue at hand exceeds even the important one of marriage. The underlying question is one of general equal treatment. Those ignorant people trying to use history as their tool ignore the fact that history concerns change, not stasis. I believe that change, over the very long term (millennia) tends to more equality among people and less personal and societal violence. However, I disagree with you on the opinion of the majority of the American people. At the time of the Stonewall action in the late 1960s, the great majority surely opposed equality for non-heterosexual people. Forty-some years down the line, the opposition is a vocal minority that is mostly seen by the rest of us as hateful.

“The Congress's latest odd resolution, the budget blueprint, continues a pattern that began the night election returns in 2008 showed that Obama had won. The good of the nation lost its priority with the Republican Party that night, replaced by hatred of President Obama that has not abated. The over-reaching by Congress is another part of the same aggression.

“The attack on the anti-Islamic art show in Garland, Texas, is the first one that follows a realistic pattern. I imagine that it was an authentic effort by ‘lone wolf’ extremists. Official America protects free speech whether or not it is offensive, and that is appropriate. The attackers met the fate one would expect if no outside factors influenced the event. I gather it's necessary to point out that the Catholic Church has not been presented as a threat to the United States by our government and its people have not been held in extra-legal prisons, bombed, profiled, or otherwise attacked. Claims that the U.S. only seeks to punish or prevent ‘extremist’ Islamic attackers ring hollow to those on the receiving end of the bombs and the rest of it.

“I noted with interest the discussion on writing in your comment section. I seem not to have that ‘passion’ around writing so many writers discuss. I experience writing as an easy flow of words and ideas, but not as something that gives me an identity or other great emotional rewards. Editing is a useful skill that I often enjoy for its ability to clarify and strengthen ideas. Others laud my writing in a variety of venues and situations. However, both the willingness and the ability to market and sell my writing are entirely absent in me. I have an odd learning disorder that may account for that, but whatever the cause my writing ability is not matched by a drive to reach an audience.”

My response:

            Re: Justice Kennedy.  Again, I suspect that his ‘millennia’ query was a baiting exercise to test the arguments of the petitioners, rather than an implicit personal comment regarding his attitude toward non-heterosexual marriage.  Nonetheless, we shall probably know his opinion in a couple of months.

            Re: marriage.  Good points all.  Plain and simple, women and children were traditionally considered property of the husband / father – the patriarch of the family.  Our society rejected the Doctrine of Coverture at least a quarter century ago and could be argued the rejection was nearly a century ago.  The traditional argument is flat bogus.

            Re: equality.  Glad we agree.  The marriages cases are about respect for every citizen and equality for all under the law.  Full stop!

            Re: budget.  Again, well said.  I will add the mindlessness of partisan, parochial, political attacks on President Obama were, in my humble opinion, the exact flip-side of the equally mindlessness attack on President Bush (43) during the prior administration.  I can only hope I live long enough to see respectful opposition return to government and politics.

            Re: jihadists.  I’m not quite sure what your point is on this one.  A little additional clarification might be useful.

            Re: religion.  I will note my previously espoused observation that Islam is about 600 years behind Christianity in terms of maturation.  Both religions have claimed there is only ONE true God – theirs.  For Christians, that exclusivity is represented by Jesus of Nazareth; for Muslims, exclusivity is represented by Abū al-Qāsim Muhammad ibn Abd Allāh ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hāshim.  Six hundred years ago, disparaging Jesus would have resulted in your violent death.  Christianity has matured since those days.  Islam will mature as well.  I will argue that tolerance of dissent is critical to testing our faith.  Muslims will eventually figure that out and will condemn the violent element among them.

            Re: writing.  It means something different to all of us.  Fortunately for us, you like to write and express your opinions and perspective.  Thank you very much.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“I'm not aware of any particular maturity among the Middle Eastern religions. So long as they continue to wage war in the name of peace, that is a specious concept.

“I did not use the term ‘jihadist.’ If you refer to the attack on the anti-Islamic art show, I see this as the first of the allegations of ‘terrorism’ by Islamic radicals on U.S. soil that actually follows a realistic pattern of criminal activity. The others, with the exception of 9-11, mostly come closer to the pattern established in the 1960s of infiltration of the peace movement by Federal officials who then fomented violent or illegal actions. Most of the prior ‘terrorist’ arrests follow that dubious model, except that they focus on individuals rather than organizations.”

  . . . my follow-up response:

            Re: maturity.  Well, I cannot quibble with your observation.  I can only note that history has shown the maturation of religious practices are measured in centuries, not decades or human life span.

            Re: jihadist.  Thank you for your explanation.  I will concede that some folks saw that “art show” as “anti-Islamic”; however, I do not.  Was it intended to confront demands for respect often espoused in contemporary intercourse . . . yes!  However, that does not make it “anti-Islamic.”  The difference I see between jihadist terrorism and common criminal conduct is the professed belief, connection, affiliation, et cetera.  In the Garland, Texas, event, they both proclaimed affiliation with ISIL, thus the jihadist label.  I surmise from your words that you may think those two shooters were set-up, framed, coaxed, or otherwise duped into their terrorist actions, and law enforcement efforts to infiltrate such groups is somehow wrong.  If so, we shall respectfully disagree.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)