Sunday Morning

War - Middle East

Whatever Pompeo Says, there is no Certainty Iran mined the Tankers - I have to agree with Juan Cole. There is no way to know for certain who did this and since the Trump clan is trying hard to push Iran into war, Pompeo's quick announcement makes the whole story seems just a little fishy.

We'll never know who really did this but of the major players who might have, US, Iran, the Saudis, Houthi Rebels, ISIS-Al Qaeda, and Israel,  Iran had the least to gain from the act. My money is on one of the other five.

Also...

The President who's lied to your face hundreds, if not thousands of times says this, (From Fox News the propaganda outfit that misinforms continually)

President Trump pointed the finger at Tehran Friday for this week's attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman, after the U.S. Navy released video purportedly showing an Iranian vessel removing an unexploded mine that had been attached to one of the tankers.

In an interview with "Fox & Friends" Friday, President Trump said of Iran's alleged involvement: "We don't take it lightly".

“Iran did do it and you know they did it because you saw the boat,” he said, before pointing to video that showed an Iranian vessel removing an unexploded mine attached to a Japanese-owned oil tanker, the Kokuka Courageous.

Trump said the limpet mine had “Iran written all over it.”

"They're a nation of terror and they've changed a lot since I've been president, I can tell you."

Believe him or Not?

StoneKettle Station - Remember The Maine



Politics

Unctuous Toadie Lindsey Graham trips over his own tongue - Graham is a hypocritical bastard.



Media - Stupid Questions

WHY WON’T THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES MOVE TO THE LEFT ON FOREIGN POLICY? -  The Benjamins man, The Benjamins.



Propaganda - Healthcare

Economic Bill of Rights: Bernie Wants Same Healthcare Promise as Venezuela - Complete bullshit from right-wing Mish.  Bernie wants us to have healthcare like Europe or Canada.



American Corruptialism

FT: Amy Chua and the big little lies of US meritocracy

This week Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Ms Chua’s daughter, was hired as a Supreme Court clerk by Brett Kavanaugh — the judge for whom her mother vouched during his stormy Senate hearings last autumn.

Ms Chua is a shrewd string-puller. A Supreme Court clerkship sets up a young lawyer for life. Whether she is enjoying the publicity is another matter. Overnight the Chuas have turned into emblems of what Americans distrust about their meritocracy.

The Market

Trump Might Really Be 'Crazy Like A Fox' On Trade-Fed-Market Nexus

You can read the piece for yourself, but the gist of it is that Zhao believes Donald Trump is gaming everybody, pushing the tariff envelope as far as he can in an effort to make the Fed so nervous about the prospect of a downturn in global growth that Jerome Powell has no choice but to cut rates. Zhao says there's a "high probability" that once the Fed eases, Trump will lower the tariffs and hope stocks soar on a combination of looser Fed policy and the end of the trade war.

I don't believe Trump is capable of this type of thought but the Rs in general play to win, fuck the rules so I could see this idea coming from the R marketing group as the 2020 strategy. 

The R's need a good economy to win in 2020. They can't just talk the Fed into lowering rates to fire up it up so they put pressure on it with tariffs to force the Feds hand. That I can believe and it is right up the R playbook.

Brazilian Corrupitalism

Gleen Greenwald on the corruption case in Brazil