JFK's Assassination: Who Was The Umbrella Man And Did He Help Kill Kennedy?
Friday, October 27, 2017
Freudian Slip?
Houston Texans Owner Apologizes For National Anthem Protest Comments
Texas Houston owners Bob McNair apologized Friday afternoon for comments he made during an owners meeting about national anthem protests.
McNair previously said about the national anthem protests, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.”
On This Day In 1659,
William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their religious beliefs. The two had violated a law passed by the Massachusetts General Court the year before, banning Quakers from the colony under penalty of death.
The Religious Society of Friends, whose members are commonly known as Quakers, was a Christian movement founded by George Fox in England during the early 1650s. Quakers opposed central church authority, preferring to seek spiritual insight and consensus through egalitarian Quaker meetings. They advocated sexual equality and became some of the most outspoken opponents of slavery in early America. Robinson and Stevenson, who were hanged from an elm tree on Boston Common in Boston, were the first Quakers to be executed in America. Quakers found solace in Rhode Island and other colonies, and Massachusetts’ anti-Quaker laws were later repealed.
In the mid 18th century, John Woolman, an abolitionist Quaker, traveled the American colonies, preaching and advancing the anti-slavery cause. He organized boycotts of products made by slave labor and was responsible for convincing many Quaker communities to publicly denounce slavery. Another of many important abolitionist Quakers was Lucretia Mott, who worked on the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, helping lead fugitive slaves to freedom in the Northern states and Canada. In later years, Mott was a leader in the movement for women’s rights.
Massachusetts Bay Colony Executes Two Quakers For Religious Beliefs
From This Day In History:William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their religious beliefs. The two had violated a law passed by the Massachusetts General Court the year before, banning Quakers from the colony under penalty of death.
The Religious Society of Friends, whose members are commonly known as Quakers, was a Christian movement founded by George Fox in England during the early 1650s. Quakers opposed central church authority, preferring to seek spiritual insight and consensus through egalitarian Quaker meetings. They advocated sexual equality and became some of the most outspoken opponents of slavery in early America. Robinson and Stevenson, who were hanged from an elm tree on Boston Common in Boston, were the first Quakers to be executed in America. Quakers found solace in Rhode Island and other colonies, and Massachusetts’ anti-Quaker laws were later repealed.
In the mid 18th century, John Woolman, an abolitionist Quaker, traveled the American colonies, preaching and advancing the anti-slavery cause. He organized boycotts of products made by slave labor and was responsible for convincing many Quaker communities to publicly denounce slavery. Another of many important abolitionist Quakers was Lucretia Mott, who worked on the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, helping lead fugitive slaves to freedom in the Northern states and Canada. In later years, Mott was a leader in the movement for women’s rights.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
WSJ to Special Prosecutor Mueller: Resign!
Mr. Mueller is a former FBI director, and for years he worked closely with Mr. Comey. It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran for a dozen years. He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Walter Williams: If the left can delegitimize the Founders, it furthers their agenda of delegitimizing the founding principles of our nation.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Thirty Year War Ends
Pope's Secular Power Broken
On this day in 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe.
The Thirty Years War, a series of wars fought by European nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of Bohemia (the future Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II) to impose Catholicism throughout his domains. Protestant nobles rebelled, and by the 1630s most of continental Europe was at war.
As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Netherlands gained independence from Spain, Sweden gained control of the Baltic and France was acknowledged as the preeminent Western power. The power of the Holy Roman Emperor was broken and the German states were again able to determine the religion of their lands.
The principle of state sovereignty emerged as a result of the Treaty of Westphalia and serves as the basis for the modern system of nation-states.
From This Day In History
The president’s fiercest critics still do not grasp that Trump is a symptom, not the cause of the GOP’s internal strife.
Again, Trump is a symptom of widespread disgust, not the head of a carefully crafted ideological movement with a checklist of issues. What created him was furor at a smug, entrenched Republican political establishment. In a bout of virtue-signaling, this cadre had deliberately conflated opposition to illegal immigration with supposedly racist resistance to legal immigration, while damning principled conservatives as “nativist” and “xenophobes” simply for wanting existing laws enforced. It had preached free-market economics without worry for the losers of globalization, while many of its megaphones cashed in on the government-corporate-media nexus. And its prior presidents and presidential candidates had been reduced to mushy punching bags, strangely bragging about their own virtue in not responding to invective while their own supporters and defenders were left to be smeared and defamed. Worse yet, they caricatured the base voters who used to defend them while they themselves went on to defend, even if indirectly, their erstwhile critics.
Pigs Fly. From Never Trumper Weekly Standard.
Donald Trump: King of Deregulation?
It’s a reminder that in this distraction-a-minute presidency, it can be useful to distinguish between the person of the president, who has no discernible ideology, and his presidency, which, so far, has been strikingly conservative. . .
Trump critics on the right may not be ready to declare Trump the avatar of modern conservatism, but, despite expectations and beneath the rhetorical dust storms he perpetuates, his actual governance has been strikingly conservative. It’s only been nine months, and Trump may never be able to distinguish the Sharon Statement from Sharon Osbourne. But if the trend continues, Trump will doubtless find occasion to declare himself more Reaganesque than the Gipper.
My 3rd fave economist,
There are two problems with that statement. First, she’s been saying this for some time, but those “special factors” -- items such as falling mobile-phone service costs, lower airfares, weak oil prices in 2014 through 2016, and declines in education and health care costs -- just keep coming. After a while, continual “special factors” become a deflationary trend, which is fundamentally the result of a world in which supplies of productive capacity and labor exceed demand in most areas.
Second, Yellen, like most forecasters, thinks conditions move to a nice, steady long-run equilibrium. In this case, the Fed sees that nirvana as 2 percent annual inflation, 1.8 percent real gross domestic product growth, a 4.6 percent unemployment rate and a 2.9 percent federal funds rate. But steady states don’t exist for long, and long-run equilibria are simply crossing points through which the economy and financial markets move on their way to high and low extremes. Forecasts of long-run steady states are no more than hyper-quantifications of ignorance.
Real GDP grew at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent from 1949 through 2007, and many look back longingly at those years as ones of consistent stable growth, punctuated by a few brief recessions. In reality, among the 237 four-quarter stretches during those years, only 12 had four consecutive quarters of growth in the 3.4 percent to 3.8 percent range. By that measure, stable growth existed only 5 percent of the time.
Despite all the turmoil of the Great Recession, after the business peak in the fourth quarter of 2007, and erratic economic developments since then, the slow real GDP growth from 2008 to the present has been just as stable. Two of the 38 four-quarter periods during those years had growth in the 1.2 percent to 1.6 percent range, again 0.2 percentage points on either side of the 1.4 percent average. This is also 5 percent of the time.
Yellen did, in her extraordinary speech, go to considerable lengths to admit the Fed’s forecasts have been wide of targets. “My colleagues and I may have misjudged the strength of the labor market, the degree to which longer-run inflation expectations are consistent with our inflation objectives, or even the fundamental forces during inflation.” Wow! She even admitted that “a persistent undershoot of our stated 2 percent goal [for inflation] could undermine [the FOMC's] credibility.”
I’ve said many times that the headline unemployment rate is a poor measure of labor market conditions and Yellen admitted as much when she said it is questionable “whether the unemployment rate alone is an adequate gauge of economic slack for the purpose of explaining inflation,” noting that the employed share of the “prime-age worker” population -- those 25 to 54 -- remains noticeably below the 2007 level.
Yellen also addressed globalization, and how “increased competition from the integration of China and other emerging-market countries into the world economy may have materially restrained price margins and labor compensation in the United States and other advanced countries.” She also gives a nod to the effect on inflation of “the growing importance of online shopping.”
Although she didn’t throw in the towel on the Fed’s chronic forecast that higher wages and faster inflation are just around the corner, Yellen did note that “FOMC participants -- like private forecasters -- have reduced their estimates of the sustainable unemployment rate, especially over the past few years.” She also said the neutral real interest rate -- that is, the inflation-adjusted level of the federal funds rate consistent with keeping the economy on an even keel -- has “declined considerably in recent years, and by some estimates” is “currently close to zero.” She added, “Its value at any point in time cannot be estimated or projected with much certainty.” Translation: The Fed is flying blind.
Yellen may well be paving the way for further delays in Fed tightening, which has been the case for years. So don’t count on another 25 basis-point rate hike in December and three more next year, as the Fed has forecast. And don’t assume big reductions in the central bank’s $4.5 trillion portfolio will occur soon.
Gary Shilling: Why there may not be many more Fed interest rate hikes
Despite the large and growing deflationary pressures, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stuck to the central bank’s party line in her speech to the National Association for Business Economists in Cleveland on Sept. 26. She argued that the weaker inflation is transitory. Yes, she admitted, the Fed’s 2 percent target for personal consumption expenditures inflation, the central bank’s favorite measure, has been continually undershot, but “the restraint imposed in recent years by a variety of special factors, including movements in the relative prices of food, energy and imports, will wane in coming quarters.”There are two problems with that statement. First, she’s been saying this for some time, but those “special factors” -- items such as falling mobile-phone service costs, lower airfares, weak oil prices in 2014 through 2016, and declines in education and health care costs -- just keep coming. After a while, continual “special factors” become a deflationary trend, which is fundamentally the result of a world in which supplies of productive capacity and labor exceed demand in most areas.
Second, Yellen, like most forecasters, thinks conditions move to a nice, steady long-run equilibrium. In this case, the Fed sees that nirvana as 2 percent annual inflation, 1.8 percent real gross domestic product growth, a 4.6 percent unemployment rate and a 2.9 percent federal funds rate. But steady states don’t exist for long, and long-run equilibria are simply crossing points through which the economy and financial markets move on their way to high and low extremes. Forecasts of long-run steady states are no more than hyper-quantifications of ignorance.
Real GDP grew at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent from 1949 through 2007, and many look back longingly at those years as ones of consistent stable growth, punctuated by a few brief recessions. In reality, among the 237 four-quarter stretches during those years, only 12 had four consecutive quarters of growth in the 3.4 percent to 3.8 percent range. By that measure, stable growth existed only 5 percent of the time.
Despite all the turmoil of the Great Recession, after the business peak in the fourth quarter of 2007, and erratic economic developments since then, the slow real GDP growth from 2008 to the present has been just as stable. Two of the 38 four-quarter periods during those years had growth in the 1.2 percent to 1.6 percent range, again 0.2 percentage points on either side of the 1.4 percent average. This is also 5 percent of the time.
Yellen did, in her extraordinary speech, go to considerable lengths to admit the Fed’s forecasts have been wide of targets. “My colleagues and I may have misjudged the strength of the labor market, the degree to which longer-run inflation expectations are consistent with our inflation objectives, or even the fundamental forces during inflation.” Wow! She even admitted that “a persistent undershoot of our stated 2 percent goal [for inflation] could undermine [the FOMC's] credibility.”
I’ve said many times that the headline unemployment rate is a poor measure of labor market conditions and Yellen admitted as much when she said it is questionable “whether the unemployment rate alone is an adequate gauge of economic slack for the purpose of explaining inflation,” noting that the employed share of the “prime-age worker” population -- those 25 to 54 -- remains noticeably below the 2007 level.
Yellen also addressed globalization, and how “increased competition from the integration of China and other emerging-market countries into the world economy may have materially restrained price margins and labor compensation in the United States and other advanced countries.” She also gives a nod to the effect on inflation of “the growing importance of online shopping.”
Although she didn’t throw in the towel on the Fed’s chronic forecast that higher wages and faster inflation are just around the corner, Yellen did note that “FOMC participants -- like private forecasters -- have reduced their estimates of the sustainable unemployment rate, especially over the past few years.” She also said the neutral real interest rate -- that is, the inflation-adjusted level of the federal funds rate consistent with keeping the economy on an even keel -- has “declined considerably in recent years, and by some estimates” is “currently close to zero.” She added, “Its value at any point in time cannot be estimated or projected with much certainty.” Translation: The Fed is flying blind.
Yellen may well be paving the way for further delays in Fed tightening, which has been the case for years. So don’t count on another 25 basis-point rate hike in December and three more next year, as the Fed has forecast. And don’t assume big reductions in the central bank’s $4.5 trillion portfolio will occur soon.
Monday, October 23, 2017
Sunday, October 22, 2017
President Kennedy Goes On National TV And Announces Russian Missiles In Cuba
From This Day In History:
In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C. Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.”
What is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on October 15, 1962—the day that U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day, President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval quarantine and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis escalated to a breaking point as the world tottered on the brink of nuclear war between the two superpowers.
On October 23, the quarantine of Cuba began, but Kennedy decided to give Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev more time to consider the U.S. action by pulling the quarantine line back 500 miles. By October 24, Soviet ships en route to Cuba capable of carrying military cargoes appeared to have slowed down, altered, or reversed their course as they approached the quarantine, with the exception of one ship—the tanker Bucharest. At the request of more than 40 nonaligned nations, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant sent private appeals to Kennedy and Khrushchev, urging that their governments “refrain from any action that may aggravate the situation and bring with it the risk of war.” At the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. military forces went to DEFCON 2, the highest military alert ever reached in the postwar era, as military commanders prepared for full-scale war with the Soviet Union.
On October 25, the aircraft carrier USS Essex and the destroyer USS Gearing attempted to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as it crossed over the U.S. quarantine of Cuba. The Soviet ship failed to cooperate, but the U.S. Navy restrained itself from forcibly seizing the ship, deeming it unlikely that the tanker was carrying offensive weapons. On October 26, Kennedy learned that work on the missile bases was proceeding without interruption, and ExCom considered authorizing a U.S. invasion of Cuba. The same day, the Soviets transmitted a proposal for ending the crisis: The missile bases would be removed in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba.
The next day, however, Khrushchev upped the ante by publicly calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey under pressure from Soviet military commanders. While Kennedy and his crisis advisers debated this dangerous turn in negotiations, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, was killed. To the dismay of the Pentagon, Kennedy forbid a military retaliation unless any more surveillance planes were fired upon over Cuba. To defuse the worsening crisis, Kennedy and his advisers agreed to dismantle the U.S. missile sites in Turkey but at a later date, in order to prevent the protest of Turkey, a key NATO member.
On October 28, Khrushchev announced his government’s intent to dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba. With the airing of the public message on Radio Moscow, the USSR confirmed its willingness to proceed with the solution secretly proposed by the Americans the day before. In the afternoon, Soviet technicians began dismantling the missile sites, and the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was effectively over. In November, Kennedy called off the blockade, and by the end of the year all the offensive missiles had left Cuba. Soon after, the United States quietly removed its missiles from Turkey.
The Cuban Missile Crisis seemed at the time a clear victory for the United States, but Cuba emerged from the episode with a much greater sense of security.The removal of antiquated Jupiter missiles from Turkey had no detrimental effect on U.S. nuclear strategy, but the Cuban Missile Crisis convinced a humiliated USSR to commence a massive nuclear buildup. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union reached nuclear parity with the United States and built intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking any city in the United States.
A succession of U.S. administrations honored Kennedy’s pledge not to invade Cuba, and relations with the communist island nation situated just 80 miles from Florida remained a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy for more than 50 years. In 2015, officials from both nations announced the formal normalization of relations between the U.S and Cuba, which included the easing of travel restrictions and the opening of embassies and diplomatic missions in both countries.
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