Posted on Leave a comment

Trump’s pick for Education secretary has a lot of work ahead

Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education is Linda McMahon.  It is reported that she is worth $3.2 billion.

The Department of the Education has around 4,400 employees and a budget of $238 billion.  In 2022 the budget was $637.7 billion.

The Department of Education began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services by the Department of Education Organization Act, which President Jimmy Carter signed into law on October 17, 1979. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

While Trump plans to eliminate the Department of Education and promotes the idea of moving more of its services back to the state and local governments the odds are at least part of what the DOE does will be rolled back into the Department of Health and Human Services. So it might be expected that Linda McMahon will work with RFK Jr. to prove to Congress the change is feasible.

Some media who remain at war with Trump have attacked Linda McMahon’s nomination as they have attacked most of his nominations, but she is smart, scrappy, and is probably more qualified for the position than Biden’s pick, Miguel Angel Cardona. Though on paper he does look like he would be suited with the skills so as to be more than just a diversity hire, he has not proven to be a very effective leader. Besides his failings being revealed by backlogs in applications and paperwork there have been student performance declines in basic mathematics and reading skills. Though many blame covid school closures or moving from in person learning to online learning, online learning should not have caused such a decline in reading and math test scores; perhaps if handled better. During the Biden/Cardona years, a severe teacher shortage has worsened, which may also have contributed to the decline in scores.  And as one person I talked to added, although parents can’t be fixed, they need to be brought better into the education system and especially when the system has to utilize online / home learning. Students and their parents should not be strangers to the administrators of a school or the teachers regardless of whether the students are being taught in a school or at home. While some parents and their children may be well known in the system, other parents and their children may mostly remain in the shadows. This is not good for learning, the child’s welfare, or  for school security. A school should be a local community project compared to a local village or town and not to a a high security prison run by the Federal Government. For learning and security a school should be a fun and friendly place and not a place under siege that both students and teachers are afraid to attend or in some worse case scenarios contribute to a person’s nervous breakdown.

While Trump wants to shut down the Department of Education there are problems in education that must be solved and which the Department of Education has not solved and may even have made worse. People become teachers to teach and not to have deal with the politics of bureaucracy and paperwork of the system.  Many who enter the teaching profession with a calling and joy very quickly find themselves in a nightmare they quickly want to leave and that is a problem.

As another person I spoke with said, that while it may be difficult to improve a parents involvement in their child’s education, the problem of the teacher shortage can be fixed and in truth it is one of the problems that must be fixed. The reasons a person might not choose teaching as a profession or they choose to leave the profession must be individually and aggressively handled.  The number of people in the profession must be increased.

As a teacher who goes into different schools, who I have spoken with in the past has told me, some of the schools are overwhelmed with the immigrant population. Where in the past the immigrant children have tended to be polite and wonderful, today, many of those students are militant, abusive, and a nightmare for the teachers to have to handle. In the past the immigrant students, who were limited in numbers, integrated into the system very well. That is currently not true and it is a problem that is not being dealt with.

Linda McMahon is a going to have a major job to deal with in running the Department of Education. Some of her decisions which are going to be necessary and can not be avoid forever are going to be controversial.   Hopefully she and Trump are fully aware of what they are walking into. Many might think that running the Department of Education will be like a stroll in the park but the job is going to be difficult.

I feel confident that Linda McMahon is up to the task of what is going to be a high pressure job as well as a very important job.

Linda McMahon is the co-founder of the WWE though currently she only owns a minority share in the company.

McMahon, along with her husband, Vince McMahon, founded the sports entertainment company Titan Sports, Inc. (later World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.) where she worked as the president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009. During this time, the company grew from a regional business in the northeast to a large multinational corporation. Yes. She has wrestled in ring as well as the world of business.  Is she up to wrestling in the world of education?

McMahon was born Linda Marie Edwards in New Bern, North Carolina, to a Welsh-American family, the daughter of Evelyn and Henry Edwards. She was an only child and grew up as a “tomboy” playing basketball and baseball. Her parents were both employees at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, a military base. She grew up in a conservative Baptist family, but converted to Roman Catholicism in her later years.

Shortly after her high school graduation, Vince asked her to marry him. They had pretty much grown up together where Vince came from a somewhat dysfunctional home and she came from a more stable home. They married on August 26, 1966, when she was 17, and he was 21. She enrolled at East Carolina University in 1966, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in French, and a certification to teach. From 1968 to 1971, Vince worked as a traveling cup salesman before joining his father’s company, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). Linda finished college in three years so she could graduate with Vince. Their son Shane was born in 1970, followed by their daughter Stephanie in 1976.

Linda McMahon has dabbled in politics but lost both of her Senate races. At a more local level she has sat on a board of education.  Trump appointed her to run the Small Business Administration when he became President in 2016. This time, after his election in 2024, he has nominated her to be his/our Secretary of Education, a department he hopes to close down with its functions taken over by the states and local school districts and also most likely by the Health and Human Services Department.

So while Trump wants to shut down the department of the education and move its functions back to the local level, there are problems in education that must be solved.  Hopefully, Linda McMahon will work hard to help the states and the local school boards to solve the problems even as she might help work to integrate the Department of Education back into Health and Human Services.

——————————-

The best way to support me is to buy one of my eBooks which are fictional. Some contain erotica but not all.

My author page:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Charles-Peters/author/B00E62DK4Q

Best eBook to support me as it cost $8.99

The Suspense Account & Flame By The Sea

US
UK
DEFRESIT
NLJPBRCAMXAUIN

Excerpts:

Posted on Leave a comment
jd

Tenet Media

Grand Jury Unsealed Indictment

KOSTIANTYN KALASHNIKOV, a/k/a “Kostya,” and ELENA AF ANASYEV A, a/k/a “Lena,” Defendants

justice.gov/opa/media/1366

CBS Article

U.S. says Russia funded media company that paid right-wing influencers millions for videos

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-tenet-media-right-wing-influencers-justice-department/

Tayler Hansen Banned from YouTube Days After He Is Mentioned in a DOJ Indictment as the Victim of an Alleged Crime

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/tayler-hansen-banned-youtube-days-after-he-is/


support sayata.net / my other websites / my kick / mmchuck stream by buying one of my eBooks

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Charles-Peters/author/B00E62DK4Q

Posted on Leave a comment

Copyright board delivers blow to AI Generated Content over photo protections

Courts and the copyright board had already ruled that you can not copyright art, photos, and books created with AI.  You can only copyright the parts of a work that were created by you, the human so the ruling was not shocking.  The U.S. Copyright Office Review Board rejected a request by artist Jason M. Allen for copyright protection for his image “Theatre D’opera Spatial,” which was generated the AI system Midjourney, in a ruling issued earlier this month.

Allen told Reuters earlier this month that the review board’s latest decision was expected, but also expressed confidence that he “will win in the end.”

“If this stands, it is going to create more problems than it solves,” Allen said. “This is going to create new and creative problems for the copyright office in ways we can’t even speculate yet.”

When you publish a book Amazon using KDP, you now have to tell if AI was used to generate graphics and text and how much of it was generated using AI.  People have wondered about these questions added.  They have speculated on why Amazon is doing this.  They have suggested it is because of the Karens out there complaining about AI.  But it probably has to do with the fact you can’t copyright AI work.

Now while you can not copyright an AI work, the copyright office has made clear you can copyright the part that you, a human, created.  Still, people have to wonder the degree that if they use AI, and have to admit to it, to what degree it will bring their copyright into question.

Now all of this has to do with the copyright office.  And reminder: You have never been able to copyright an idea or a trope.  You can only copyright the presentation of that idea and that presentation has to be original enough to be copyrighted.  Also, simply registering a copyright, while evidence in court, does not prevent copyright disputes that ultimately may have to be settled in court, and not by some internet company attempting to play judge and jury.

On the issue of patents:

The USPTO and Federal Circuit’s opinions imply that inventions made by human beings with the assistance of AI are eligible for patent protection. However, there is uncertainty and much debate as to how much AI assistance is too much for patentability.  So the patent office is taking a little bit different stand than the copyright office.

Hearing Wrap Up: Federal Government Use of Artificial Intelligence Poses Promise, Peril

You might notice that this so called hearing has mostly been a whitewash to give big tech and the government cover.  And the regular media is fully participating in that whitewash.  AI is being used in the operation of drones and other weapons.  It is already being used to kill people around the world.  When Elon Musk warns, though he is also whitewashing the issue, that AI could destroy humanity he is just chasing a squirrel up a tree.  AI has already been used by governments to murder people and and it not just some theory that AI is threat to humanity, it is a threat.

AI has already been used by the US with the help of drones to murder 12,000 people, including 400 children.  China has been busy as beavers using AI to terrorize its own citizens.  And the Biden administration with his fake liberal cabinet is now in race with China to do the same here in the US.  Do you seriously think the monster, the threat to humanity that is AI, was not used in destroying the lives of the January 6’rs.

Now all that said, I love using AI to generate graphics, but to pretend that AI in specific, and computer technology in general is not a threat to humanity is retarded.  If our US Congress continues to whitewash this issue or care more about deep fake videos than little children being murdered, they are also a God Damn Threat to humanity.  Hell, Congress may now all be a bunch of AI generated robots.  We wouldn’t know the difference and the fucked up pieces of shit who run the media would not tell us.

 

Support sayata.net by buying one of my eBooks. New eBooks for a better selection are coming soon.

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Amazon will invest up to $4 billion into OpenAI rival Anthropic

Amazon announced that it will invest up to $4 billion into Anthropic — the AI startup best known for its Claude chatbot and founded by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei who used to work for OpenAI.

This deal is on the cheap in comparison to the reported $13 billion that Microsoft has so far invested into OpenAI, the biggest name in generative AI technology right now, but that partnership has been going strong since since 2019. Regardless, the deal shows that Amazon is trying to participate in the AI games.  When publishing an eBook in KDP you now have to tell Amazon if you used AI to generate graphics or text and you have to tell them what AI tools that you used.

Advertisement: Support sayata.net by buying one of my eBooks

One definition of AI is:
The ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment. I would sort of add that it is basically a bot program with the ability to program itself or learn.

What is human intelligence? Mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment.

To what degree can a computer program mimic human intelligence? That is an open question.

But back to the news item…

Anthropic’s Claude and Claude 2 large language model–based chatbots are similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard in that they can translate text, write code, and answer various questions, but Anthropic says its model is safer and more reliable because it’s guided by a set of principles.  Well, you know, reading that pisses me off.  I was doing images on Bing’s chatbot/AI and for some reason it threatened to ban me.  When I want to do sexy pictures I go to an AI that allows that.  I don’t do that on Bing and I was not breaking any rules.  But hell, I think if the AI had been on a helicopter with me, and I had farted, it would have thrown me out of the helicopter.  Asshole.

“Set of principles.”  What does that mean? Censorship? Turning logic upside down like Social Media has been doing by calling hate love, and calling debate hate.  Hate is not calling someone a poopyhead when they are pissing you off.  Hate is  that someone throwing you out of a helicopter when you are pissing them off.  Hate is actually hurting someone by doing harm to them such as kicking them off of social media, giving them a low social credit score, telling them they can no longer make money on youtube, getting them fired from their job and doing actual harm to someone.  Make no mistake, the haters are not the people who use the n word.  The haters are the people who want to kill you and your family because you use the n word.  Now understand, these upside down crazy people who don’t even understand the concept of true hate are the ones programming AI.   Hate is Burger King trying to force a dick in your mouth, to muzzle you, because it took some woman ten years to wipe the smile off her face to accuse you of some drunken sex shit that neither of you probably even remember clearly–except the smile of course.

There is a reason that Harlan Ellison, James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, or whoever you want to give most of the credit for the Terminator Movie with, came up with the idea of Skynet. A lot of times when you are writing,, you go into what I call a channeling state where you start picking up on ideas from the metaphysical world whether it is from an angel, a demon, a ghost, or maybe just the computer program that our souls are trapped in. Regardless, the words you are writing have a great deal more meaning than the words that might come out of your conscious brain. And the idea that AI might be dangerous predates when people could so clearly see how insane the people running parts of the computer industry, the social media and not so social media, are.

In the movie, what was Skynet? Skynet was a fictional artificial neural network-based conscious group mind and artificial general superintelligence system that served as the antagonistic force of the Terminator franchise.

In the real world what is skynet? SKYNET is a program by the U.S. National Security Agency that performs machine learning analysis on communications data to extract information about possible terror suspects.  Skynet has murdered (in more loosely defined terms) using operated drones in violation of the space treaty, 12,000 people (including 400 children) that we know about it.  There is no estimate to the amount of economic damage it has done to people who have used the N word or broken some other unsocial social media rule.  We know that some people, who have been banned from making money online or otherwise have been given a gun to put in their mouth,  is because of SKYNET directly or indirectly coaxing UnSocial Social Media to do its evil.

To what degree is Microsoft, Google, and now Amazon helping the government with its SKYNET operations to destroy lives and perhaps even murder people?

  Was the movie Terminator, just a movie?

Posted on Leave a comment

Are Electric Cars the old USSR Two Left Shoe Communist Problem Now Hitting USEU, the new USSR

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ adoption of electric vehicles is proving to be slow, as relatively few currently own one (4%) or are seriously considering purchasing one (12%). Another 43% of U.S. adults say they might consider buying an electric vehicle in the future, while 41% unequivocally say they would not.

General Motors, actually Obama Motors since the 2008 crash, pretty much a bitch for the government, produced 76,000 EVs in 2023.  Even though there is no consumer market for EVs, they plan to produce 328,000 in 2024.  Whether the consumer wants to buy 2 left shoes or not, they think they can force the consumer to buy their shitty fire hazards. #opinion (and subject to dispute)

They plan to do this even though they can not actually procure the parts for that level of production.  Communist Central Planning at its worst or best depending on how you look at it.  And to support this imaginary production being forced on Bitch Motors (since manufactured 2008 economic crash) they have pushed the  price of their gas and diesel vehicles to an unsupported level so as to support their fantasy.

The new Stalin, Obama, pretty much knew there would be no market for a change over to electric cars since the consumers rejected them in 1935, and as part of his communist economic take over of the American economy, he with economic circumstance had the car industry to close down over 800 car dealership as he goose stepped to power.  His real plan was always to force Americans back into public transportation and to destroy what was not just a small part of the American dream to be middle class, the America automobile.

The plan was always to destroy the American Automobile Industry and not to save it.  But he had to be secret and conniving and the process had to be slow.  The communist have to inch their way to power so their victims do not fully realize what is happening until it is too late.

Although you will read different timelines since revolutions often begin way before history books even footnote their beginnings, the Russian Revolution and the communist take over of Russia began roughly in 1905 and lasted until 1924 when power was more firmly held.  And even then the communist did not hold power as firmly as they pretended.

Again Revolutions are often NOT clean and clearly defined and it is hard to know which forces are doing what.  Still it might be said that it took the Communist from 1911 to 1949 to fully take control of China.

So the point is that the communist are attempting to be much more methodical in the US and EU and are trying to avoid counter revolts that might set them back years.  But the larger point is that communism does not work.  And the people pushing communism must destroy the economy so that they can pretend they have the solution, when they don’t.

But back to the point of this article.  Electric Cars are not really being taken seriously by those promoting them.  They know they are not feasible.   It is about destroying the middle class automobile industry as part of the middle class dream.  Communist can not take over a country unless they first destroy the middle class.   And that was always the agenda of Obama and those who crashed the American economy in 2008.

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Twitter Tweets With 0 Impressions

These tweets are being suppressed and I was actually defending Elon Musk.  Twitter Democrats were attacking him for not allowing starlink to be used to operate a mass drone attack against Russian forces in the Ukraine.  My contention is that if he had he would have been helping the Biden Administration to violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.  But where things got really weird is when I posted the conspiracy theory about a supposed Hillary message and at that point my computer went black and I had to kill my internet connection.

Satellites should not be used to orchestrate drone attacks.  We might not can force nations to again fight their wars with swords, but if we keep on allowing war to become more tech and deadly, it is not just nuclear bombs than can destroy civilization.  In fact, that suggestion was always an overstatement but satellites becoming space weapons could destroy civilization.

Of course the other side of the argument is that China does not recognize the space treaty and is violating its intent with abandon and the US may have no choice but to up the satellite game or face a reckoning with China.  Then again, if there are space aliens who will not allow space to be weaponized, China may already be on its way to destruction and doom and all nations who follow their path may go the same way.

Advertisement:

Erotic Domination of Planet Earth

Erotica, Strong Sexual Content

Story: The Man In Painting

 

Posted on Leave a comment

AI Question: Is there any study that actually proves flu vaccines that don’t prevent flu make the flu less severe

Total BS Propaganda, Big Pharma Answer Follows:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to those used to make flu vaccines. While vaccine effectiveness (VE) can vary, recent studies show that flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to those used to make flu vaccines. In general, current flu vaccines tend to work better against influenza B and influenza A (H1N1) viruses and offer less protection against influenza A (H3N2) viruses1.

Even when the vaccine doesn’t completely prevent the flu, it may lessen the severity of your illness. It also may lower the risk of serious complications and serious illness needing hospital stays2.

No actual study is cited.

Then on google they stick to the propaganda.

From one article:

Since the flu vaccine’s first civilian use in 1945, flu vaccines have consisted of dead (or inactive) strains of influenza A and influenza B viruses. Because these flu strains are dead, it’s impossible for the shot to give you the flu. The nasal spray flu vaccine (like FluMist) is made with the weakened virus, but it also cannot give you the flu.

1. No virus is alive.  So suggesting that vaccines consist of dead or inactive strains is retarded.

2. Definition of a virus: a small piece of genetic information (DNA or RNA) inside of a protective shell (capsid). Some viruses also have an envelope. Viruses can’t reproduce without a host.

3. Virus composition is about 64% protein, 21–25% dsDNA and 5–10% lipid. The virus contains at least 50 structural proteins, ranging in size from 10–200 kDa. Four proteins, including the major capsid protein (Vp54), are located on the virion surface.

4. When making a vaccine how are viruses made “inactive?”

Inactivation of the virus is done with heat. Occasionally, inactivation is done with chemicals such as formalin. When the vaccine under production is fractional, meaning it is protein or polysaccharide-based, the vaccine undergoes further purification so that only the subunits of interest remain.

Note: The capsid surrounds the virus and is composed of a finite number of protein subunits known as capsomeres, which usually associate with, or are found close to, the virion nucleic acid.

5. All viruses depend on cells for reproduction and metabolic processes. By themselves, viruses do not encode for all of the enzymes necessary for viral replication. But within a host cell, a virus can commandeer cellular machinery to produce more viral particles. Bacteriophages replicate only in the cytoplasm, since prokaryotic cells do not have a nucleus or organelles. In eukaryotic cells, most DNA viruses can replicate inside the nucleus, with an exception observed in the large DNA viruses, such as the poxviruses, that can replicate in the cytoplasm. RNA viruses that infect animal cells often replicate in the cytoplasm.

6. A relatively small dose of administered virus or bacteria replicates in the body and creates enough of the organism to stimulate an immune response. To be clear, most vaccines replicate the same as a virus, through the host.  It is a combination of the small dose and the altering of the virus with heat or a chemical that may prevent the virus from making a person as sick as getting the virus in the wild, but in fact the vaccine can create a “sick” response whether it is a huge bump at the spot of injection to a fever with the body itself trying to fight off the infection to a full blown infection as the replication continues more than expected.

To whether a vaccine can lessen the severity of a case of the flu, you have go back to the fact that most people only get mild cases of the flu regardless of a vaccine or not so any study that suggest that a vaccine has anything to do with a case of the flu being mild is in itself highly suspect.  There is no way to establish a proper control group to prove point.  Most cases of the flu last only a few days to maybe two weeks in a worse case scenario.  Of course not all so called flu’s (flu strains) are the same where some are more severe than others.  And the reason the flu vaccine is less than 40% effective in some years is because often the flu shot is not developed with the correct strain since no one knows for sure what strain is going to be spreading.  If the shot is based on the wrong strain, it is NOT going to reduce your symptoms.

And remember most doctors do NOT test for the flu but rather diagnose based on symptoms and maybe in some cases ruling other things out.

Should you get the flu shot?  That is entirely up to you.

Posted on Leave a comment

AI Answer to Question: How many political prisoners has the United States Imprisoned From January 6, 2021

whiskey rebellion

Answer:

According to Time magazine, more than 1,033 people have been arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 277 defendants were sentenced to periods of incarceration. So far, the median prison sentence for the Jan. 6 rioters is 60 days.

I will add:
Big tech oligarchs are still following Democrat Party Line of calling a protest an insurrection even though no politician was killed or left hanging under a bridge. If you call that an insurrection then you must call pissing into a toilet a flood. Some pull back from wrongly using the word insurrection and simply say an attack on the capitol. In truth January 6th would better be described as a protest that got out of hand similar to a party that might get out of hand.

The top search results hide the number of people who received prison sentences much greater than 60 days.

When you see how the Democrat Party and their accomplices in the Republican Party and the mass media have exaggerated or just plain out been lying about what happened on January 6th you have to wonder how much of American history are lies and propaganda.

Note: The 17-year prison term for political prisoners Joseph Biggs and 15-year sentence for leader Zachary Rehl were the second and third longest sentences handed down yet in the Jan. 6, 2021, protest against a highly questionable election that in itself may have constituted a real insurrection against our Republic and which was followed with the very real taking of political prisoners which very often happens after a despotic take over of a government and media.

 

…..
I asked the Bing AI for a picture of the hangings after the whiskey rebellion. Its response:

I’m sorry but I couldn’t find any pictures of the hangings after the Whiskey Rebellion in 1774. However, I can tell you that the Whiskey Rebellion was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called “whiskey tax” was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government1. Farmers of the western frontier were accustomed to distilling their surplus rye, barley, wheat, corn, or fermented grain mixtures to make whiskey. These farmers resisted the tax. In these regions, whiskey often served as a medium of exchange1. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation1. Throughout Western Pennsylvania counties, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax1. Resistance came to a climax in July 1794 when a US marshal arrived in western Pennsylvania to serve writs to distillers who had not paid the excise. The alarm was raised, and more than 500 armed men attacked the fortified home of tax inspector John Neville.

Note that I put the date in wrong.

When I asked for picture of Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 these are the pictures it generated:

whiskey rebellion

Posted on

First Time in a Decade the Fed Has to Inject Cash to keep interest rates at target

The Federal Reserve took action in financial markets for a second day on 9/18/2019 in another attempt to keep interest rates from moving higher. It marked the first time the central bank has taken such steps since the global financial crisis 10 years ago.  And if you are trying to figure out what was going on when that happened.  Think back to 2007 and 2008. Yeah.

This from 2007:

The US Federal Reserve injected $38 billion dollars into the economy via temporary open market operations this Friday. This is the largest number of temporary repurchase agreements (specifically, one business day repos) entered into by the Fed since September 11, 2001. Back in 2001, Fed purchases of treasuries exceeded $30 billion for the four consecutive days after the collapse of the World Trade Towers, total temporary injections into the banking system amounting to a whopping $295 billion.

Back to 9/18/2019

The New York Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would inject $75 billion into the market through another overnight repurchase agreement, or repo, aimed at keeping the federal funds rate within its target range of 2% to 2.25%.

Cash available to banks for their short-term funding needs all but dried up on Monday and Tuesday, and interest rates in U.S. money markets shot up to as high as 10% for some overnight loans, more than four times the Fed’s rate.

The exact cause of the turmoil is unclear, but market participants believe a confluence of events conspired to cause the crunch. One, corporations withdrew funds from money market accounts to cover quarterly tax bills, and on the same day banks and investors who had purchased $78 billion in weekly U.S. Treasury notes had to settle those trades.

Another contributing factor is that the Fed’s efforts to shrink its portfolio means bank reserves parked at the central bank overnight, which can be made available to other banks if needed, are at their lowest level since 2011.  This factor in causing the liquidity crisis is probably the most troubling in that it goes to the heart of the idea that the Federal Reserve may not know what the hell it is doing.  Or worse, they may know exactly what they are doing, and they are experimenting on how they can temporarily tank the economy at election time to help get a Totalitarian (anti-constitutional) Democrat elected to office to the benefit of Red China and the certain US Oligarchs who owe a large part of their fortunes to business deals with Red China.

 

Even as the FED had to deal with a liquidity crisis, which may or may not portend something greater happening in the economy, the FED announced that it is cutting interest rates by another quarter point.  The action was approved on a 7-3 vote, with two officials wanting to keep rates unchanged and one arguing for a bigger half-point cut. It was the largest number of Fed dissents in three years.

 

Posted on

Political Notes / Scribles

Steven Bullock, 53
The Democratic governor of Montana, re-elected in 2016 in a conservative state that Trump carried by 20 percentage points, has touted his electability and ability to work across party lines.

John Delaney, 56
John Delaney served as a US congressman for Maryland’s sixth district from 2013 to 2019.

Delaney, a former banking entrepreneur, is known as politically moderate with a willingness to reach across the aisle.

He has supported a measure to raise money to build infrastructure by allowing US corporations to avoid taxes when they repatriate profits overseas if they buy bonds that would be used to build infrastructure.

Tulsi Gabbard, 38

Tusi Gabbard has served as a US congresswoman from Hawaii’s second district since 2013.

Gabbard is the first Hindu member of Congress. At the age of 21, she became the youngest to be elected to a US state legislature serving on the Hawaii House of Representatives.

She has also served in the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq and was deployed to Kuwait.

She was a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage when she served in the state legislature in her 20s. But she has since disavowed those views and professes her support for LGBTQ rights.

Critics have pounced on her efforts to block the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Hawaii and a meeting she held with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier this year, she penned an op-ed responding to media reports about her alleged ties to Hindu nationalists.

John Hickenlooper, 67
John Hickenlooper served as the governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019.

Before that, Hickenlooper served as the mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011.

Hickenlooper, cofounder of the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver, has positioned himself as a centrist and an experienced officeholder with business experience.

Michael Bennet, 54

Michael Bennet has served as a US senator from Colorado since 2009. Bennet, a former head of the Denver school district, carved out a profile as a wonky, policy-oriented senator.

He gained internet fame this year for a harsh scolding of Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas over the government shutdown.

Bennet was close to launching a presidential campaign after that, but had to pause it when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Bennet’s office said last month that the senator was successfully treated. That cleared the way for his May 2 campaign launch.

The Democratic governor of Montana, re-elected in 2016 in a conservative state that Trump carried by 20 percentage points, has touted his electability and ability to work across party lines.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock talks to the media and students at Helena High School as he launches 2020 US presidential campaign in Helena,

Bullock, 53, has made campaign finance reform a cornerstone of his agenda, and emphasises his success in forging compromises with the Republican-led state legislature on bills to expand Medicaid, increase campaign finance disclosures, bolster pay equity for women and protect public lands.

John Delaney, 56

John Delaney served as a US congressman for Maryland’s sixth district from 2013 to 2019.

Delaney, a former banking entrepreneur, is known as politically moderate with a willingness to reach across the aisle.

He has supported a measure to raise money to build infrastructure by allowing US corporations to avoid taxes when they repatriate profits overseas if they buy bonds that would be used to build infrastructure.
John Delaney stands in a food vendors building during a visit to the Iowa State Fair

He announced his presidential run in a Washington Post op-ed published on July 28, 2017.

Delaney, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, was the first to announce he will seek his party’s nomination in 2020.

He said he was entering the presidential race early because he knows he will need time to build name recognition.

Tulsi Gabbard, 38

Tusi Gabbard has served as a US congresswoman from Hawaii’s second district since 2013.

Gabbard is the first Hindu member of Congress. At the age of 21, she became the youngest to be elected to a US state legislature serving on the Hawaii House of Representatives.

She has also served in the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq and was deployed to Kuwait.

She was a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage when she served in the state legislature in her 20s. But she has since disavowed those views and professes her support for LGBTQ rights.

Critics have pounced on her efforts to block the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Hawaii and a meeting she held with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier this year, she penned an op-ed responding to media reports about her alleged ties to Hindu nationalists.
Tulsi Gabbard delivers a nomination speech for Senator Bernie Sanders on the second day at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia

“While the headlines covering my announcement could have celebrated this landmark first, and maybe even informed Americans about the world’s third-largest religion, some have instead fomented suspicion, fear and religious bigotry about not only me but also my supporters,” she wrote.

Gabbard officially launched her presidential campaign on February 2, 2019.

John Hickenlooper, 67

John Hickenlooper served as the governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019.

Before that, Hickenlooper served as the mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011.

Hickenlooper, cofounder of the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver, has positioned himself as a centrist and an experienced officeholder with business experience.
John Hickenlooper speaks at the United States Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, DC

He is the only Democratic presidential candidate so far to oppose the Green New Deal plan to tackle climate change, saying it would give the government too much power in investment decisions.

He announced his presidential run on March 4, 2019.

Tim Ryan, 45

Ryan has served as a US House representative from Ohio’s 13th district since 2003.

He represents a northeastern Ohio area that has reportedly lost manufacturing jobs in the past few years and shifted to Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Ryan has said Trump has turned his back on those blue-collar voters who fled to him in 2016 and failed to live up his promise to revitalize the manufacturing industry.

Joe Sestak, 67

Former US Representative Joe Sestak joined the race in June.

In announcing his candidacy, Sestak, 67, a retired three-star US Navy admiral, emphasized his 31-year military career, the need to restore US leadership in the world and challenges from climate change and China’s growing global influence.

“Our country desperately needs a president with a depth of global experience and an understanding of all the elements of our nation’s power, from our economy and our diplomacy to the power of our ideals and our military, including its limitations,” Sestak said in a video released on his campaign website.