Something Must Be Done: Fake News Attacks French Presidential Elections; Macron Blames Gay Affair Rumors on Russians

In response to a report published by Sputnik that claimed French Presidential candidate, Macron, was super gay and involved with an extramarital affair with some very gay man, he’s striking back with all of the style and panache you’d expect from a perfectly straight man — crying foul and bitching about FAKE FUCKING NEWS.

Clearly, the Russians are involved here, just like the Americans were responsible for the Buzzfeed report that said our President enjoyed being urinated on by Russian hookers.

To be clear, anything printed in the media by someone of Russian origin is directly working for Putin and should be dismissed as FAKE NEWS.

Jesus Christ. Read this Reuters report. It’s actually quite funny, unintentionally.

French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron is being targeted by Russian media and internet attacks from within Russia with the goal of helping the election campaigns of his pro-Moscow rivals, his party chief said on Monday.

The comments by Richard Ferrand, secretary-general of Macron’s En Marche! (Onwards!) party, marked the first direct accusation from a French political party that forces in Russia were trying to influence the outcome of the May election.

Ferrand, who said Moscow looked favorably on the policies of far-right leader Marine Le Pen and center-right candidate Francois Fillon, urged the government to take steps to ensure there was no “foreign meddling” in the election.

Drawing a parallel with the U.S. presidential election in which U.S. intelligence agencies saw the hand of the Kremlin, he said: “The Americans saw it, but it came too late.”

Ferrand’s comments came against the backdrop of an electoral campaign of smears in which several big names have fallen off the radar, while conservative candidate Fillon went from frontrunner to also-ran due to a scandal involving his family.

Macron, an independent centrist, surged into the gap to become favorite to win the May 7 second-round against Le Pen, who is anti-EU and supports Russian policy on Ukraine.

A Feb. 4 report by the French language version of online Russian news agency Sputnik quoted the pro-Putin center-right French legislator Nicolas Dhuicq as saying Macron was a puppet of U.S. political and financial elites and that revelations about his private life would soon be made public.

The report appeared to play a part in Macron being forced on Feb. 7 to kill rumors of an extra-marital gay relationship.

Ferrand told France 2 television that Russia Today and Sputnik, Russian state-controlled media, had spread “fake news” with the aim of swinging public opinion against Macron. He said Macron was a target due to his pro-Europe policies.

“It is clear that the far-right and the right and their candidates are rather well regarded (in Russia) while we call for a strong Europe, a powerful Europe. It is obvious, objectively, that a certain number of Russian media clearly don’t want that,” he said.

Fillon, who has seen his lead evaporate amid a “fake jobs” scandal involving his wife, has spoken positively about improving relations with Russia.
“Two big media outlets belonging to the Russian state Russia Today and Sputnik spread fake news on a daily basis, and then they are picked up, quoted and influence the democratic (process),” Ferrand said.

Ferrand said Macron’s campaign was being hit by “hundreds if not thousands” of attacks on its networks, databases and sites from locations inside Russia.

“What we want is for authorities at the highest level to take the matter in hand to guarantee that there is no foreign meddling in our democracy,” Ferrand said.

 

Here’s an old man from Chicago attempting to describe, with his limited vocabulary, the rally in copper. I am surprised he’s managed to reside in Chicago all these years, without getting shot.

It’s important for you to know that strikes are temporary — but Trump is permanent. We are going to have the biggest infrastructure bill the world has ever known. We will revel in the rivulets of the Oroville waters and rise like the Phoenix, yet again, and rebuild everything. We will build walls, bridges, tunnels, dams, highways and of course prisons — to house all of the leftards rounded up by right wing goon squads.

That being said, I just took an interest in a small capped copper stock with 10% of my portfolio.

Some are thinking the damn failure is a result of God himself — attempting to cleanse and punish the reviled people of California with ravaging waters of vengeance. I simply view this event as an opportunity to make money. Although macabre and totally in line with a sociopathic behavior disorder, I feel zero empathy for the 200,000 people being evacuated — due to engineering failure on part of the cucks from the Department of Water Resources.

Seriously speaking here, in light of this unbelievable failure in our infrastructure, do you think this increases or decreases the likelihood that Trump will be able to jimmy a major infrastructure bill through Congress?

You can bet on it. For each gallon of water that passes by that idiot dam, $1 is added to the bill.

I like $CLF, $TECK, $HBM and $VEDL on this ‘news.’

At least 188,000 people have been evacuated from several Northern California counties due to Oroville Dam damage https://t.co/FCLZ4BO3Yp pic.twitter.com/8U92uLUvEm

— CNN International (@cnni) February 13, 2017

Stunning drone video shows #OrovilleDam holding back a massive wall of water as thousands ordered to evac – https://t.co/t6fk3h4ZsS #KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/GtmK7GZOBq

— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) February 13, 2017

Here’s a live stream of the dam failure. Enjoy.

Another sublime opening for the market of Trump. Stocks are careening higher based off reports that China will cut steel production, amongst other things. Plainly, investors are optimistic and believe Trump is pragmatic.

My interminable winship has shattered the self esteems of my maudlin detractors. The enemies within my halls have been exposed and their cerements stripped bare — beaten and then whipped again — as a reminder that to bet against The Fly is equal, all things considered, to committing financial suicide.

With today’s 3% gains, I’ve plastic manned my position to +17%. Bear in mind, this is much better than your gains and I’ve done it with a lot more style, poise and grace.

I commit these greats acts of financial literacy for the benefit of all those who read me, liberal and conservative alike. I will not shatter my trophy in half in order to share in the glory, however. I was raised on hard rocks, pressed against the wall many times. I’ve fought my way out of riots and mayhem, bullets whizzing pass my brain en route towards a summer fling. It’s relevant that I tell you these things, so that you know — you can never take anything away from me.

“The Fly” has never been more magnanimous. My apparent and abundant winship is second to none. A restive animalistic hysteria lied deep beneath the surface, dormant for all of 2016. It’s alive now, unchastened from the bonds of civility.

A forlorn supplication will do you no good.

I ascribe to a savage confederate form of warfare, no quarter, only the black flag.

The smog has been especially bad in China this year. A friend of mine almost died due to the toxic air and had to be hospitalized during his stay in the great walled nation. Perhaps in response to that, or a desire to jimmy rig steel/aluminum prices higher, China is preparing to place harsh restrictions on coal, in addition to slashing production for steel, aluminum and fertilizer — according to Reuters.

Source: Reuters

China is considering forcing steel and aluminum producers to cut more output, banning coal in one of the country’s top ports and shutting some fertilizer and drug plants as Beijing intensifies its war on smog, a draft policy document shows.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has proposed the measures in the document seen by Reuters. If implemented, they would be some of the most radical steps so far to tackle air quality in the country’s most polluted cities.

The move comes after China’s northeast has battled some of the worst pollution in years as emissions from heavy industry, coal burning in winter and increased transport have left major cities including Beijing blanketed in thick smog.

The document outlines plans to cut steel and fertilizer capacity by at least half and aluminum capacity by at least 30 percent in 28 cities across five regions from around late November to late February.

By July, it would stop Tianjin, one of the nation’s busiest ports, handling coal, with shipments diverted to Tangshan, 130 kms (80 miles) to the north, which would shift large volumes of coal transport from trucks to rail.

Tianjin, China’s second largest by cargo volume, is the key hub for trading 100 million tonnes a year of seaborne coal and domestic coal that flows south from Inner Mongolia, the report said.

By September, ports in Hebei province would not be allowed to use trucks to carry coal from railways to ships.

Based on the cuts over three months, the measures would reduce China’s total annual steel output by 8 percent annually and aluminum output by 17 percent, according to Reuters calculations.

This is super bullish for the metals, namely $X. My bets are on $CLF, $TECK, $HBM and $VEDL. Being that CLF does a lot of business with China, I’m not sure a cut in Chinese steel production is exactly positive for the shares. However, any cut in Chinese production will likely be made up elsewhere. Plus, price gains for the base metals will provide a very strong backdrop for the bullish narrative.

Everyone can appreciate the sentimentality of equality. God knows those standards are woefully violated in many parts of the world, especially the parts where Nike manufactures their sneakers.

Here’s the commercial they ran yesterday, during the Grammys, which triggered so many social justards into hysterical rants on Twitter.

Nike giving advice or lecturing about equality is like a plantation owner during the times of slavery taking out newspaper ads against racism. The fuck out of here, empty vessels from the Nike PR department. Soulless ghouls.

That was the bluepill.

Now here’s the redpill.

But Under Armour is the enemy and should be protested because he said nice things about our President. Right?

I’ve read a lot of drivel the past few weeks about the $NYT and how their burgeoning online digital ad business was booming — mostly by disaffected leftards who have somehow tethered themselves to the old gray lady in an effort to defy Trump.

Why? You’re fucking stupid.

The business has been cut in half since 2008. They’ve gone from raking in $300m per quarter in earnings to $40m. This isn’t a god damned online journal. The core business is print and there’s no way digital can make up for the lost ground in print, without having a profound effect on the way the company is staffed.

Does this revenue trend look healthy to you?

Earnings are down 50-75% since 2008.

The stock has been cut in half over the past 8 years.

That’s what a slow death looks like, not a revival spearheaded by amazing digital revenue growth.

Prove to me the New York Times isn’t dying.

Pro tip: you can’t.

Bloomberg is out with a fictional piece this evening — asserting that creditors are selling treasuries because of Trump.

(adjusts microphone)

WRONG!

Anyone mildly versed in capital markets knows that when Trump was elected President on 11/8/16, equity markets took off — which also caused a rout in the bond market. The reason for this is because investors viewed Trump as a weapon of inflation — someone who’d cut taxes, regulations and spur a massive fiscal stimulus budget. In no way was the sell off in bonds a revolt by foreign governments because they were afraid of Trump. Think of the markets like you would a see-saw: stocks up, bonds down and vice versa.

It’s also worth mentioning that our so called ‘creditors’ are small time holders of treasuries, in comparison to our own Federal Reserve — who own upwards of $2t in U.S. debt.

As per the BBG retard level thinking piece.

In the age of Trump, America’s biggest foreign creditors are suddenly having second thoughts about financing the U.S. government.

In Japan, the largest holder of Treasuries, investors culled their stakes in December by the most in almost four years, the Ministry of Finance’s most recent figures show. What’s striking is the selling has persisted at a time when going abroad has rarely been so attractive. And it’s not just the Japanese. Across the world, foreigners are pulling back from U.S. debt like never before.

Classic care-trolling. The U.S. can borrow as much as it likes. The author of the article is either completely ignorant on matters of finance or purposefully malicious with his editorial slant.

From Tokyo to Beijing and London, the consensus is clear: few overseas investors want to step into the $13.9 trillion U.S. Treasury market right now. Whether it’s the prospect of bigger deficits and more inflation under President Donald Trump or higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve, the world’s safest debt market seems less of a sure thing — particularly after the upswing in yields since November. And then there is Trump’s penchant for saber rattling, which has made staying home that much easier.

Nobody is saying that foreigners will abandon Treasuries altogether. After all, they still hold $5.94 trillion, or roughly 43 percent of the U.S. government debt market. (Though that’s down from 56 percent in 2008.) A significant drawdown can harm major holders like Japan and China as much as it does the U.S.

It’s down from 56% because the god damned Federal Reserve has been buying it all. This is a prime example of intentionally misleading the reader.

Nevertheless, any consistent drop-off in foreign demand could have lasting consequences on America’s ability to finance itself cheaply, particularly in light of Trump’s ambitious plans to boost infrastructure spending, cut taxes and put “America First.” The president has singled out Japan and China, the two biggest overseas creditors, as well as Germany, for devaluing their currencies to gain an unfair advantage in trade.

In December, Japanese investors reduced their investments in U.S. debt by 2.39 trillion yen ($21.3 billion) after a smaller pullback in November. While only a fraction of Japan’s $1.1 trillion of holdings, they were first the back-to-back declines since the start of 2014. China, which owns just over $1 trillion of Treasuries, has been selling since May. Its holdings are at a seven-year low.

Notice how the other glosses over the fact that the former largest holder of U.S. debt, China, has been culling its treasury holdings for 7 years — all of which done under the Obama regime? The Chinese have been selling for quite some time, as their economy slows and their currency drops to 8 year lows — all due to a larger and more serious matter regarding capital flight.

And investors like Kunibe can ill-afford more losses. Last quarter, Japanese investors who hedged all their dollar exposure in Treasuries suffered a 4.7 percent loss — the biggest in at least three decades, data from Bank of America showed. The same thing happened in Europe, where record currency-hedged losses also stung euro-based buyers.

“It was a deer in the headlights moment,” said Zoltan Pozsar, a research analyst at Credit Suisse.

Combined with the unpredictability of Trump’s tweet storms, interest-rate increases in the U.S. could further sap overseas demand. Mark Dowding, who helps oversees about $50 billion as co-head of investment-grade debt at BlueBay Asset Management in London, says the firm has already moved to insulate itself from further losses due to higher rates.

What’s more, central bankers in Japan and Europe are still experimenting with monetary policies that may benefit bond investors locally.

Right now, it’s just “much easier to stay home than go abroad,” said Shyam Rajan, Bank of America’s head of U.S. rates strategy.

What in the actual fuck are they talking about? Rates are near ALL-TIME record lows. America is the primary market for debt issuance — the envy of the world and they make it seem like we’re struggling to raise capital to fund our over bloated and ridiculous surplus spending.

Here are the top holders of U.S. debt.

In other words, our own Federal Reserve owns more US debt than both Japan and China combined — at $2.4t. Why wasn’t that noted in this absurd article cobbled together, lazily, by a Brian Chappatta?

Bonds topped in the summer of 2016. Naturally, asset allocators responded in kind to record prices and sold some to fund whatever projects they deemed more important to their national interests. The worrisome tone about the Japanese central bank selling treasuries — due to Trump — isn’t credible and is without merit, especially when considering Japan is beset with the largest debt/gdp burden of any developed nation in the world — at 230%.

Plus, let’s not forget that the BOJ is currently undergoing a gargantuan perversion of finance — purchasing their own debt and equity ETFs to the tune of $700+ billion per annum. Additionally, the BOJ is the largest owner of equity ETFs in the country — purely and blatantly manipulating every single aspect of their control economy. To chalk up the BOJ’s nonsensical and unconventional monetary actions to Trump winning the election is both stupid and unnecessarily divisive. Then again, it’s Bloomberg, so we should come to expect this sordid brand of yellow journalism.

Since the beginning of the new year, the industrial metals and mining sector has been on fire — led by names in my portfolio: $HBM, $TECK, $VEDL (60% of my 140% long-only portfolio). For the sake of clarity and brevity, I am going to get straight to the point.

We’re not done going higher — algorithmically and based upon valuation. Let me explain.

Based off seasonal trends, now is the time to get long the sector — through April.

The short term timing oscillator in Exodus is not overbought. As a point in fact, it leans towards oversold.

Valuation wise, the industry is trading cheaper now than in any time the past decade.

Stock to buy.

Biggest by cap: $BBL, $EC, TECK, $VEDL, $TRQ, $CNX

Top rated by fundamentals: $SXCP, $AHGP, $MTRN, $SWC, $GSM, $ATI

Top rated by technicals: $HBM, $EC, $TROX, $SXCP, $VEDL, $TECK

Highest short interest: $ATI, $CNX, $CLD, $SWC, $TROX, $SXC

Naturally, I favor zinc.

We’re living in an era of perpetual fear. To think that an undetonated American bomb, from world war 2, could cause 70-75k people to evacuated a city is unbelievable to me.

Granted, the thing weighed 275lbs and could shatter a few city streets, but it wasn’t a damned nuclear device.

Such pussies.

Source: Bloomberg

Authorities in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki say an unexploded World War II bomb found under a gas station was defused Sunday and safely taken to an army firing range outside the city, paving the way for over 70,000 people to return home.

The roads in western Thessaloniki and the suburb of Kordelio, where most of those forced to evacuate earlier Sunday came from, have reopened. Authorities had shut down a 1.9 kilometer (1.2-mile) radius for experts to safely work on the bomb.

The U.S.-made 275-pound (125-kilogram) bomb was “badly corroded, but its detonation mechanism was still in very good condition,” said Army spokesman Col. Nikos Fanios.

The bomb will be either detonated or dismantled at the firing range, Fanios said. He added that similar bombs had been found in previous years near the Macedonia Airport east of the city, but, with the area being mostly open fields, no large scale evacuation had been deemed necessary.

Sunday’s evacuation started at 7 a.m., with police went house-to-house ringing bells and knocking on doors to remind people to leave.

Bomb disposal experts started work at 11.30 a.m., 90 minutes later than planned, but defused the bomb in only 30 minutes, Central Macedonia governor Apostolos Tzizikostas announced.

Calling the operation “a total success,” he said it was the largest peacetime population evacuation in Greece and estimated it involved 70,000 people.

Many people left the area in their cars, but some were bused to schools and sports halls elsewhere in the city.

“We heard on TV that, if the bomb explodes, it will be like a strong earthquake,” Michalis Papanos, 71, told The Associated Press as he and his wife, Yiannoula, headed out of their home.

Alexander Bogdani and his wife, Anna Bokonozi, left on foot, pushing a stroller with their toddler daughter.

“We are afraid for the child,” Bogdani said.

The city’s main bus station was shut down, trains in the area were halted and churches canceled Sunday services. The city also booked a 175-room hotel where people with limited mobility were taken on Saturday.

Among the evacuees were 450 refugees staying at a former factory who were bused to visit the city’s archaeological museum.

One resident recalled the day the bomb fell.

“The bombing was done by English and American planes on Sept. 17, 1944. It was Sunday lunchtime,” said Giorgos Gerasimou, 86, whose home is half a mile away from the bomb site.

He said the Allies were targeting local German rail facilities. He remembers the day clearly because one of his 10 -year-old friends was killed in the bombing.

Nazi Germany occupied Greece from 1941 until October 1944.

Amazing.