Oil prices have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last year. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil tumbled late in 2014 from over $100 (£64.78) per barrel to just around $45 per barrel early this year.
After a recovery back to around $60 per barrel during the early summer, prices have gone through the floor again, down to $45.12 again today . . .
The price of a barrel of oil could go to just $20 soon, according to Goldman Sachs analysts led by global commodities research chief Jeffrey Currie.
There’s a huge surplus of oil in the world, put down to both buoyant supply and weaker demand, and that could leave prices at levels not seen in decades. Here’s a snippet from Goldman’s latest note on oil:
The oil market is even more oversupplied than we had expected and we now forecast this surplus to persist in 2016 on further OPEC production growth, resilient non-OPEC supply and slowing demand growth, with risks skewed to even weaker demand given China’s slowdown and its negative EM feedback loop… While not our base case, the potential for oil prices to fall to such levels, which we estimate near $20/bbl, is becoming greater as storage continues to fill. (Read more from “GOLDMAN SACHS: Oil Prices Are on the Verge of Plunging to $20 per Barrel” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 22:43:382015-09-11 22:43:38GOLDMAN SACHS: Oil Prices Are on the Verge of Plunging to $20 per Barrel
GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is expanding beyond his religious liberty message as his campaign lays out Huckabee’s battle plans for the 2016 race.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Senior Communications Advisor Hogan Gidley and Huckabee’s campaign manager, his daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders, explained what the former Arkansas governor plans to do differently in the 2016 race than he previously did in 2008, arguing experience is on Huckabee’s side.
“You guys know at the end of the day, you don’t vote for someone you don’t like,” Gidley said, pointing to Huckabee’s high favorability rating.
To his credit, Huckabee has one of the highest favorability ratings among GOP presidential candidates according to a recent Gallop poll, which has him with a national favorability rating of 57 percent.
Even more impressive is Huckabee’s favorability levels in Iowa at 67 percent and South Carolina at 59 percent, which are based on an average of recent polls. (Read more from “Mike Huckabee Unveils Ground Game for 2016” HERE)
Donald Trump estimated that it will take 18 months to two years to get the roughly 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to leave the country, and that he would then build a wall running along the border with Mexico.
The businessman’s statement made on a call with Alabama Republicans Thursday night added a bit of specificity to the Republican presidential frontrunner’s hardline stance on immigration. Mr. Trump released a six-page policy paper on immigration last month, and reporters have asked for details about how it would work since.
The Alabama Republican Party hosted the dial-in call with Mr. Trump Thursday night as part of series with the 2016 presidential candidates. Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have also participated.
On the call, Mr. Trump was asked for details about how long it would take to round up illegal immigrants living in the U.S., with the questioner asking if five or ten years was an appropriate timeframe. Mr. Trump said his two year benchmark could be met with “really good management.”
“We have to get them out. If we have wonderful cases, they can come back in but they have to come back in legally,” Mr. Trump said in an audio clip posted on YouTube Thursday night by a person on the call. (Read more from “Donald Trump Says Illegal Alien Deportations Done in Two Years” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 22:42:182015-09-11 22:42:18Donald Trump Says Illegal Alien Deportations Done in Two Years
The United States could be facing another 9/11 attack as factions grow deeper among the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, especially with the recently confirmed death of the Taliban’s one-eyed leader Mullah Omar, according to a senior U.S. lawmaker, federal law enforcement and intelligence officials.
The tensions between Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and the Taliban is as dangerous a national security threat to the United States as it was before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, said Brian Fairchild, who spent two decades with the CIA and has testified before Congress on terrorism.
“Right now, al-Qaida, under Zawahiri, needs the Khorasan group or some affiliated group to attack the U.S. again like 9/11 in order to lift up his stature and that of the organization,” Fairchild said. “He doesn’t want something small but something big – a big-scale attack like 9/11 to make him relevant again. This is an extremely dangerous time as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban fight and compete for dominance.”
A 32-page Islamic State recruiting document obtained in Pakistan by American Media Institute detailed the growing division between the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. The document — authenticated by retired Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and two other senior U.S. intelligence officers — called for the Islamic State group to launch a war with India that would draw the United States into battle and end the world.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) also issued two threatening communications in August calling on believers to take action in the U.S. through more lone-wolf attacks, according to SITE Intelligence Group and Middle-East Research Institute, both of which track terror activity. (Read more from “Former CIA and DIA Operatives Warn of Another 9/11 Attack” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 22:41:022015-09-11 22:41:02Former CIA and DIA Operatives Warn of Another 9/11 Attack
The man taken into custody in Phoenix Friday allegedly boasted to friends of his involvement in a rash of freeway shootings over the last 12 days, a police source said, adding the unidentified man is also wanted in connection with other crimes.
Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, would not confirm the information, saying only the individual is a “person of interest” who will be “questioned all day” . . .
Sources also say police are attempting to place the man and his white Chevrolet Tahoe at the scene of previous shooting incidents using cell phone data from nearby towers, license plate readers and video taken from the 19 Department of Transportation cameras lining a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 10 through Central and West Phoenix.
The man and his mother were detained Friday morning in Phoenix outside a convenience store about four miles north of Interstate 10, where a majority of the 11 confirmed shootings took place.
Multiple undercover units and marked patrol cars boxed in the man’s SUV and wrestled him to the ground as he exited the store. Minutes later he spoke to Fox affiliate KSAZ through the back window of a patrol car. (Read more from “Sources: Man Taken Into Custody in Phoenix Allegedly Boasted to Friends of Rash of Freeway Shootings” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 22:36:192015-09-11 22:36:19Sources: Man Taken Into Custody in Phoenix Allegedly Boasted to Friends of Rash of Freeway Shootings
Jeb Bush has been highlighting the benefits of his new tax plan for the middle class, which in many cases are considerable. But by some measures the biggest winners would be – well, winners.
A new analysis by the business-backed Tax Foundation shows that the biggest percentage increases in after-tax income under Mr. Bush’s tax plan would go to the top 1% of earners, people making more than about $406,000. They would see their after-tax incomes increase on average by 11.6%, according to the analysis. That’s the biggest change for any income group.
The average for all income levels would be a 3.3% increase in income. The second-biggest beneficiaries would be folks in the top 10%, those making more than about $117,000. Their incomes would go up by 4.7%.
The benefits to the top 1% would be even higher when the full economic impacts of the change are considered, according to the Tax Foundation analysis.
To some degree, this result is expected, given Mr. Bush’s stated objectives. He’s trying to use his plan to boost anemic economic growth. And given the way economic models work, tax plans almost have to lower taxes on business- and investment-related income in order to get the desired growth effects. For good or ill, the top 1% tend to receive a lot of that kind of income, and thus benefit disproportionately from any tax reductions. (Read more from “Top 1% Are Biggest Winners in Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 22:35:422015-09-11 22:35:42Top 1% Are Biggest Winners in Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan
After a national uproar over a Washington State professor who threatened to mark down or even fail students who used words such as “illegal aliens,” “tranny,” or referring to men and women as “male or female,” campus officials on Monday came out in strong support of free speech, pledging to “modify” syllabuses that ban words.
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University deeply values the tenets of freedom of expression for every member of our community, including all students, faculty and staff. Those First Amendment rights are reinforced in our policies, procedures and practices. Open dialogue, vigorous debate and the free exchange of ideas, as well as the language used to convey these ideas, are at the core of who we are as a higher education institution.
Over the weekend, we became aware that some faculty members, in the interest of fostering a constructive climate for discussion, included language in class syllabi that has been interpreted as abridging students’ free speech rights. We are working with these faculty members to clarify, and in some cases modify, course policies to ensure that students’ free speech rights are recognized and protected. No student will have points docked merely as a result of using terms that may be deemed offensive to some. Blanket restriction of the use of certain terms is not consistent with the values upon which this university is founded.
Free speech and a constructive climate for learning are not incompatible. We aim to cultivate diversity of expression while protecting individual rights and safety.
(Read more from “Washington State Announces It Will Not Allow Professors to Ban Words They Don’t Like” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 22:32:092015-09-11 22:32:09Washington State Announces It Will Not Allow Professors to Ban Words They Don’t Like
Donald Trump has largely benefited from the dust-ups he has had with fellow Republican presidential candidates thus far in his unconventional campaign. White House contenders including Jeb Bush and Rick Perry have seen their favorability ratings drop after exchanging blows with the billionaire front-runner.
Two of Trump’s closest challengers, however, have been reticent to engage Trump in a war of words. Both Ben Carson and Ted Cruz have been willing to compliment Trump’s campaign, though the former recently earned the real estate mogul’s ire by questioning his faith.
Earlier this week, Carson told a crowd that he doesn’t “in any way deny” his Christian faith, describing the “humility and fear of the Lord” with which he lives his life. Such qualities, however, were difficult for Carson to ascribe to Trump . . .
Trump shot back Thursday on ABC’s The View.
“He talked about my faith,” the candidate said. “He doesn’t know me.”
He noted that he hardly knows Carson, adding that the retired neurosurgeon’s public expressions of faith seem to be a recent development. (Read more from “Trump Just Took His Fight With Ben Carson to a Whole New Level With These Words” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-11 00:29:292015-09-11 00:29:29Trump Just Took His Fight With Ben Carson to a Whole New Level With These Words
Senate Republicans have hit a new low. Not only are they doing nothing to stop Obama’s lawlessness on Iran in forging a treaty without Senate ratification, they are allowing him to break the very law that broke the treaty clause of the Constitution. You can’t make this stuff up!
First, the good news. When Mark Levin and Conservative Review were the lone voices against Corker-Cardin in April, everyone thought we were being purists. Most conservative pundits and elected Republicans thought this was the best opportunity to get congressional input. Every major news outlet was reporting this bill as a means of requiring congressional approval for the deal. It was so complicated and convoluted to explain to the American people that this bill really did the opposite of what it was advertised to do.
But as I noted a few weeks ago, you can’t fool all the people all the time, and now the entire country is aware of the Corker-Cardin betrayal and they don’t like it one bit. The pressure is so intense that when House leadership promised to bring the resolution of disapproval to the floor, House conservatives promised to vote down the rule to consider the legislation. Now the House is being forced to do what we have been demanding for months. They are scuttling the unconstitutional process of requiring congress to disapprove of the treaty. Instead they will bring the following three resolutions to the floor tomorrow:
A resolution (H. Res 411) stating that Obama has not abided by Corker-Cardin because he withheld the side agreements, thereby preventing the 60-day clock for congressional view from commencing.
A bill (H.R. 3461) to approve of the agreement, placing Democrats in the tough position of having to affirmatively approve of the legislation.
A bill (H.R. 3460) removing Obama’s waiver authority to lift sanctions until next year. Section (b)(3) of Corker-Cardin prohibits Obama from any effort to “waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the application of statutory sanctions with respect to Iran” before transmitting all of the components of the deal to Congress.
This process will leave Obama without any semblance of legitimacy to move along with this treaty, whether he ultimately follows through or not.
Now for the bad news. Amazingly, Mitch McConnell and Bob Corker are siding with Obama against their own legislation. They are asserting that the clock already started two months ago and will expire on September 17. Evidently, Corker didn’t read his own bill.
Congressional Quarterly reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham admitted Obama is “in clear violation of the terms” of Corker-Cardin, but still feels that “the best way to handle it is just disapprove the deal.”
These Senate Republicans don’t want to fight even when they have the law on their side. They would rather have a show vote and breathe a sigh of relief they didn’t have to engage in a full media war with Obama. Sen. John McCain, of course, threw in with his partner in trashing the Constitution.
McConnell and the Senate Republicans are a classic example of subtraction by addition. We would be in a stronger political position if they did not exist and the Democrats were forced to take responsibility for Obama’s double betrayal and lawlessness. Now, Republicans are defending them. There is nothing more powerful than having members of the opposite party play interference.
With the growing voice of the people placing these malcontents on defense, the momentum is beginning to change. (For more from the author of “Senate Republicans Doing Nothing to Stop Obama’s Lawless Iran Treaty” please click HERE)
Shootings along Interstate 10 in the heart of Phoenix, Ariz., are domestic terrorism being perpetrated by a coward, Arizona Director of Public Safety Colonel Frank Milstead said Wednesday.
“I came literally 24 to 36 inches from losing my life,” said driver Robert Patterson, one of the victims of the shootings.
As of Wednesday, there were 11 incidents in 12 days in which projectiles were fired into cars, mostly along an eight-block section of I-10, Milstead said. Although only one injury has been reported, Milstead said multiple law enforcement agencies have made stopping the spree “Job One.”
“All these actions are potentially lethal encounters. Any time you shoot into a moving vehicle, it has the potential to be a lethal encounter,” Milstead said Wednesday evening. “I think you have to be concerned about safety of yourself and others.”
On Tuesday, an off-duty Phoenix police sergeant was driving to work along I-10 when a projectile shattered the passenger’s side window of his car. Milstead said the officer did not appear to be targeted.
On Tuesday, Milstead had branded the series of incidents, which began Aug. 29, as terrorism. (Read more from “11 Vehicles Driving in Major US City Struck by Act of Terrorism, Police Say” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-10 23:31:062015-09-10 23:31:0611 Vehicles Driving in Major US City Struck by Act of Terrorism, Police Say
Oil prices have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last year. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil tumbled late in 2014 from over $100 (£64.78) per barrel to just around $45 per barrel early this year.
