Beijing Says Missing Hong Kong Consulate Employee Arrested For Visiting Prostitute
by Zero Hedge - August 23rd, 2019 4:04 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
The Hong Kong consulate employee who vanished two weeks ago after attending a conference across the border in Shenzen was reportedly detained after visiting a prostitute, according to a report in a Chinese newspaper that was cited by Bloomberg.
Simon Cheng, the 28-year-old employee at the UK consulate in Hong Kong, mysteriously vanished after alerting his girlfriend via text that he was having issues re-entering Hong Kong following the conference. "Pray for me," was purportedly the last thing he sent her before going silent.
Cheng has already been in custody for two weeks. Amusingly, the consulate said nothing about Cheng's disappearance and detention until it was seemingly forced to issue a statement after Cheng's girlfriend went to the press. Beijing initially denied that Cheng was in custody, but on Wednesday, the foreign ministry admitted that Cheng was being held under a 15-day administrative detention over what it described as a "domestic issue."
Simon Cheng
Now, those 15 days are nearly up (Friday marks day 15), and police in Shenzen, who apprehended Cheng are offering more details about his detention.
Cheng "violated the 66 article of China’s law on administrative penalties for public security, which states that people who engage in prostitution or visit prostitutes shall be detained for no less than 10 days but no more than 15 days," the Global Times newspaper said. The paper also insisted that Cheng asked police not to notify his family about his detention. It's still not clear whether Cheng is a native of Hong Kong or if he was born and raised elsewhere.
Unsurprisingly, BBG reported that the CPC has often used charges of visiting prostitutes as a catch-all to detain Hong Kongers traveling in mainland China.
Allegations of visiting prostitutes have later proved false in other instances where Hong Kong residents have been detained in China. A Hong Kong lawmaker apologized after accusing bookseller and Communist Party critic Lee Bo of visiting prostitutes, the South China Morning Post reported in 2016.
Separately, allegations of sexual impropriety have appeared alongside political corruption charges in the trials of senior Chinese politicians Bo Xilai, Zhou Yongkang and Sun
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San Francisco Board Rebrands ‘Convicted Felons’ As ‘Justice-Involved Persons’ Or ‘Formerly Incarcerated’
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:43 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Convicted felons in San Francisco may have broken the law, but they'll get to keep their dignity after the city's Board of Supervisors adopted new, sanitized language describing them as 'justice-involved persons' or 'formerly incarcerated.'
Under the city's new "person first" language guidelines, the words "felon," "convict," "addict," "offender," and "juvenile delinquent" are no-no's. Instead, those who have paid their debt to society will be referred to as a "returning resident." Those on parole will be known as 'persons under supervision.'
And a juvenile "delinquent" will now be known as a "young person with justice system involvement," or a "young person impacted by the juvenile justice system," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Drug addicts are now "a person with a history of substance abuse."
"We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done," according to Supervisor Matt Haney.
Haney was one of 10 supervisors (Gordon Mar was absent) who voted for the new guidelines, which Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer proposed.
According to the resolution, 1 of 5 California residents has a criminal record, and words like “prisoner,” “convict,” “inmate” or “felon” “only serve to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal,” the resolution states.
“Inaccurate information, unfounded assumptions, generalizations and other negative predispositions associated with justice-involved individuals create societal stigmas, attitudinal barriers and continued negative stereotypes,” it continues.
“We want them ultimately to become contributing citizens, and referring to them as felons is like a scarlet letter that they can never get away from,” Haney said. -San Francisco Chronicle
Police spokesman David Stevenson says the department has "made our members aware of the resolution and are researching possible impacts on operations and communications," while the DA's office is on board with the plan.
The language resolution makes no mention of terms for victims of crime, but using the new terminology someone whose car has been broken into could well be: “A person who has come in contact with a returning resident who was involved with the justice system and who is currently under supervision with a history of substance use.”
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Cryptocurrencies Are Used To Buy Illicit Drugs, Warns White House
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:40 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Cryptos, bad; crypto-users, "drug-using terrorists"; USDollar, good; USDollar-users, patriots.
That appears to be the message in a new statement from The White House on the links between America's opioid epidemic and cryptocurrencies.
As CoinTelegraph's Liam Frost reports, on Aug. 21, the White House issued two advisories regarding illicit drug purchases in the United States that contain references to the specific cryptocurrencies allegedly used as a part of this process.
image courtesy of CoinTelegraph
The advisories were addressed to various financial institutions as well as digital payments platforms. The documents state:
“An analysis of sensitive financial data indicates that domestic illicit drug manufacturers, dealers, and consumers use online payment platforms or CVC to purchase precursor chemicals or completely synthesized narcotics primarily sourced from China.”
White House: crypto used to pay for foreign drugs
In the context of the documents CVC refers to “convertible virtual currencies,” particularly Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH) and Monero (XMR). The drug fentanyl is also noted specifically in the advisories:
“Similar to purchases from a foreign source of supply using MSBs or online payment processors, individuals located in the United States search for fentanyl and identify potential websites that may provide the opportunity to purchase illicit drugs online. Foreign representatives will instruct the U.S.-based individual to send payments through CVC, such as bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, or monero.”
Financial institutions are advised to collect crypto data
The advisories also note that “CVC transactions generate a significant variety of information elements that may be extremely useful to law enforcement.”
Therefore, financial institutions are recommended to collect these details in case of any suspicion, including “virtual currency wallet addresses, account information, transaction details (including [...] hash), relevant transaction history, available login information (including IP addresses), information obtained from analysis of the customer’s public online profile and communications, mobile device information,” etc.
As Cointelegraph reported last month, U.S. Department of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that the authority will be preventing Bitcoin from becoming an “equivalent of Swiss-numbered bank accounts.”
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“They Let The Criminals Go”: China Furious At Chaotic Scenes From HK Metro Station Unrest
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:36 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Another Hong Kong protest 'sit-in' turned into a violent scrap with police as on Wednesday night thousands of black-clad youth and others set up barriers and occupied the Yuen Long station of the city's MTR metro.
The protest was to mark the one-month anniversary of what anti-Beijing demonstrators are calling the the 'Yuen Long attack,' which involved a gang of white-shirted, baton wielding men charging the busy station and brutally beat random HK demonstrators and passers-by who were on their way back from a mass rally against the extradition bill.
Wednesday night's commemoration protest turned into hours of chaos after the demonstrators barricaded themselves in the metro station, with police concentrated outside the station, reluctant to charge in.
Demonstrators faced off with officers at #YuenLong station after a sit-in to mark one month since a mob attacked protesters and passengers. Police arrested 28 people, but have not charged anyone in the assaults. #HongKongProtests https://t.co/HVR7injqim pic.twitter.com/fjSQCgOug5
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) August 22, 2019
Trash cans and metal benches were piled together into barricades to block police from entering, as security forces fired tear gas into the station. Liquid was also sprayed on the floor and many demonstrators were armed with fire extinguishers.
Hong Kong protesters on Wednesday used fire extinguishers, water and soap to stop riot police from charging inside Yuen Long station pic.twitter.com/EUgQ5PjyF5
— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) August 21, 2019
Below: Footage from the violent July 21st incident at Yuen Long station, when a group of men believed in cahoots with police charged the station as HK protesters were returning from a rally, resulting in at least 45 injured amid blood-spotted floors:
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Investors Dilemma: Pavlov’s Dogs & The Ringing Of The Bell
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:31 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
What does this have to do with investing. Let’s start with a tweet I got recently in response to the article “Fed Trapped In A Rate Cutting Box.”
This is a great example of “classical conditioning” with respect to investing.
In 2010, then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke introduced the “neutral stimulus” to the financial markets by adding a “third mandate” to the Fed’s responsibilities – the creation of the “wealth effect.”
“This approach eased financial conditions in the past and, so far, looks to be effective again. Stock prices rose, and long-term interest rates fell when investors began to anticipate this additional action. Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth. For example, lower mortgage rates will make housing more affordable and allow more homeowners to refinance. Lower corporate bond rates will encourage investment. And higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion.”
– Ben Bernanke, Washington Post Op-Ed, November, 2010.
Importantly, for conditioning to work, the “neutral stimulus,” when introduced, must be followed by the “potent stimulus,” for the “pairing” to be completed. For investors, as each round of “Quantitative Easing”was introduced, the “neutral stimulus,” the stock market rose, the “potent stimulus.”
More than 10-years, and 300% gains later, the “pairing” has been completed.
The brutal lessons taught to investors in 2008, the last time the Fed cut rates, has been replaced by the “salivary response” to the “Fed ringing the bell.”
“Markets, as would be expected, tend to rally after rate cuts, because those policy actions translate into lower borrowing costs for individuals and corporations and tend to support higher moves for stocks.” – MarketWatch
Not surprisingly, the markets jumped on Monday and Wednesday as Trump, and the Fed, once again rang “Pavlov’s bell.”
…..The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well. If that happened, our Economy would be even better, and the World Economy would be greatly and quickly
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China Threatens US Currency Intervention Would Lead To “Market Turmoil” And “Unprecedented Political Fallout”
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:25 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
When, for the first time in 11 years, Jerome Powell cut the Fed Funds rate by 25bps on July 31, something unexpected happened: the dollar spiked (in fact, the trade weighted dollar soared to a record high). And not only did the dollar spike as a result of a market that screamed to Powell "long overdue policy error", coupled with a growing dollar liquidity shortage which according to BofA and JPM will force the Fed to launch QE before long, but it was hit by a double whammy when it fell even further against the yuan just a few days later after Trump launched trade war. In fact, the yuan is now the lowest it has been against the dollar in 11 years. Worse, while the yuan dropped against its basket of reference currencies, the decline was far steeper against the greenback, suggesting that this was a premeditated, political move. That rapid devaluation prompted many banks (such as Bank of America, Standard Chartered and others) to speculate that it is only a matter of time before the US directly intervenes in the market to devalue the dollar against specific pairs (selling dollars, buying the reference currency), and especially against the Yuan.
That threat has not been lost on Beijing, and as the FT reports today, top Chinese bankers in London have warned of the "drama" that would follow any US attempt to weaken the dollar by intervening in renminbi markets — a move that would be seen by Beijing as a "political act." A hostile "political act."
Yet such an act looks increasingly likely after Trump has repeatedly taken aim at China (and Europe) both on Twitter and elsewhere for "playing currency games" as the trade war has morphed into a currency war, if not a full-blown one yet.
The first shot in that particular currency war took place earlier this month when the US Treasury officially branded China a currency manipulator after the Chinese central bank allowed the renminbi to fall below Rmb7 to the dollar, a key threshold last breached in 2008, leading to further escalation in trade tensions. On Thursday the renminbi was trading at a fresh low of 7.09, with the both the offshore and onshore versions having once…
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Three Trader FAQs Ahead Of The Jackson Hole Meeting
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:21 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Although the likely magnitude of any second bottoming looks to have declined, the risk of a vol-up scenario playing out at the end of August or early September has not been completely eliminated. The past week has certainly seen developments that raise expectations for the final two of the three prerequisites we see for avoiding vol-up—(1) a trade agreement between the US and China, (2) a 50-100bp rate cut by the Fed (or a promise to do so in September), and (3) coordinated fiscal outlays by major governments—and this has lightened the risk of a collapse in sentiment. But the current equity rally seems largely driven by wishful thinking, and for (2) in particular, investors should be on their guard until it becomes clear just how dovish Fed Chair Jerome Powell will lean in his comments at Jackson Hole. The current recovery in global equity sentiment is also still within the average range for natural rebounds observed since 2009 (the average trajectory after sentiment drops by one standard deviation). Simply applying this average pattern to the current sentiment trend suggests that sentiment could turn downward again from around 26 August.
(2) Have hedge funds stopped selling off US equity?
Hedge funds vary in their investment behavior. (1) Global macro hedge funds, which are bullish on fundamentals, are still buying on dips, while (2) trend-following algo players (CTAs and risk-parity funds) are sitting on the sidelines, but could be obliged to unwind their long positions if the VIX heads upward again. CTAs are still sounding out the market by closing out longs when the S&P 500 is below around 2,960. CTAs have currently unwound only 60% of the long S&P 500 future positions they held at the recent peak (16 July). We maintain our view that 2,920-2,960 is the zone in which to sell the rally. If the global macro hedge funds are disappointed by the outcome of the Jackson Hole meeting and Powell's speech, the S&P 500 could fail to break above 2,960, which could cause CTAs to put off their shift toward equity buying.
(3) Is there no chance of another share price correction triggered by another inversion of the…
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Baltimore’s Crime-Fighting Strategy Gets A Bit Strange
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:19 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Earlier this year, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby published a shocking statement that said, she would no longer prosecute marijuana possession cases, regardless of the quantity or a person's prior criminal record.
In her announcement in early February, Mosby explained how the policy change would dramatically increase police resources to tackle the homicide crisis. She added that additional funds would be diverted to the community level to improve the police-community relations in Baltimore City.
When you look at Baltimore and what’s led to the violence, you quickly realize the complexity of the chaos. https://t.co/K51g5miAT7
— FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) August 21, 2019
Her statement said, "Prosecuting these cases have no public safety value, disproportionately impacts communities of color and erodes public trust, and is a costly and counterproductive use of limited resources."
Mosby said additional resources would be poured into crime-fighting units used by police to tackle the out of control homicide crisis.
Baltimore has never been the same since the death of Freddie Gray, a young black male who died from injuries he suffered in the back of a police van in early 2015. Shortly after the death of Gray, riots broke out across the city, and the National Guard was called in, and a variant of Martial law was enacted for about a week across the area. More importantly, the riots triggered a violent crime wave in the years after.
For the past three years, Baltimore has experienced a killing per day. In 2018, there were 309 homicides. And in 2019, homicides could quickly surpass the 300 level in the coming months.
More than six months into Mosby's announcement, Fox 45 News Baltimore investigated the complexity of Baltimore City Police's crime-fighting abilities, found that in one instance, the state's attorney dropped a case that involved more than three pounds of marijuana found in a car.
During a routine tariff stop in Southwest Baltimore, one of the highest per-capita homicides rates in the country, a Baltimore Police officer's body-worn-camera captured the…
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The Leaning Towers Of Metropolis
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:16 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Submitted by Danielle DiMartino Booth by Quill Intelligence
- From the trough of post-crisis valuation, apartment prices have been the key driver in overall CRE price increases as apartment prices have risen nearly three times the average across the broad sector
- Luxury apartments have been a key driver in this cycle as nine in ten apartments were luxury in 2018 versus 52% in 2012; the luxury market is more susceptible to economic uncertainty as reflected by the decline in the Architectural Building Index
- While new home starts have been declining and disappointing results from homebuilders are being reported, existing home sales have seen some modest improvements in response to declining mortgage rates; affordability and uncertainty may cap the upside housing
“Fix the problem, but don’t finish the job.” Can you imagine being a structural engineer and instructed as such? But that’s likely the sensation felt by the team of engineers tasked with stabilizing the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 1999. Constructed in 1173 on unstable subsurface soils, the bell tower sank further and further south until it tilted 5.5 degrees in 1990, defying simulations that suggested it would topple over at 5.44 degrees. In came the rescue squad who reversed the gravitational pull by placing weights on the structure’s north end while simultaneously removing soil from below causing it to gently sway north-ish resting at 3.99 degrees. In the engineers’ estimable estimations, barring an earthquake, the tower should stand for several hundred more years, safely continuing to draw marveling tourists.
Commercial real estate investors also have a deep faith in their towering monuments to the current business cycle being built on foundations that are just strong enough. And why should they harbor doubts? As per Morgan Stanley, “The recovery in commercial real estate (CRE) prices is driven in large part by multifamily, which has recovered 331%, while core commercial’s recovery is a more modest 126%.” Translated, from its trough post-crisis valuation, apartment prices have rebounded at nearly triple the rate of CRE as a whole.
The trend doesn’t look to be ebbing. In June, Industrials (read Amazon warehouses), which as detailed in last week’s Quill, look to be topping out as…
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As Italy’s Political Crisis Worsens, Five Star Eyes Alliance With Democrats
by Zero Hedge - August 22nd, 2019 10:13 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.
Now that Italian President Sergio Mattarella has – at least for now – denied League leader Matteo Salvini the opportunity to become prime minister and refuses to rush into new elections that would almost certainly see Salvini emerge victorious as Italy's next PM, Salvini's former partner, Luigi di Maio is discussing the possibility of forming a coalition with the establishmentarian Italian Democratic Party.
The tie-up would be a strange one, even by the standards of Italian politics, as M5S (the acronym for the Five-Star Movement) has sought to market itself as an anti-establishment party - the one characteristic that it shared with Salvini's conservative, anti-immigration League.
The Democrats expressed their desire to join forces with M5S after Mattarella gave the parties the green light on Thursday.
According to Bloomberg, Mattarella holds the power to either appoint the next prime minister or call early elections.
Luigi Di Maio
The talks follow the anticipated resignation of Giuseppe Conte, Italy's former Prime Minister, earlier this week.
Conte's resignation came after Salvini withdrew support for the government. After months of political uncertainty, Salvini made his bid to consolidate power by pushing for fresh elections, intended to capitalize on the League's climbing popularity.
A coalition between the Democrats and M5S would deny Salvini his chance to become premier, at least in the short term. But the unlikely alliance between two parties that have little in common and have spent much of the past few years criticizing each other.
Opportunistic political alliances are hardly rare in Italy. But a link between the Dems and M5S would mark a compromise of M5S's anti-establishment principles, something that could help burnish Salvini's anti-establishment principles.
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