Showing posts with label Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trump. Show all posts

2019-06-29

Tech Review | US Imports From Vietnam Surge, While China Declines

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-06-29)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Trump Effect: US Imports From Vietnam Surge, While China Declines, 2)  Facebook's Libra Could Disrupt the Remittance Industry, 3) Investing YTD & Investor Notes: China, EU, US, & Zombies,  4) ICYMI Tech News: Apple, Flipkart, iQiyi, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and more.

1) Trump Effect: US Imports From Vietnam Surge, While China Declines
And it's not just Vietnam that is a winner from the US-China Trade War:
source: statista.com
Editor's note and caveat: "Exports from China are a murky thing. To dodge tariffs, some of it gets transshipped via other countries, such as Vietnam, before the products are shipped to their destinations, such as the US or the EU ..."--Wolfstreet.com.

Nevertheless, in a note this week, Anne Stevenson-Yang, co-founder of J. Capital Research  (domain: jcapitalresearch.com), wrote that China has already entered its “Japanese phase,” marshalling financial resources exclusively to avoid crisis. China's economy is overleveraged, as demonstrated clearly by the Baoshang situation, and China may now be prey to further problems, perhaps even a perfect storm event.

China is again resorting to such tactics as gross overproduction of steel in a desperate attenpt to keep its economy humming, but even that may fail. In order of tonnage of crude steel, ArcelorMittal is first with 96.4 Mt (in 2006, India’s giant Mittal Steel acquired French giant Arcelor; and is now registered in Luxembourg as a mailbox company run from India) and the EU has had tariffs on Chinese steel for years.

 Also note:
  • Vietnam economy (GDP April-June quarter) grows nearly 7% on trade war tailwinds--Manufacturing exodus from China propels one of fastest boosts in region--nikkei.com.
  • India Plans to Offer Incentives to Companies Moving From China--"aim is to become a production base for firms fleeing tariffs."
  • Vietnam's Vingroup in deal with Fujitsu unit, Qualcomm to make 5G phones to be manufactured in Hanoi and sold in the U.S. and Europe in 2020.
  • A Dark Alley in China’s Credit Market Is Getting Rough--bloomberg.com June 24, 2019.
  • As China's Banking System Freezes, SHIBOR Tumbles To Lowest In A Decade--zerohedge.com June 24, 2019.
  • Trump Pressured by Congress to Stay Tough on Huawei--bloomberg.com June 24, 2019.
  • The U.S. is now playing down expectations for progress from a Trump-Xi meeting during the G20 June 28-29, with the U.S. holding its hard line demands for meaningful Chinese economic reforms, according to Bloomberg.

 2) Facebook's Libra Could Disrupt the Remittance Industry
source: statista.com
Money transfers a/ka "remittances" to low- and middle-income countries reached a record high of $529 billion in 2018, according to the World Bank and the world's total remittances in 2018 were $689 billion. “Success will mean that a person working abroad has a fast and simple way to send money to family back home,” says Libra’s white paper, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to reduce the transaction costs of migrant remittances to less than 3 percent and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 percent by 2030. Libra could lead the way. See also:  How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video).

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
YTD (Year-to-date): NASDAQ Composite +21% | S&P 500 Index +17%  | DJIA +14%
The DJIA closed at 26,599 on Friday, up 73 points, its best first half since 1999 and best June since 1938. It was also the best June for the S&P 500 since 1955.
US: Economy Breaks Record on Trump’s Watch--bloomberg.com: “If voters went to the ballot box today, it would be the strongest economy in U.S. election history,” said Justin Waring, an investment strategist at UBS in New York. Unemployment is close to a half-century low and inflation is so subdued that some have pronounced it dead. 
Editor's note: this is neither a Bull Market nor a Bear Market, this is Trump's Market.
Investor Notes: 
China: signs of a slowdown in China’s property market continue --office vacancies in tech-centric Shenzhen rose to more than 23% for the first half of 2019, a decade high, reported Caixin (domain: caixinglobal.com).

 EU: "There is no common Fiscal Policy. Thus the Eurozone stagnates, withers and has utterly lost momentum …" The next ECB president? "Best candidate for the ECB job is going to be a secondary issue to how many other jobs France and Germany get."--Bill Blain. And Brexit? UK looks cheap ... but we still face a few more months of fraxious uncertainty.

US: "... investors, both foreign and domestic, continue to buy Treasuries, no matter the risks associated with them. And the longer they buy Treasuries, the bigger the US debt load becomes, and — ironically — the lower the risk of default."--cfainstitute.org.

Zombies: A report from the Bank for International Settlements found 12% of publicly listed companies around the world can be described as zombie firms:
"The rising number of so-called zombie firms, defined as firms that are unable to cover debt servicing costs from current profits over an extended period, has attracted increasing attention in both academic and policy circles. Using firm-level data on listed firms in 14 advanced economies, we document a ratcheting-up in the prevalence of zombies since the late 1980s. Our analysis suggests that this increase is linked to reduced financial pressure, which in turn seems to reflect in part the effects of lower interest rates. We further find that zombies weigh on economic performance because they are less productive and because their presence lowers investment in and employment at more productive firms."--BIS report, supra.
"Policies created to pull the world out of recession are still in place, but now they are strangling the global economy ... we are in a fat and slow world," wrote Ruchir Sharma in the New York Times, June 15, 2019. What exactly is the problem?
"The trademarks of the fat and slow world: larger corporations, declining competition and fewer start-ups (all of which contribute to wage inequality), ... together undermine and slow economies already hindered by falling growth in the working-age population."--Sharma, supra.

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Jony Ive Is Leaving Apple--but he's not being replaced, and the design team reporting to operations makes no sense--daringfireball.net.

 Walmart Inc’s Indian unit Flipkart said late Thursday it plans to replace nearly 40% of its current fleet of delivery vans with electric vehicles (EVs) by March 2020.

 iQiyi (domain: iqiyi.com) China’s version of Netflix, reportedly wants to enter overseas markets including North America and Japan after hitting a milestone of 100 million paying subscribers this month, even though the company has been in a cash-burning fight with Tencent’s video site and Alibaba-backed Youku Tudou in China. See also: China's Alibaba aims to double Tmall Global brands with English portal.

 Toyota to invest $2 billion in developing electric vehicles in Indonesia.

Goodbye, Chrome? Google’s web browser has become spy software ... why Firefox is better says Washington Post (owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos).

Google Drive vs. Microsoft's OneDrive: choosing the right cloud storage and collaboration service.

 Bezos Blowback? Will The AWS JEDI Scandal Upset Amazon's Omnipotence?--zerohedge.com.

The Empty Promise of Data Moats--a16z.com: data goes stale over time…

The European Digital Social Innovation Index by Nesta, published for the first time this year, found London came out on top in a ranking of 60 EU cities on indicators such as funding, skills, infrastructure and diversity. The European Digital Social Innovation Index (EDSII) is the first index ranking how different European cities support digital social innovation (DSI) and tech for good to grow and thrive. London had a significant lead over Amsterdam, which came in second place. Copenhagen, Stockholm and Paris rounded out the top five.

Personal Tech: going 'off the grid' this summer? Iridium GO!--turn any smartphone into a satellite phone--you can get access to phone calls, text, and more, 'off-grid' via the Iridium satellite network.

Parting Thoughts:
  • Tulsi Gabbard is the winner--Drudge instant poll shows Gabbard won the first Democratic debate in landslide.
  • Always "ask if the algorithm, which is a model of the world, is working the way it was designed to work. Models represent the market, and models are not reality. As Alfred Korzybski said, “The map is not the territory.”

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2019-06-28

G20 June 28-29, Trump and Xi Meeting 'Very, Very Critical' (video)

UPDATE Trump & Xi meeting--US-China Trade Talks Resume--Trump says he will allow sales of US equipment to Huawei where there are no national security issues, for now; US will not impose new tariffs on China, for now:

President Trump Press Conference, June 29, 2019, Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Xi's G-20 meeting is 'very, very critical'

Ric Deverell, Chief Economist and Global Head of Macro Strategy at Macquarie in Sydney, Australia, says, depending on what happens at the G-20 meeting between Trump and Xi, there could be a "double dip" or a sharp pick up in global growth. CNBC International TV video above published Jun 21, 2019. Macquarie Group Limited (domain: macquarie.com) is an Australian multinational independent investment bank and financial services company.

G20 Links: 


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2019-06-24

Druckenmiller on Macro Analysis of the Market, Trade, and Investing (video)

Stanley Druckenmiller: Macroeconomic Analysis of the Market, Trade and Investing 

Interview and Q&A on June 3, 2019, at the Economic Club of New York, with billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, Chairman & CEO, Duquesne Family Office LLC. Topics covered include current macroeconomic factors and the impact of changes in interest rates, the US-China trade war, and more. Transcript (auto-generated, unedited)(pdf).

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2019-06-19

Fed Chair LIVE Jun 19, 2:30pm EDT, ECB Draghi Chaos, $FB Calibra

FOMC Press Conference June 19, 2019:

Federal Reserve Press Release 19 Jun 2019 (pdf): "Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. In support of these goals, the Committee [FOMC] decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 percent."

Below are press conference exhibits: 1. unemployment rate; 2. change in real GDP.

Effective Federal Funds Rate July 1, 1954 - May 1, 2019 -- May 2019: 2.39
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting Jun 18-19, with  Fed Chair Jerome Powell news conference set for Wednesday, June 19 at 2:30 p.m. EDT. S&P expects the Fed to signal at its June policy meeting that it intends to begin cutting rates. Federal funds futures trading had been pricing in two rate cuts before the end of the year, but only a 23% probability of a cut at this June meeting. Donald Trump and Larry Summers agree that rates are too high, inflation too low, yet the Fed is still facing the results of keeping interest rates too low for too long (Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen's QE and ZIRP) the effects of which continue throughout the economy. Background: see previous FOMC press conferences (video) and federalreserve.gov and @federalreserve.

On top of that the European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi "unleashed global chaos with his preview of more stilmulus, prompting an angry response from President Trump"--more here and here and here: How The "Draghi Shock" Unleashed Chaos On Powell's Most Important Day | zerohedge.com.
Transcript of ECB President Mario Draghi, Jun 18, 2019 (pdf), video below: "... in the absence of improvement such that the (31:26) sustained return of inflation to our aim is threatened, additional stimulus will be required."

Above video published June 18, 2019 by the ECB: Introductory speech Mario Draghi, President, European Central Bank, ECB Forum on Central Banking 2019--20 Years of European Economic and Monetary Union--Sintra, Portugal, 17-19 June 2019. The European banking system lags far behind its global peers in terms of profitability and valuation (Almost Daily Grant’s, May 28). Bloomberg reports Deutsche Bank A.G. (whose shares have fallen 84% in the last nine years to less than 21% of its year-end 2018 book value) is set for another round of layoffs.

Meanwhile, Facebook just announced it will disrupt the global central banking system using a "New Digital Wallet [Calibra, domain: calibra.com] for a New Digital Currency [Libra, domain: libra.org,]" based on blockchain technology:
Today we’re sharing plans for Calibra, a newly formed Facebook [NASDAQ: FB] subsidiary whose goal is to provide financial services that will let people access and participate in the Libra network. The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology. The wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app — and we expect to launch in 2020 ....
For many people around the world, even basic financial services are still out of reach: almost half of the adults in the world don’t have an active bank account and those numbers are worse in developing countries and even worse for women. The cost of that exclusion is high — approximately 70% of small businesses in developing countries lack access to credit and $25 billion is lost by migrants every year through remittance fees. This is the challenge we’re hoping to address with Calibra, a new digital wallet that you’ll be able to use to save, send and spend Libra. From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost.
See also How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video) and


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2019-06-15

Tech Review | Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-06-15)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money, 2) Google and Facebook vs. Journalism & Democracy, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Huawei, AT&T, Verizon, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Salesforce, and more.

 1) Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money

Top entrepreneurs offer advice on how to raise money and spend it wisely. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Jun 7, 2019.

2) Google and Facebook vs. Journalism & Democracy 

Facebook and Google control 60% of the online ad market, and why that's bad for journalism and democracy, according to this CNN Business video published Jun 7, 2019.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +0.7% | S&P 500 Index +0.5% | DJIA +0.4%  *The major indexes are still showing strong gains for June — the Dow is up 5.1% and the S&P 500 is up 4.9%. 
Digital Trump ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Investor Notes: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars
US: U.S. Stocks Still Look Better Than Anywhere Else | bloomberg.com--"while American outperformance continues to defy history, the rest of the world remains trapped in a bear market."

• Editor's note: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars: US exports make up only 12% of the US economy, of which nearly a third go to Canada and Mexico, with which Trump has already made  trade deals (USMCA). In addition, many of the most valuable US exports are 'must-have' items such as Qualcomm chips. In short, Trump is playing with a much stronger hand (and he knows it), than China or Germany, the world's two largest exporters, both of which are heavy net exporters to the U.S., and upon which their economies are more dependent. Trump doesn't need to bluff, 'everyone in the game' knows he is holding the better hand (unless they are delusional or in a state of denial). China may still be trying to adjust to the culture shock of Trump's 'negotiating style' but the 'cold hard truth' is China’s Likely to Lose a Tech Cold War--bloomberg.com.

 Germany, the world's second largest exporter, and dominant member of the EU, is actually a more complicated situation than China, with Brexit still an "uncertainty"--see UK Parliament Rejects Move To Block No-Deal Brexit--but if I were advising Germany, I would be worried. Germany will likely have to adjust to a new level playing field with the U.S. in trade, something long overdue, and which Germany has never had to face in the post-World War II era (now going on for almost seventy-five years), during which the U.S. generated big trade deficits with Germany as one way to stabilize and strengthen Europe to counter the Soviet Union. See Germany Struggles to Figure Out How to Get Trump to Back Off--bloomberg.com.
"If President Trump has a poker style it is almost certainly loose aggressive. It is the most challenging style to play well and the most difficult to play against. It is very hard to read a loose aggressive player, to know what they might do next. Such players are constantly taking the initiative, dominating the game. They are predictable only in their unpredictability. Sometimes they go down in flames but usually it is the loose aggressive players that win the money. Loose aggressive stands against tight weak. President Carter would probably play tight weak as would [UK Prime Minister] Mrs. May, although it is hard to imagine either at a poker table."--Arthur Goodhart 

 • U.S. Mobility: 38 percent of US respondents say they are mobile with the resources, ability, and inclination to make a move. In fact, 5 percent of respondents say there is a 100 percent chance of their moving. The mobile are most likely to live in cities, though the income and educational background of "the mobile" and "the rooted" are similar.

• Borrowing costs are now lower than at any time since the founding of the US Federal Reserve in 1913 (or in the UK, since the Bank of England was established in 1694).
                        
EU: Foreign investment into Europe falls for first time in 7 years--CNBC International video  interview of  Andy Baldwin, EMEIA managing partner at EY, discusses the management consultancy's 2019 European Attractiveness report: "appetite to invest in Europe" has dropped to a seven-year low.

• Financial Stability, Or Lack Thereof, Drives The Eurozone Agenda | SeekingAlpha.com.

• IMF to warn Italy's debt poses major risk to euro zone economy. See also: Italy Poised to Launch Euro Parallel Currency | moneymaven.io.

• European banks? "They are burdened with an overbanked market, aging systems, a lack of resources to digitise and re-invent their services, and there are still no signs of any European banks emerging as cross border champions. European banking union is another EU initiative that seems to have drowned in the sea of bureaucracy that sinks everything. Governments still see their duty as protecting national banking champions. There is repeated regulatory failure; Danske Bank in terms of money laundering and the collapse of Spanish and Italian banks doesn’t help. No European banks are expanding, building market share. Instead they are all, and have been, retrenching. If I could think  of something positive to say about Europe ... But I really can’t"--Bill Blain Jun 4, 2019.
                        
China: the International Monetary Fund expects Chinese growth to slow to 6.2% this year and to 6% in 2020, the weakest since 1990, but many analysts believe real growth has already dipped below those levels, confirming a grim outlook for the world economy. See also The Countries with the Most Monstrous Corporate Debt Pileups.

Hong Kong: after seven hours of marching, organizers estimated 1,030,000 people took part in the protest opposing the proposed China extradition law.
                        
Not All That Glitters: the Couple Who Scammed Warren Buffett out of over $300 Million.

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
January 2019: the US Justice Department unseals Huawei indictments including 23 counts (here and here) pertaining to the alleged theft of intellectual property, obstruction of justice, and fraud related to its alleged evasion of US sanctions against Iran.
June 2019: 'Dead Man Walking' Huawei, applies to trademark its “Hongmeng” operating system (OS) in at least nine countries and Europe, deploying a back-up plan in key markets as U.S. sanctions threaten its business model. However, China's industry insiders are less optimistic that Chinese chip makers can quickly meet the challenge of supplying all the needs of Huawei and other domestic technology firms. Prospectuses of Chinese chip companies preparing to list on a new tech-focused stock exchange in China are even more blunt, characterizing China's domestic chip industry as “relatively backward,” lacking in talent, and requiring “a long time to catch up.” 
See also:
  • Huawei indefinitely postpones the announcement of a new Windows laptop, originally scheduled for June, 2019, due to ongoing US trade sanctions.
  • Google Is Moving More Hardware Production Out of China--Trump’s tariffs push tech giant to boost Taiwan manufacturing, while companies, both foreign and domestic, increasingly seek to pivot production away from China due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to reset the  parameters for global trade and manufacturing. Foxconn says it can assemble Apple iPhones outside China.

 AT&T: Dish Network Corp is open to merging its satellite television business with AT&T Inc.’s pay TV service, DirecTV, since both Dish and DirecTV are hemorrhaging subscribers as viewers continue to shift to cheaper online streaming services such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime video service. Unfortunately, AT&T's problems don't end there as AT&T appears to have no viable plan for its WarnerMedia streaming service a year after the Time Warner merger closed.

 Verizon: 7 Reasons To Turn Bearish--upcoming Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 technology may disrupt the wireless mobile industry by making free or low-cost city-wide Wi-Fi a reality.

Amazon is Betting Big On Satellite Internet. See also: Amazon is offering flight booking on its platform in India, and it wants to build a one-stop app to offer customers a wide range of services which will attract users to Amazon Pay in the crowded digital wallet industry.

A $6 Billion Record Fine may be coming next year against Apple--see Spotify's complaint against Apple filed with the European Commission--timetoplayfair.com.

Why Sell Microsoft--new tax law ramifications .. cloud computing has no moat ... Windows 10 has continuing quality and performance issues [Editor's note: most people would be better off to forget about Win10 and just get a Chromebook] ... Microsoft behind in artificial intelligence (AI).

Salesforce: $CRM all-stock deal valued at $15.7B, for data visualization company Tableau (NYSE: DATA).

Instagram, a fashionista favorite, helped unknown labels find an audience but now "big bucks are changing the game" as cash rich luxury goods groups such as LVMH and Kering use increased social media budgets to drown out rivals on platforms once seen as a leveler for brands big and small.

IPO: Pet care company Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) (domain: chewy.com), closed up 59% at $34.99 after its debut IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 14.

A Bad Use of Technology: "Illegal robocalls are not just a drain on individual households' peace of mind, they are also a drain on our economy," FCC Chief Economist Babette Boliek and Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger wrote in a blog post, before the FCC voted unanimously to let carriers block robocalls by default.

Personal Tech: Google’s Login Chief Would Rather You Use Apple’s Sign-In Button Than Keep Using Passwords--‘I honestly do think this technology will be better for the internet.’

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2019-04-12

US Government's Criminal Indictment & Arrest of Julian Assange (video)

Julian Assange arrested: What now for the Wikileaks founder?

Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, is in custody in the United Kingdom (UK) after being arrested for allegedly breaching his bail conditions. His seven-year self-imposed exile in London's Ecuadorean embassy ended dramatically April 11, 2019, after his asylum was revoked. Mr Assange also faces extradition to the United States (see below). His supporters are calling it a 'dark day for journalism.' Channel 4 News (UK) video above published Apr 11, 2019.

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 11, 2019
WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Julian P. Assange, 47, the founder of WikiLeaks, was arrested today in the United Kingdom pursuant to the U.S./UK Extradition Treaty, in connection with a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer.

According to court documents unsealed today, the charge relates to Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.

The indictment alleges that in March 2010, Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications. Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks. Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures.

During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Manning’s transmission of classified records to Assange. The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that “after this upload, that’s all I really have got left.” To which Assange replied, “curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”

Assange is charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the charges were unsealed. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kellen S. Dwyer, Thomas W. Traxler and Gordon D. Kromberg, and Trial Attorneys Matthew R. Walczewski and Nicholas O. Hunter of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case.

The extradition will be handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:18-cr-111.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court. [emphasis added]

DOJ's Indictment of Assange (pdf) embed below:

Reactions:
The extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government.--Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party

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2019-03-15

Brexit Madness - UK PM Theresa May to Ask EU for Brexit Delay (video)

Time Left Until Brexit, London time: 11:00 P.M., Friday, 12 Apr 2019 

Original Countdown to Brexit: 11:00 pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019.

 UPDATES now at  UK Dysfunction | Brexit Or Not, Final Days Or Kick The Can Again? (video)
March 25, 2019: MPs pass Letwin Amendment to seize control of the Commons agenda on Wednesday – how MPs voted--brexitcentral.com.
March 21: May dashes to salvage Brexit deal in Brussels (video); Arriving in Brussels on Thursday for an EU summit, Mrs. May did not rule out leaving the European Union without a deal reports news.sky.com which also reports EU leaders agreed to extend the March 29th deadline to Apil 12. The deadline would be extended to May 22 only if UK MPs pass the prime minister's Brexit deal by the end of next week.

See also "... The faltering and badly drafted [UK Prime Minister's] letter to Mr Tusk is unacceptable, asking as it does for a delay of three months in our exit from the EU ... I agree some MPs have been delaying Brexit as the PM says. These MPs clearly include the Prime Minister herself who has wasted far too much time on a negotiation and Agreement which the public rejects massively. The latest poll shows just 14% support  for Mrs May’s Agreement."--johnredwoodsdiary.com.

March 20: EU ultimatum to May: you can only delay Brexit if deal is passed--Channel 4 News video published March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a long extension to Brexit while she is Prime Minister. See also the Prime Minister's statement (video) later in the day on Wednesday, March 20, 2010. See also: May's Letter Asking for Only Short Extension Came as Shock to EU--"EU officials say they see the risk of a looming catastrophe and the mood in Brussels is bleak as they realize that May has backed them into a corner too."--bloomberg.com.

March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May requests three-month Brexit extension--"I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty, until 30 June 2019." --Letter in full here. See also Newspaper headlines: May's 'blame game' Brexit speech to nation | bbc.com.

But European Council President Donald Tusk said an extension would only be granted if MPs back the Prime Minister's Withdrawal Agreement next week. Three things could happen now: 1) no-deal Brexit, 2) May's 'deal' is somehow voted on yet again and passes,  or 3) UK revokes Article 50.  After Donald Tusk spoke, the UK pound sterling (GBP) fell, an indication that markets think there is now a greater chance of no-deal Brexit, but the London Stock Exchange benchmarks FTSE100 and FTSE250 have been resilient:
FTSE100
FTSE250
March 19, 2019: EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier: "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for a no-deal scenario" ... UK MPs "voting against no-deal does not prevent it  happening." See also France ready to veto any meaningless Brexit delay: Elysee official--reuters.com: "French officials say in private that they are not alone in their stance but that they are more willing than other countries to stick their necks out because Britain will always blame the French for their misfortunes."
France’s EU minister Nathalie Loiseau named her cat ‘Brexit’ because ‘he meows loudly to be let out each morning, but then refuses to go outside when she opens the door.’
March 18, 2019: House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told MPs he would not allow PM Theresa May to ask the Commons to vote a third time if the motion hadn't changed. The announcement took the government by surprise--Channel 4 News video.

 March 18, 2019: A 'Hard" a/k/a 'No Deal' Brexit will benefit UK and emerging markets, says Mark Mobius, founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners. He also says he fears a soft Brexit will prohibit the U.K.'s economic potential, video below:

Ignore the nay-sayers – here’s why we’re still on course for a clean Brexit on 29th March: "MPs are not fearful of a weak unimaginative Government desperate to push through a failed deal. Parliament does not want to re-join the EU, it does not want a referendum. It cannot ask for an extension to implement the deal if MPs don’t want the deal. And nobody could stomach another drawn-out negotiation going on for potentially years and the imminent prospect of European Elections, manifestos, campaigns and all that comes with them. Once you have eliminated all the alternatives, the conclusion is staring you in the face – the UK will leave on 29th March and take back control"--Christopher Howarth | BrexitCentral.com.

Original post March 15, 2019:
The UK Government and UK Politicians Have Made A Shambolic Mess of Brexit (and the UK civil service is complicit)
Analysis and Opinion by the Editor:
The House of Commons ended its voting on a flurry of Brexit-related motions this week with one more humiliation and embarrassment for the hapless government formed by Prime Minister Theresa May--going back to Brussels and pleading for the EU (via its 27 other members) to agree to an extension of the Brexit date of March 29, 2019, a date May and her UK government chose following the Brexit referendum results of June 23, 2016.

Wherever you live, and whatever you may think of your own national government or its politicians, pity the poor British--Brexit outside the bubble: How do the British think Brexit is going?--UK Channel 4 News video published Mar 14, 2019, indicates how all this latest Brexit chaos is being seen by people who are not obsessives confined to the Westminster bubble.

Unless the British get lucky and get a quick exit from the EU by default on March 29, 2019, their economy will likely soon "tank" due to the continual uncertainty,  the UK government having chosen a no-man's land of "neither in nor out" of the dysfunctional European Union (EU) which is already entering its own economic recession--Italy is already there, Germany and France are not far behind despite renewed "easing" by the European Central Bank (ECB)--see Euro falls as Eurozone growth forecasts slashed | cityam.com: "European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi today announced a significant downgrade in Eurozone growth predictions as he renewed a stimulus programme of cheap loans to bolster the struggling economy." (March 7, 2019)

It appears a majority in the House of Commons prefer to drown with bureaucrats in Brussels and EU member states trapped in the Eurozone, rather than swim to safety and a world full of opportunities. This is Dunkirk all over again, but the boats aren't coming this time. Don't expect even the Almighty to help those who refuse to help themselves.
Regarding Brexit, the single biggest issue gripping the U.K. is indecision, Citadel (citadel.com) billionaire founder Ken Griffin said. “Until they pick a path, it deters capital investment. Politicians don’t appreciate when they create uncertainty it kills the willingness to invest.”
President Trump Meets with the Prime Minister of Ireland

U.S. President Donald Trump and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar discuss Brexit at a press conference at the White House, March 14, 2019. Trump: "The European Union treats us very unfairly." 

UK Channel 4 News recap video of March 14, 2019, in the House of Commons: "May wins vote to seek Brexit delay"-- "In a narrow Commons victory this evening the government fought off an attempt by MPs to take control of Brexit in Parliament. Instead, Theresa May has presented a stark choice to MPs: back her deal in another vote next week - or risk a long delay to Brexit - and even the possibility of having to hold European elections in May. MPs are now expected to have a third meaningful vote on Brexit next week. That's just before Theresa May heads off to Brussels for what is currently set to be the last European summit with a British Prime Minister at the table."

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