Bullshit Artists

Yellen Says Prices `High’ for Stocks, Commercial Real Estate

"Outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said U.S. stocks and commercial real estate prices are elevated but stopped short of saying those markets are in a bubble. 'What we look at is, if stock prices or asset prices more generally were to fall, what would that mean for the economy as a whole?' Yellen said. 'And I think our overall judgment is that, if there were to be a decline in asset valuations, it would not damage unduly the core of our financial system.'"

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We May Finally See the End of Compulsory Public-Sector Union Dues

"When they insist government employee wages would plummet in the absence of a union, they’re simply confirming the workers are already earning more than their labors are actually worth on the open market. These are the kinds of hard economic truths that will be exposed when Janus is finally heard next month and the injustices that will be righted if the court this summer votes to ban mandatory dues and fees in the public sector."

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Tillerson Blames Russia By Default For Alleged Syria Chemical Attack

"Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed both Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Russia for carrying out a purported new chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta. In the same sentence Tillerson leveled the accusation against Russia, while simultaneously pointing the finger at Assad, [thus admitting] that he really doesn't know much at all about 'whoever conducted the attacks'."

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Tillerson’s open-ended Syria war proves US is stuck in mideast quicksand

"American forces went to Syria with the declared objective of pushing the ISIS terror gang out of territory it had seized there. This has been accomplished. It is an ideal moment for the U.S. to declare victory and depart. That, however, would be hauling down our flag. By Roosevelt’s logic — and evidently Tillerson’s — American soldiers should not be withdrawn from any country where they have ever been deployed."

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Jamie Dimon says he regrets calling bitcoin a fraud

"'The blockchain is real,' Dimon added in the interview. 'You can have cryptodollars in yen and stuff like that. ICOs ... you got to look at every one individually. The bitcoin was always to me what the governments are going to feel about bitcoin when it gets really big. And I just have a different opinion than other people.'"

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Jeff Sessions Faces Tough Cannabis Questions—From His Own Interns

"Sessions noted that more fatal accidents are now caused by drugs than by alcohol, and he said the American Medical Association 'is crystal clear' that 'marijuana is not a healthy substance.' But when the intern challenged that assertion, Sessions seemed dismissive, addressing the intern as 'Dr. Whatever Your Name Is.' 'I don’t think America’s going to be a better place if marijuana’s sold in every corner grocery store,' Sessions said."

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Iran supreme leader is ‘new Hitler’ says Saudi crown prince

"Saudi Arabia’s crown prince this week called Iran’s supreme leader the 'new Hitler of the Middle East.' Salman also told The New York Times the war in Yemen was 'going in its favor.' The war, which has raged since 2015, has pitted a Saudi-led coalition backed by the U.S. against the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ousted president. The war has left over 10,000 people dead, driven 3 million from their homes and destroyed the country’s already fragile infrastructure."

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