Free Republic

The stock market is currently experiencing its most overbought conditions since the early days of the pandemic, with traders displaying a fervent appetite for bullish options contracts. This surge in bullish sentiment is reminiscent of the situation leading up to the 2008-09 recession, raising concerns among seasoned analysts. A striking comparison can be drawn between the current market state and the situation in December 2021, particularly in the context of "Min vol." Despite a similar move, this time it took half the duration as volatility rapidly collapsed. The prevailing sentiment suggests that, post-options expiration (OpEx), markets are poised to surge...

The waters in the Caribbean and around Latin America for a long time have provided a path for illicit drugs to flow into the United States, but the U.S. Navy has increased its patrols in the region now looking for something else – Hezbollah terrorists, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The Navy, in trolling for mini-submarines sometimes used to transport drugs, has discovered that some of them apparently are being operated by Hezbollah. The mini-subs are small semi-submersibles, made of fiberglass and capable of carrying up to four people plus a payload. They are popular with...

Almost two years after the mortgage crisis and stock market crash, no one seems to wonder about the “September surprise” that shifted the 2008 presidential election to an unknown leftist politician who had been elected to the Senate only two years before. A pulp-fiction writer could hardly have created a more contrived and bizarre story. But this was not make-believe. No, it is now our own gritty reality show that we only wish we could turn off. The week of Sept. 15, 2008, was a debacle of huge proportions. On Monday, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while other lending institutions...

Excerpt - The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament says the country's pro-Western governing coalition has collapsed. Parliament now has 30 days either to form a new coalition or to call new elections. The alliance has fallen apart amid infighting between its leaders President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. ~ snip ~

A recent surge in arrests and cocaine seizures in Peru points to an increased presence of Mexican drug cartels, counter-narcotics officials say. The cartels have also contributed to more drug-related violence in Peruvian cities, ports and in remote valleys in this Andean country where coca, cocaine's base material, is grown, the officials say. Peruvian claims of Mexican cartels expanding echo those by officials in other Latin American countries, from Honduras to Argentina, where Mexican gangs have supplanted once-powerful Colombian cartels as kings of the illicit-drug underworld. .... That Mexican drug lords are sending emissaries here is no surprise to Hidalgo...

Excerpt - ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: In a major reshuffle in the army’s top command, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday brought in a new head of the all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), changed four of the nine corps commanders and appointed a new chief of general staff, besides giving key postings to a few others. The shake-up is the most wide-ranging since Gen Kayani took over as the COAS and perhaps even more significant since the former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf stepped down as the country’s controversial president. The move came within hours of the...

I’ve gone through only the first day of testimony from the AIG bailout trial, and we are already up to our third bombshell. The first witness called by the plaintiff, Starr International (an investment vehicle controlled by Hank Greenberg), was Scott Alvarez, general counsel for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Part of the testimony covered a discussion that took place late in the evening of September 15, the day Lehman declared bankruptcy in the wee hours of the morning. The topic was AIG. The participants included Alvarez, Timothy Geithner, Fed governors Don Kohn and Kevin Warsh, Ken Wilson, a...

U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles. Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal. Business records show one Iranian company, ABAN Commercial & Industrial Ltd., has contracted through an intermediary for more than 30,000 kilograms (about 66,000 pounds) of tungsten copper -- which can be used in missile guidance systems -- from Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. of...

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military has barred Iraqi interpreters working with American troops in Baghdad from wearing ski masks to disguise themselves, prompting some to resign and others to bare their faces even though they fear it could get them killed. --snip-- “The terps are the number one wanted here,” said A.J., a 36-year-old military interpreter, using the shorthand for his profession. “More than the Americans. More than anyone.” --snip-- U.S. military officials said they began to enforce the mask ban in September. “We are a professional Army and professional units don’t conceal their identity by wearing masks,” Lt. Col....

From: john.podesta Subject: Peter Kadzik Willing to help. Fantastic lawyer. Kept me out of jail. I'm sure Christine knows him. Wants to help. Think he would be an excellent vet lead. [Followed by a phone number.]

Both Indian and Pakistani community of Chicago and its suburbs are in a state of unrest and shock due to an unbelievable investment scam worth millions-of- dollars targeting the community and sudden disappearance of Sunrise Equities's CEO Salman Ibrahim. State regulators are considering criminal charges against a developer named Ibrahim, who fraudulently persuaded hundreds of muslims to invest in real estate deals. Some gave Ibrahim their life savings or mortgaged their homes before he disappeared in August. Investors say they may loose more than USD 50 million. Salman Ibrahim, CEO and President of the Chicago-based Shariah compliant financial services firm,...

Speaking at a National Guard Association Conference in September 2008, Joe Biden praised Defense Secretary Robert Gates, exclaiming “Thank God Gates in in charge now!” Flash forward six years later and Gates has not returned the favor. Gates wrote a new memoir, which details his time during office, revealing can’t miss tidbits and making digs at important government officials, most notably taking a jab at Vice President Biden.

House subcommittee says funding will keep command at current levelJust weeks away from standing up as the Defense Department’s newest combatant command, Africa Command is facing a serious budget shortfall. For fiscal 2009, President Bush had requested $389 million for AFRICOM, which is expected to become fully operational on Oct. 1 at its Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters. But last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on defense recommended providing only $80.6 million in funding — 80 percent less than was requested, according to Matthew Mazonkey, communications director for Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the subcommittee chairman. "The subcommittee has provided $80.6 million to...

Obama's cconomic narrative of the mortgage crisis gnores the facts. He has put free-market capitalism at the root of the current mortgage industry debacle, denying the real history of government interference in that market. On September 15, with banking giant Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection, Obama was given the opening to begin weaving his anti-capitalist storyline. And that he did. Artfully blurring the mortgage industry crisis with generalized tax policy, Obama declared, "I certainly don't fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It's a philosophy we've had for the last...

Yes, we know that politicians are famous for making campaign statements and commitments that once elected, we never hear again. But there is one exception. See if you can identify who it is! On the CBS news program, “Meet the Press,” Sunday, September 7, 2008, this candidate was asked a number of questions: 1. Why don’t you wear an American flag pin in your lapel? “As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides. There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression.”...

So, how did Sarah Palin do on her big national debut last night...?

On Friday, September 19, rank and file Republican members of Congress were notified of a conference call that would include Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. I would never disclose confidences, but it is quite public now that we were told an economic disaster was about to take this country that could be worse than the crash of 1929. Now, that’s a real attention-getter. It sure got mine. My years as a judge force me to demand factual evidence to support expert opinions. The factual evidence was then and is now less than satisfactory. Yes, credit was...

 One of them wanted to see Americans paying $8 a gallon for gasoline. Another tried to block access to domestic oil reserves that could one day exceed those in Saudi Arabia. Another thinks global warming is a dire crisis justifying a massive crackdown on energy -- decades after saying the same thing about global cooling. Yet another had a position in the one of the world’s top socialist organizations.Meet the Obama administration’s energy team.Forget everything you’ve heard about the president’s moderate picks on the economy, national security and other issues. When it comes to energy policy and related environmental concerns,...

Pajamas Media gives an exclusive look at an analysis prepared for the Department of Defense’s Irregular Warfare Support Program (IWSP) by Cross Consulting and Services in 2009 that alleges that the economic meltdown in 2008 was no accident. Kevin Freeman argued that a run-up of speculation by sovereign-wealth funds created a bubble in the oil industry that allowed bear raids on American financial institutions, using credit swaps and other non-regulated investment instruments to crash the US financial system. Bill Gertz reported on the analysis today for the Washington Times: Evidence outlined in a Pentagon contractor report suggests that financial subversion...

Full Title: "Did China or Jihadists try to bankrupt America? Pentagon report reveals financial terrorists may have triggered economic crash" Terrorists and other 'financial enemies' were likely responsible for the near collapse of the U.S. financial system in 2008, a new Pentagon report has concluded. The 2009 report, Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses, said financial terrorism by Jihadists or countries such as China may have cost the global economy $50 trillion in a series of co-ordinated strikes against the U.S. economy. In an astonishing conclusion, the report claims two unidentified traders deliberately devalued trillions of dollars' worth of stocks at...