Documents obtained by journalist and Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren reportedly show that the Obama administration had an opportunity to arrest convicted murderer Joran van der Sloot during a sting operation, only days before he committed a second murder.
The post Natalee Holloway Murderer’s Deadly Twist: Trump’s DOJ Releases Docs on FBI Decisions That May Have Cost a Life Under Eric Holder appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters on Sunday that Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin “has my full support” after multiple news outlets detailed an increasingly stressed national party chair struggling with morale. “The chairman has my full support,” the top House Democrat said while campaigning in Pennsylvania, according to NOTUS. “We look forward to our continued partnership.” The…
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) has still not weighed in on the Minnesota Democratic Senate primary race with an endorsement, but on Monday, his wife did. Minnesota’s first lady, Gwen Walz, backed Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) in her race against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D-MN) to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by retiring Sen. Tina […]
White House officials and insiders are growing increasingly worried that President Donald Trump may soon move forward with an idea they fear could “plunge the U.S. and global economy off a steep cliff,” Zeteo reported Sunday, and one that could be executed “as soon as within the coming days.”Trump’s idea, as he told Axios last week, was to stage a “massive attack” on Iran and reignite the conflict in a bid to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table on terms more favorable to Washington. However, “practically everyone in Trump’s inner circle” believes Trump’s plan is doomed to fail, Zeteo reported after speaking with multiple White House insiders.“Terrible f------ idea,” one White House adviser told Zeteo regarding their thoughts on Trump’s plan, speaking on the condition of anonymity.“Trump has no f------ way out,” a senior administration official told Zeteo, also speaking on the condition of anonymity.A third White House official, also speaking anonymously, told Zeteo there was "almost no scenario where Americans don't die" if Trump moves forward. And yet, despite the apparent consensus among Trump’s inner circle that further escalation would be unwise, one major "problem” persisted.“[The vast majority of Trump’s most senior advisers are] too scared to just say it to the president,” a U.S. official told Zeteo, also under the condition of anonymity. “No one is just telling Trump this won’t work… They soft-sell it or tone it down when they talk to the president about this, when what they all should be doing is telling him that none of this is going to work and it will destroy everything he’s worked for.”The White House insiders’ fears were further supported by recent reporting from The New York Times about a secret meeting on Friday between Trump and his top advisers, during which the majority of those close to Trump advised against intensifying attacks on Iran.
The Federal Reserve typically telegraphs its interest rate moves in advance, then follows through. This week will provide the clearest evidence yet on whether chairman Kevin Warsh is ending the era of the no-surprises Fed.The big picture: Markets are now putting meaningful odds on the Fed delivering an interest rate hike at the conclusion of its two-day meeting this week.If the Federal Open Market Committee were to do so, it would suggest a new era in which the central bank is less predictable — accepting more volatility and surprise as the price to be paid for greater policy nimbleness.State of play: In the final public communications before the Fed entered its pre-meeting blackout period, signs were pointing to the FOMC leaving rates unchanged at this meeting, but holding out the possibility of a future rate hike if inflation doesn't move down.Since then, there has been a re-escalation of hostilities in the Persian Gulf that sent oil prices and longer-term bond yields upward.That led traders to put greater weight on the possibility of a rate hike — currently about 34% in the CME's FedWatch tool, up from 16% a week ago.Zoom out: Warsh often speaks of not pre-judging the outcome of policy meetings and of officials going in with an open mind and having a "family fight" decide optimal policy.That would imply a wider aperture of potential moves (or non-moves) than has been the norm under his immediate predecessors.Yes, but: The flip side of greater agility in policy is that there is more risk of appearing skittish and overly reactive to the latest headlines.If Fed officials were inclined to be a bit more patient on raising rates 10 days ago, should a $10 move in the price of crude oil (much of which has already reversed itself) really shake those plans?Warsh will face pressure in a post-meeting news conference Wednesday to explain either a move or non-move more clearly than he has been inclined to do in his public comments to date.What they're saying: "Since markets have priced in about a one-third chance at this meeting, there will be some surprise no matter what the FOMC does," Bill English, a former top Fed economist, tells Axios."They should do the right thing, given the information they have," adds English, now a professor at the Yale School of Management. "I don't see a problem with the Committee surprising markets at a particular meeting — that should happen from time to time," he says. "But I do see a problem with not explaining the reasoning behind a move (or lack of move) because that could lead markets to react unexpectedly."Of note: The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged last week, with Warsh's European counterpart Christine Lagarde arguing that policymakers could not overinterpret fast-moving swings in oil prices while the conflict remained unresolved."We have seen so abrupt changes, occurring in a matter of days, not just in terms of the level of the conflict but also the consequences in terms of energy prices," Lagarde told reporters.A brief history of surprise Fed rate movesIn recent decades, the Fed has surprised markets most often when it aims to send a deliberate shock through the system.In the 2008 global financial crisis, and again in the 2020 onset of the pandemic, several emergency meetings resulted in supersized rate cuts, intended to instill confidence that the Fed wouldn't allow an economic collapse.Conversely, supersized interest rate hikes starting in June 2022 hoped to signal the Fed's resolve to contain inflation.The intrigue: Those were undertaken in extreme circumstances — not just routine adjustments to try to recalibrate rates based on the state of the economy, but rather moments when the surprise itself was part of the goal.And even in those cases, the moves weren't complete shocks on the day of the meeting. In June 2022, a last-minute pivot to a supersized 0.75-point rate increase was preceded by press reports foreshadowing the decision.Flashback: When the FOMC met in September 2008, two days after Lehman Brothers failed, it elected not to adjust interest rates. Many officials spoke of the need to wait to see how the event rippled through the economy before taking action."In uncertain circumstances like these, I think it would be unwise to react too hastily to a fluid situation," said then-St. Louis Fed president James Bullard.Zoom in: The downside of surprising markets was evident with the "taper tantrum" in May 2013, when chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed could soon begin slowing its quantitative easing policies.That took bond markets by surprise and fueled a sell-off, driving longer-term interest rates sharply higher at a time when the U.S. economic recovery was tenuous — which hadn't been Bernanke's intention.The episode weighed on then-governor Jerome Powell, who said in a September 2015 policy meeting that he didn't want to raise interest rates until market odds were "way north of 50 percent.
The wife of Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was shot Sunday at their home in the Northern Virginia suburb of Ashburn, police said. The shooting, which was first reported by ESPN, occurred on the 20000 block of Northpark Drive, where police said they were called just after 7:30 p.m. ESPN reported that Mia…
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