Etta Jones Channel

First 100 tracks generated by Pandora's algo ... bit of a mystery why Etta Jones is relatively unknown?

1. Etta Jones -- Solitude
2. Etta James -- Fool That I Am
3. Nancy Wilson -- Teach Me Tonight
4. Ray Charles -- Georgia On My Mind
5. Etta Jones -- Nature Boy [i do like her style/sound]
6. Louis Armstrong -- I Wonder
7. Billie Holiday -- Fine And Mellow (Live)
8. Otis Redding -- I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)
9. Mose Allison -- You Won't Let Me Go
10. Etta Jones -- Don't Go To Strangers
11. Billie Holiday -- Stormy Weather
12. Shirley Horn -- Fever
13. Nat King Cole -- Unforgettable
14. Etta Jones -- Old Folks
15. Billie Holiday -- All Of Me
16. Aretha Franklin -- (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Mono Single Version)
17. John Coltrane -- Say It (Over And Over Again)
18. Ray Charles & The COunt Basie Orchestra -- Georgia On My Mind
19. Dinah Washington – Crazy He Calls Me
20. Ernestine Anderson – What A Difference A Day Made [she’s good]
21. Etta James – The Man I Love
22. Ella Fitzgerald – I Get A Kick Out Of You
23. Etta Jones – I’ll Be There
24. Ray Charles – Georgia On My Mind (1960)
25. Etta James – These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
26. Beryl Booker – Someone To Watch Over Me
27. Louis Armstrong – A Kiss To Build A Dream On
28. Etta Jones – Love Walked In
29. Ben Webster (Billie Holiday) – Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me
30. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Dream A Little Dream Of Me
31. Dinah Washington – There’ll Be Some Changes Made
32. Billie Holiday – You Go To My Head
33. Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa – Your Heart Is As Black As Night
34. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – The Nearness Of You
35. Ray Brown Trio – Poor Butterfly (feat. Etta Jones)
36. Madeleine Peyroux – Smile
37. Etta Jones – If I Had You
38. Billie Holiday – Blue Moon
39. Nina Simone – Feeling Good
40. Otis Redding – Stand By Me
41. Ella Fitzgerald – Summertime
42. Billie Holiday – Until The Real Thing Comes Along
43. Etta Jones – Blw Top Blues
44. Ray Charles – Georgia On My Mind (1955)
45. Blossom Dearie – Someone To Watch Over Me
46. Nina Simone – My Baby Just Cares For Me
47. Bill Withers – Ain’t No Sunshine
48. Ben E. King – Stand By Me
49. Ben Webster – When I Fall In Love
50. Bille Holiday – The Very Thought Of You
51. Etta Jones – Since I Fell For You
52. Sarah Vaughan – They Can’t Take That Away From Me
53. Ella Fitzgerald – Guilty
54. Etta James – I Just Want To Make Love To You
55. Maxine Sullivan – S’posin’
56. Etta Jones – Someday My Prince Will Come
57. Billie Holiday – Come Rain Or Shine
58. Nina Simone – Exactly Like You [great piano playing from Nina]
59. Etta James – All I Could Do Was Cry
60. Ella Fitzgerald – Love You Madly
61. Dinah Washington – Is You Or Is You Ain’t My Baby
62. Billie Holiday – Loveless Love
63. Diana Krall – I’m Just A Lucky So And So [boring white Canadian deserves a thumbs down]
64. Pearl Bailey – Old Man, You Been Gone Too Long
65. Etta Jones – Just Friends
66. Dinah Washington – Embraceable You
67. Sarah Vaughan – I’ve Got The World On A String
68. Nat King Cole – Stardust
69. Pearl Bailey – Frankie And Johnny
70. Melody Gardot – Your Heart Is As Black As Night [blonde youngster, better than Krall]
71. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Don’t Be That Way
72. Etta James – Stormy Weather
73. Nina Simone – I Loves You Porgy
74. Anita O’Day – Memories of You
75. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Tenderly
76. Etta Jones – Mean To Me
77. Louis Jordan – Is You Or Is You Ain’t My Baby
78. Ray Charles – Georgia On My Mind (Live LA 9/20/64) [heard this one enough]
79. Dinah Washington – After You’ve Gone
80. Billie Holiday – Jim
81. Etta Jones – Blues To End All Blues
82. Carmen McRae – Exactly Like You
83. Doris Day – It Had To Be You
84. Etta James – Trust In Me
85. Etta Jones – Salty Papa Blues
86. Billie Holiday – I Can’t Face The Music
87. Nat King Cole – When I Fall In Love
88. Rosemary Clooney – Good Morning Heartache
89. Etta Jones – Canadian Sunset
90. Ella Fitzgerald – Isn’t It Romantic
91. Nina Simone – I Put A Spell On You
92. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Love Is Here To Stay
93. Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind [great live version with rowdy crowd]
94. John Coltrane – Like Someone In Love
95. Ella Fitzgerald – I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
96. Nancy Wilson – Call It Stormy Monday
97. Billie Holiday – Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me [algo repeating itself]
98. Georgie Auld – Taking A Chance On Love
99. Etta Jones – How Deep Is The Ocean
100. Dianne Reeves – The Nearness Of You / Misty

Movies Watched -- Force Majeure

Watched this one awhile ago and wrote a post but SquareSpace got hung up and lost it ... second attempt, foggier memory. Wasn't that thrilled with it.  Beautiful Swedish couple with two bratty kids on a ski holiday in France (they have money). They have a close call with an avalanche and the Dad doesn't try to protect his wife and kids but runs away.  This act of cowardice and selfishness makes everything fall apart (as it should). Movie makes weak modern men ask themselves, "would I do that?" 

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Movies Watched -- Crossfire

This one wasn't so great, preachy ... heavy-handed moralizing ... how big a problem was anti-Semitism in 1947? Jews being beaten to death in America by strangers for being Jews? Did this ever happen?... Mitchum is in it but he's kind of sleepwalking through it. Not recommended.

UPDATE: I watched the "featurette" that accompanied the movie and they explained the story was originally about a homosexual marine who was beaten to death by three of his fellow marines, which is believable ... probably happened hundreds of times? but the censors in 1955 wouldn't allow it, so they changed it to the improbable beating death of a Jew. As an aside, the many stories of soldiers killing their commanding officers or fellow soldiers is interesting, and I thought this was going to be Don Draper's story in Mad Men, but they pussyfooted around and made it an "accident" in his case. 

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Movies Watched -- Out of the Past

Enjoyed this one ... Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and various femmes fatale. Snappy dialogue, lots of precious one-liners. Wild California.  This post says the mansion on Lake Tahoe is "Vikingsholm." Noir from 1947. See it if you get the chance.

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Avago and Broadcom Pops, 1 Minute View

Didn't have the scanner running but clearly it would have picked these up pronto ... refresh rate ideally 10 seconds on the scan? Dunno, will have to work on it once back in the proper timezone ... when I'm not doing yard work.  Always happy to talk with humans (no bots, please) who caught this in real-time.

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My buddy @HCPG was kind enough to share a ten tick chart of BRCM with me ... this is a better way to view these pops:

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StockTwits stream for AVGO ... NewsHedge_Squawk and danshep55 on top of it. 

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StockTwits stream for BRCM ... OpenOutcrier not on his usual game with a 14:00 post:

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Beijing Restaurants -- Noodle Bar

I scootered over to the Jing A Taproom intending to have lunch there only to discover that they open at 5 PM. It's up in the 1949 compound behind the IBM building.  It took me 18 minutes and 8 seconds (approximately) to get there from my office the way the scooter flies (via Er Huan).

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Below are the hours of the Jing A Taproom.  There was a friendly handsome bearded white guy in there (in addition to a gaggle of youngsters staring into laptops) who told me they open at 5 PM.  I should have called ahead but that isn't my style. 

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See the QR code there?  Yes, big in China. 

Next door to the Taproom is the old Noodle Bar, which has been there for many many years, so I had lunch there.  Here's the lunch menu:

I got the set lunch (beef brisket, tendon, and tripe) with thick spinach noodles, snack, and oolong tea for 48 kuai (US$7.74) (actually turned out to be 58 kuai (US$9.35) since the spinach noodles are 10 kuai extra -- not disclosed on the menu or verbally at the time, to my annoyance, though of course they were effusively apologetic later and I didn't make a scene like I would have done in my youth, mainly to show off my ability to scream "fluently" and at length in Chinese) .

I also got a small bottle of Heineken for the low low price of 45 kuai (US$7.25) since I was in the mood for beer, any beer. Oh, I also got the deep-fried tofu cubes with pepper and salt, which are excellent beer food, if you didn't know.  

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Deep-fried tofu, good beer food

You can sit in the courtyard, which was pleasant on a warm day like today, though the air quality left something to be desired (05-27-2015 12:00; PM2.5; 111.0; 180; Unhealthy (at 24-hour exposure at this level)). Below are my thick spinach noodles with brisket, tripe and tendon (see them all floating there?). They were OK. I'm not big on tripe or tendon but I'm not picky either, I'll eat anything (once). 

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Spinach noodley with floating bits

There is a 10% service charge (the horror!?!), but they do take credit cards and were quick with the fapiao. They did collect the money upfront which always makes me uncomfortable, like they think you're going to pull a runner, but it's actually nice simply to get up and leave when you're finished. Grand total was 133 kuai (US$21.44).

I scootered back to the office via San Huan which took 16 minutes 47 seconds (approximately) the way the scooter flies. 

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salesforce.com Pop, 1 Minute View

Things that take off during the lunch hour (esp. before a three day weekend) really stand out ... every day trader (and our bot brethren) on planet earth was on top of this from 13:02. 

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StockTwits stream at the time ... David Faber talking on CNBC the cause? ... Newshedge_Squawk on top of it as usual followed by a gentleman in Moscow ... it's a small world. 

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Quest Diagnostics Pop, 1 Minute View

I did have the scanner running on Friday ... DGX was #2 on it at 10:29 AM and then went to #1 for many minutes thereafter ... if you were fast enough you could have made some money ... slow and it would have been a scratch ... very slow and you would have lost a bundle. Let me look at the Twitter feed mentioned in this Bloomberg piece:

“Quest shares gave up most of their gains within minutes. They were up 6.9 percent to $79.07 at 11:07 a.m. in New York. In his tweet, since removed, Joe Kunkle, known as @OptionsHawk, said Quest had hired Goldman Sachs & Co. after receiving a $95-a-share approach. A Quest spokesman didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.”

Tweet simply conveyed a market rumor, says the author. I'd like to know the time stamp of the deleted tweet ... was it 10:29 AM or earlier?  

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StockTwits stream from the time... WallStJesus and OptionRunners both noted unusual activity in calls before my scanner picked up stock movement at 10:29 AM.

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Nanex posted a nice chart, as usual ... professional traders need a good data feed like his, $9.99 isn't going to cut it. 

ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- May 25, 2015

Timing all wrong in the bonds, getting long at the end of March... those little nicks and cuts add up.  

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ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- May 18, 2015

Took the loss in my ill-timed gold short and reversed.

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Yahoo Drop, 1 Minute View

Did not have the scanner running but assume it would have chirped at 15:34. I do know how to spell "unusual," though you wouldn't know it from my chart annotations. 

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Movies Watched -- Feuchtgebiete (Wetlands)

Tries to shock and revolt and succeeds ... a gross-out story from Germany about a screwed-up girl with boyish good looks who has hemorrhoids and hasn't read Charles Willeford's classic book, "A guide for the undehemorrhoided" ... she has terrible, cruel parents (esp. her mother) which explains a lot of her behavior (spoiler: it's revealed late in the movie that the worst of her many childhood traumas was her mother's attempted suicide/filicide of her baby brother) ... but it has a sort of weirdly conventional ending.

I did watch it to the end and didn't fast forward (it is under 100 minutes) so it earns a yellow rating. Can't recommend it. I'm sure many people can't make it even ten minutes in, but if you're difficult to disgust, you might enjoy it.  

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Etta James Channel

First 50 tracks generated by the Pandora algo:

1. Etta James -- All I Could Do Is Cry
2. Ray Charles -- I Got A Woman
3. Sam Cooke --A Change Is Gonna Come
4. Otis Redding --Send Me Some Lovin'
5. Etta James -- At Last
6. Etta Jones -- Till There Was You [not familiar with her, liked it]
7. Ray Charles -- Fever (feat. Natalie Cole) 
8. Buddy Guy --Ain't No Sunshine (feat. Tracy Chapman) 
9. Etta James --Don't Cry Baby 
10. Billie Holiday -- Easy Living 
11. Aretha Franklin --The Weight 
12. Otis Redding -- These Arms Of Mine (Live) 
13. The Penguins -- Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) 
14. Sam Cooke --One More Time Etta James -- I Prefer You 
15. Al Green -- Here I Am (Come And Take Me) 
16. The Flamingos -- I Only Have Eyes For You
17. Billie Holiday -- I Must Have That Man
18. Etta James -- My Dearest Darling
19. Otis Redding -- A Fool For You
20. Billie Holiday -- These Foolish Things
21. Natalie Cole -- The Very Thought Of You [underwhelming, she's only somebody's daughter]
22. Dusty Springfield -- Son Of A Preacher Man
23. Melody Gardot -- Quiet Fire
24. Etta James -- Lovin' Arms [good one, who else has covered?]
25. Little Willie John -- Fever
26. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas -- Tell It Like It Is
27. Aretha Franklin -- Let It Be
28. Sam Cooke -- There'll Be No Second Time
29. Nat King Cole -- Smile
30. Garnet Mimms -- It's Just A Matter Of Time
31. Billie Holiday -- Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
32. Ann Peebles -- I Can't Stand The Rain
33. Dean Martin -- Sway
34. Ray Charles -- Mess Around
35. Etta James -- W-O-M-A-N
36. Bobby Darin -- Dream Lover
37. Percy Sledge -- You've Really Got A Hold On Me
38. Otis Redding -- Cupid
39. Mable John -- You Made A Fool Out Of Me
40. Ray Charles -- Uchain My Heart
41. Elkie Brooks -- I'd Rather Go Blind
42. Otis Redding -- Something Is Worrying Me
43. Billie Holiday -- They Can't Take That Away From Me
44. Etta James -- At Last (Live)
45. Nina Simone -- In The Dark
46. Ray Charles -- Don't Set Me Free [backing vocals good]
47. Ella Fitzgerald -- I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues
48. Al Green -- What It's All About
49. Frank Sinatra & Count Basie -- Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
50. Melody Gardot -- Worrisome Heart

Paul Robeson Channel

First 50 tracks generated by Pandora's algo:

1. Paul Robeson -- There's A Man Goin' Round Takin' Names
2. Harry T. Burleigh -- Go Down Moses
3. Pete Seeger -- Passing Through
4. Louis Armstrong -- Dream A Little Dream Of Me
5. Paul Robeson -- Ol' Man River
6. Nina Simone -- Little Girl Blue
7. Bill McAdoo and Pete Seeger -- Wade In The Water
8. Louis Armstrong -- What A Wonderful World
9. Keb' Mo' -- The Times They Are A-Changin'
10. Paul Robeson -- Some Day He'll Make It Plain To Me
11. Rufus Wainwright -- Hallelujah
12. Edward H.S. Boatner -- Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
13. Leadbelly -- Looky, Looky Yonder
14. Paul Robeson -- Vi Azoi Der Keyser
15. Pete Seeger -- If I Had A Hammer
16. Nina Simone -- Feelin' Good
17. Bill MaCadoo -- I Don't Want No Jim Crow Coffee
18. Bob Dylan -- The Times They Are A-Changin' (Bootleg Series Version)
19. Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee -- Oh, What A Beautiful City
20. Pete Seeger -- The Big Rock Candy Mountain
21. Nina Simone -- Trouble In Mind (Live)
22. Bill McAdoo and Pete Seeger -- Eight-Hundred Miles
23. Keb' Mo' -- You Can Love Yourself
24. Pete Seeger -- Midnight Special (Live)
25. Etta James -- A Sunday Kind Of Love [one of her greats]
26. Leadbelly -- I Want To Go Home
27. Pink Anderson -- Weeping Willow Blues
28. Tom Waits -- Kentucky Avenue
29. K.D. Lang -- Hallelujah
30. Jimmie Davis -- The Shotgun Wedding
31. Billie Holiday -- I'll Be Seeing You (#3)
32. Tom Waits -- Cold Cold Ground
33. Leadbelly -- De Kalb Woman
34. Bill McAdoo -- I Dram Of A World
35. Nina Simone -- Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair
36. Johnny Cash -- Far Away Places [great stuff, esp. his prologue]
37. Mississippi John Hurt -- Casey Jones
38. Jimmie Davis -- Davis' Last Day Blues (1923 Blues)
39. Pink Anderson -- I Got A Woman 'Way Cross Town
40. Paul Robeson -- Kevin Barry
41. Woody Guthrie -- Cocaine Blues
42. Bing Crosby -- A Cockeyed Optimist
43. Little Brother Montgomery -- This Train
44. Paul Robeson -- Joe Hill
45. Pete Seeger -- Swanee River
46. Bill McAdoo -- Go Down Moses
47. Blind Willie McTell -- Travelin' Blues
48. Paul Robeson -- Little Gal
49. Lightnin' Hopkins -- What'd I Say? [good stuff]
50. Tom Waits -- Johnsburg, Illinois

Avon Messy Pop, 1 Minute View

A fake bid was submitted at 11:34:17 for Avon ... as Eric (@nanexllc) mentioned, it was late in the 11:35 bar when the stock finally began to react... reader bots skeptical and required human intervention? ... anyway, you can't see in my one minute chart below what a realistic entry and exit would have looked like, you need to drop to a tick chart for that ... also my chart doesn't reflect the multiple halts the stock suffered, and what a mess the non-bunched chart looks like.

I assume they will find whoever put in the fake bid and will jail them. It's easy to track large purchases of call options (the options markets are incredibly illiquid and it takes milliseconds to detect unusual activity) so the SEC, even working at government bureaucrat speed, should be able to uncover the culprits within a day or two.

UPDATE: They got him fairly fast, the amusingly named NEDko NEDev. Funny post from Matt Levine.

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Morgan Heritage Channel

First 50 tracks generated by the Pandora algo:

1. Morgan Heritage -- Man Is Still A Man
2. Bob Marley -- Roots (B-Side Of Waiting In Vain)
3. Jah Cure -- Love Is
4. Beres Hammond -- One Love One Life
5. Morgan Heritage -- Reggae Road Block
6. Duane Stephenson -- Fool For You
7. Anthony B -- World A Reggae Music
8. Gyptian -- One More Night
9. Buju Banton -- We'll Be Alright
10. Morgan Heritage -- Down By The RIver
11. DaVille -- Give Thanks For What You've Got
12. Capleton -- Never Share
13. Richie Spice -- Take It Easy
14. Morgan Heritage -- Mission In Progress
15. Beres Hammond -- Love From A Distance
16. Duane Stephenson -- Heaven Will Rise Up
17. Steel Pulse -- Reggae Fever
18. Dennis Brown -- Wisdom
19. Bob Marley -- Roots, Rock, Reggae (Unreleased Single Mix)
20. Beres Hammond -- No Goodbye
21. Alborosie -- You Make Me Feel Good
22. Garnett Silk -- Hello Africa
23. Steel Pulse -- Find It ... Quick!
24. Lucky Dube -- Together As One
25. Tarrus Riley -- Love Created (Marcus Teaching)
26. Sizzla -- Smoke Marijuana
27. Mr. Vegas -- Do You Know
28. Luciano -- Wish You Were Mine
29. Collie Buddz -- Sensimillia
30. Bob Marley -- Kinky Reggae
31. Warrior King -- King
32. Stephen Marley -- Fed Up
33. Natural Black -- Conquer Dem
34. Bob Marley -- Three Little Birds
35. Luciano -- Trod Out
36. Third World (Reggae) -- 96 Degrees In The Shade (Live)
37. Steel Pulse -- Blues Dance Raid
38. George Nooks -- Troubled Heart
39. Richie Spice -- Ghetto Girl
40. Bascom X -- Lonely X
41. Cocoa Tea -- Goof Life
42. Gregory Isaacs -- Front Door
43. Sly & Robbie -- Murder She Wrote (feat. Chaka Demus & Pliers)
44. T.O.K. -- Footprints
45. Bob Marley -- Exodus (Live)
46. Morgan Heritage -- New Time, New Sign
47. Nanko -- Lucky You
48. Anthony B -- Waan Back (live)
49. Gentleman -- Blessing Of Jah
50. Morgan Heritage -- Talkin' Bout War

BlackBerry Pop, 2 Minute View

I actually saw this one in real-time on Monday (scanner chirping), but I was watching the penultimate episode of Mad Men and couldn't be bothered; would have been a great trade. The Engadget review came out at 11:30 so it obviously isn't what drove this (what do you expect from TheStreet.com, sheesh) ... obviously there was a take-out rumor in the market, look at that fatty bar ... every day trader picked up on it within seconds ... the bots of course are milliseconds ahead, even ahead of the Chairman himself, slumped in chair, bowl of popcorn balanced on belly.

Forgot to grab the data so we have to make due with a two minute view here: 

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Tessanne Chin Channel

First 50 songs generated by the Pandora algo:

1. Tessanne Chin -- Everything Reminds Me Of You
2. Jah Cure -- Before I Leave
3. Tessanne Chin -- Underneath It All (The Voice Performance)
4. Beres Hammond -- Rockaway
5. Sean Paul -- I'm Still In Love With You
6. Gyptian -- Beautiful Lady
7. Tessanne Chin -- If I Were Your Woman ( The Voice Performance)
8. Alaine -- Whine
9. Collie Buddz -- Mamacita
10. Sean Paul -- Hold My Hand
11. Wayne Wonder -- Love And Affection
12. Morgan Heritage -- Make It Official
13. Busy Signal -- Come Over (Missing You)
14. DaVille -- I'm In Love WIth You
15. Gyptian -- Weak In The Knees
16. Tessanne Chin -- I Have Nothing (The Voice Performance)
17. Jah Cure -- True Reflections
18. Wayne Wonder -- I Still Believe
19. Beres Hammond -- No Disturb Sign
20. Tessanne Chin -- Next To Me (The Voice Performance)
21. Tarrus RIley -- She's Royal
22. DaVille -- This Time I Promise
23. Beres Hammond -- Sweet Lies
24. Gregory Isaacs -- Night Nurse
25. Beres Hammond -- Not For Sale
26. June Lodge & Prince Mohammed -- Someone Loves You Honey
27. Richie Spice -- Brown Skin
28. Morgan Heritage -- Don't Haffi Dread [not bad]
29. Tessanne Chin -- Firework
30. Tarrus Riley -- Start Anew
31. Da Ville -- Always On My Mind
32. Morgan Heritage -- Nothing To Smile About [liked it]
33. Etana -- I Am Not Afraid
34. Beres Hammond -- I Feel Good
35. Tarrus Riley -- Human Nature
36. Richie Spice -- Youth Dem Cold
37. Busy Signal -- Come Over
38. Alaine – Deeper
39. Jah Cure – World Cry
40. Etana – Warrior Love
41. Queen Ifrica – Keep It Yourself
42. Tessanne China -- Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)(The Voice Performance)
43. Beres Hammond – Body & Soul
44. Bob Marley – Turn Your Lights Down Low
45. DaVille – Can’t Get Over You
46. Beres Hammond – Rock Away
47. Shontelle – Life Is Not An Easy Road
48. Gentleman – Unconditional Love
49. Bob Marley – One Love
50. Tarrus Riley – Love’s Contagious

Drifting Into Progressively More Adversarial Positions

A speech by David Lampton from earlier this year, "A Tipping Point in U.S.-China Relations is Upon Us," is worth reading ... he tries to take a balanced approach. 

“Confidence that a growing middle class, exposure to the world, and integration with it would produce growing value and/or interest convergence over time is challenged by the PRC’s perceived domestic political tightening and muscularity abroad ... the hope that economic interdependence would produce tolerable security cooperation increasingly is questioned.”

The China Fantasy is over, right?

I liked this line:

“In the United States, elections put a premium on finding security issues that exert a powerful influence over voter behavior and justify larger military budgets in a constrained fiscal environment. ”

In other words, politicians have to find a new bogeyman that scares the booboisie enough to justify continued support for the military-industrial complex. China a much better hobgoblin than a ragtag bunch of fanatical Islamists. 

Movies Watched -- Killer of Sheep

This was on Spike Lee's list of must-see movies, and I'd never heard of it, so I checked it out.  Quit (fast-forwarded) after about fifteen minutes, too depressing, and an amateur production.  Poor blacks living in Watts ... father works in a slaughterhouse ... I was most interested in the scenes of lambs being butchered ... some good music, I've screenshot all the music selections below, which may be of interest.

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