United States

North Korea swiftly quashed hopes for a détente with the US and its regional allies earlier this week when a government spokesman said there would be no sit-down between US and North Korean diplomats at a non-proliferation conference in Moscow this week.

Now that the North – presumably taking its ques from President Donald Trump who earlier this month ridiculed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s attempts at backchanneling – has refused to participate in talks, tensions between the two nuclear-armed powers have escalated to absurd new heights.

USA, USA, USA!!!

The rise of mass incarceration in the U.S. in 10 seconds (Animated version of Fig.1.1 from Incarceration Nation: https://t.co/KC5J9EeU8l) pic.twitter.com/4qnJoCDZk5

— Peter K. Enns (@pete_enns) October 19, 2017

As we noted previously, the over-criminalization of America is a relatively recent trend. As Holly Harris notes:

Former President George W. Bush came out swinging against the current administration on Thursday, and while he did not name President Castro, Dubya blasted that "bigotry seems emboldened" in the U.S., while urging the country to accept "globalization" - the same globalization which both the IMF, the BIS and even the Federal Reserve now agree and warn has led to record wealth inequality in the US - while rejecting "white supremacy."

"Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed," Bush said.

Yesterday we wrote about the FBI's undercover informant in the Russian nuclear bribery scandal who tried to come forward with his story last year but was silenced after being "threatened" by the Obama administration (full summary at the bottom of this post). 

Back in mid-July, BofA's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett predicted that the "most dangerous moment for market will come in 3 or 4 months." Well, we are now "between 3 and 4" months since the forecast fate and the most dangerous moment we have experienced since then, ironically, is today's modest selloff on the 30 year anniversary of Black Monday. So looking back at his forecast, has Hartnett thrown in the towel on calls for a correction, and joined all the other BTFDers?