RUTHFULLY YOURS

Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros lost nearly $1 billion as a result of the stock-market rally spurred by Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election.

But Stanley Druckenmiller, Mr. Soros’s former deputy who helped Mr. Soros score $1 billion of profits betting against the British pound in 1992, anticipated the market’s recent climb and racked up sizable gains, according to people close to the matter.

The two traders’ divergent bets are a stark reminder of the challenges even acclaimed investors have faced following Mr. Trump’s unexpected victory. Many experts had predicted a tumble for stocks in the wake of the election, but instead the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed about 9% since Election Day.

Stocks have fallen broadly in the past couple of sessions, hurt in part by a reversal for smaller companies and the financial industry. A decline in both sectors helped push the Dow industrials down more than 150 points in the past two sessions.

For the past couple of years, hedge funds and other professional investors have complained that placid conditions made it difficult to generate trading profits. Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and Moore Capital Management, both multibillion-dollar hedge-fund firms, are among those that managed to turn a losing year into a winning one after the election, according to people familiar with them.

Last year, Mr. Soros returned to trading at Soros Fund Management LLC, which manages about $30 billion for Mr. Soros and his family. Mr. Soros was lured back by perceived opportunities to profit from economic troubles he was anticipating in China, within the European Union and elsewhere, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s alleged kinky escapade in a Moscow hotel never passed the sniff test, despite the whiff of uric acid his detractors claimed to discern in that improbable briefing paper. Nevertheless, in emptying a chamber pot of suspicion on the incoming president, it served its purpose.
It was almost official as of a day or two ago: Donald Trump is a urine fetishist beholding to Vladimir Putin, who has in his vault surreptitiously filmed footage that will make the incoming president now and forever the Kremlin’s servant and tool. Laughable nonsense and now largely discounted in its most explicit details, there remains a distinctly Russian angle to the farce best summarised by the Western saying ‘no smoke without the fire’. Smoke smears and sullies those over whom it is blown, and this would seem to have been the intent of those who so eagerly believed and propagated the monstrous absurdity of pee parties in the presidential suite of Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton.

Rumor, innuendo, gossip, slander, defamation, mudslinging – call it what you will, but do not overlook the intended result: to de-legitimize a president before he can begin to implement his agenda. That such an improbable tale gained traction can be explained by something the best liars understand as if my instinct: start with verifiable and accepted facts as your lie’s foundation, then weave mischief amongst them.

Thus we begin with the fact that Trump visited in Moscow in 2013 and stayed at the same hotel as did Obama and his family in 2009. Now add another known fact: that the honey trap has been a favourite means of ensnarement since Adam was persuaded by Eve to eat that fateful apple. The KGB raised the gambit almost to an art form.

Consider, for example, the compromising of French Ambassador Maurice Dejean, who was ‘caught’ during an illicit tryst with his KGB lover by her ‘husband’. Damaged goods, he was dismissed by Charles De Gaulle, his wartime friend. Then there was Sir Geoffrey Harrison, British ambassador to Moscow and the tall, elegant and dignified epitome of of the stiff-upper-lip Englishman. He was entrapped by his chambermaid but confounded the spooks by reporting the fling to his superiors before the KGB could blackmail him. Given the provenance of the honey trap, what could be more natural on the part of those predisposed to oppose Trump than to react on cue to the allegation, even though unsourced, that he, too, had tumbled into its tender embrace?

Judging by the jubilation of Russia’s elite at news of the Trump victory — the relationship with Obama and Clinton having long ago descended to the septic — why would this not be so, even minus a soggy hotel mattress? You can see a hint of that disdain in one of the official photos of Mrs Clinton and Putin meeting in the Kremlin. Putin sits in a chair adjacent to his guest, thighs splayed so wide it as if he is putting his genitals on display – classic body language of the Alpha-male both dominating and displaying his contempt for the female of the species. Clearly, theirs was no entente cordial.

Russian influence within potentially hostile governments is well known, Alger Hiss and the Cambridge Five being but two examples. So why not a compromised and cooperative Trump as well? Accept that premise, as did his piss-takers earlier this week, when social media ran riot with jokes (“Obama, you’re out. Trump urine“), and all his future dealings with Russia must by necessity be viewed beneath a cloud of darkest suspicion.

Up until this morning, Kellyanne Conway seemed to be the coolest head advising Donald Trump and re-interpreting him for public consumption. No matter which t.v. channel she appeared on, she had that relaxed smile and even-toned voice that seemed to indicate moderation above all. She reminded us of how he modified some of his rashest statements to indicate that once a winner, he was after all, capable of self-reflection. We began to believe that he was sincere in his desire to bring Americans together after a blistering and polarizing campaign.

And now comes the news that Kellyanne will be the first sitting White House official to address the Anti-Abortion march in person, in Washington at the end of this month, a mere week after the president takes office. Is there a more inflammatory issue for American women? No one would deny Kellyanne the right to support whatever cause she believes in but is this public endorsement a sign of good judgment? After hearing Mike Pence state categorically that whatever his personal beliefs were, Roe v Wade is the law of the land and not likely to change in the near future, is this really a smart way to start bringing democrats and republicans together? Isn’t this the most specifically self-defeating preface to getting confirmation for Supreme Court nominees? Now that Trump has been elected, it’s hard to see who benefits from this unique and aggressive demonstration of total partisanship.

Since there’s no chance that Kellyanne accepted this invitation without Trump’s approval, it’s more than disappointing to the many women who voted for him and were both impressed and swayed by her judicious persona, that this is their opening salvo to the majority of women in our nation. I suspect that I speak for many others when I confess that they have just begun to lose me at “hello.”

Am I the only one who was taken aback at our president’s gaffe? There were Michelle, Malia and Michelle’s mother Marian Robinson seated together wiping their tears as Barack Obama proceeded to laud the women in his life at his farewell speech. First came his wife to whom he offered a beautiful tribute to her performance as First Lady, as mother to their children and as best friend to him. Then came Malia who, along with her absent younger sister Sascha, also was treated to superlative praise for growing up so perfectly in a difficult, hothouse environment. And then the camera briefly panned to Mrs. Robinson, First Grandmother of the United States (FGOTUS), the 79 year old mother-in-law of our president and the woman who relocated to the White House in order to facilitate the first couple’s ability to raise their young children while still performing the myriad duties their jobs entail. Awkward moment as the camera quickly moved away and no presidential gratitude was expressed at that public finale.

The president then went on to thank many more people who assisted in his eight year reign, from cabinet level down to the interns. Marian Robinson’s name still was never uttered. As a grandmother myself, I offer these famous lyrics to this gracious, unselfish , dedicated mother-in-law whose efforts are reflected in her graceful, intelligent and poised teen-aged granddaughters – no greater proof is needed.

And here’s to you Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray, hey hey hey
hey hey hey

We’d like to know a little bit about you for our files
We’d like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

Coo coo ca-choo, Mrs Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray, hey hey hey
hey hey hey

Of interest, Paul Simon originally wrote this song for Eleanor Roosevelt, a woman who was an activist for women’s rights and black rights. It seems entirely fitting that they be applied to a senior citizen who not only helped to raise her granddaughters locally but had the energy and will to accompany them on their international travels. Too bad that no one thought to have Obama sing these stanzas to her, urging the audience to join in He missed an opportunity that would have given proper credit to this woman’s extraordinary loving service – it would have been a memorable addition to his family’s place in American history.

Meryl Streep made some pretty divisive remarks at the Golden Globes last weekend. While accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, she decided to dedicate much of her speech to demeaning the next president of the United States, Donald Trump. Her comments were met with much applause and nodding heads at the awards show (except for these guys.)

It’s clear Streep did not speak for all of Hollywood. Nicole Kidman, an A-list actress in her own right, said it’s time we leave partisanship behind and get behind our new president.

“I would just say he’s now elected,” Kidman said in an interview this week with BBC News when asked her opinion of the president-elect, “and we as a country need to support whosever the president because that’s what the country’s based on.”

Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington are of the same mind. Last month, Wahlberg chided his fellow actors for living in a bubble and not being able to understand the everyday challenges of everyday people. As for Washington, he has suggested Hollywood think twice before they dive into political rhetoric because acting in front of a camera is nowhere near as challenging as fighting for our country.

To paraphrase these talented actors: Hollywood should stick to their day jobs.

As the president-elect has repeatedly made clear, his first full day in office will be a busy one. He has promised to effect a wide array of changes. But what about his second day? If he has some free time, we have some suggestions.

As the threat from international terror groups and homegrown radicalization increases, clamping down on domestic Islamist networks should be a priority. In particular: terror financing.

Under the Obama administration, the federal government appeared to ease up on prosecutions of American Islamist charities linked to terror. This was a marked change from the years after 9/11, when scores of charities were shut down after prosecutors found financial and logistical links to terrorist groups across the globe. This effort culminated in 2008, when the Holy Land Foundation was tried in court on charges of financing terrorism. Federal prosecutors listed a considerable number of prominent American Muslim organizations as “unindicted co-conspirators.”

Eight years of a more permissive attitude has afforded Islamist groups the chance for a resurgence. Islamist charities do not just provide a means to move money; they also offer legitimacy to American Islamist organizations struggling to free themselves from decades of allegations of extremism. Islamist charitable endeavors abroad serves to sanitize the Islamist agenda at home.

The most common terrorism link for American Islamist charities involves, unsurprisingly, the Palestinian territories. Where do charitable donations for the Palestinian territories end up? In the Gaza Strip, Hamas, which is designated a foreign terrorist organization, oversees every facet of society, especially the social services in which Western charities work. From the distribution of medicine to the running of schools, orphanages, and kids’ summer camps, Hamas rules the roost.

One example worth investigating is the Gaza-based Unlimited Friends Association for Social Development (UFA). At least eight prominent U.S. charities and, apparently, the taxpayer-funded United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are supporting this Palestinian group. A close examination of UFA shows that it is closely aligned with senior Hamas leaders, provides cash to the families of so-called martyrs in the Gaza strip, and promotes virulent anti-Semitic rhetoric.

UFA claims to “provide relief, emergency and developmental services to marginalized areas and people in need.” And it probably does. Its social-media pages show happy children playing in the sun, buildings constructed, and food packs distributed. But UFA operates with the political support of senior Hamas figures. And the support of Hamas means the support of a genocidal terror group that has pledged to eradicate Jews across the globe, that throws its political opponents off rooftops, oppresses women and homosexuals, fires rockets at Israeli schools and homes, and uses Palestinian children as human shields to advance its murderous cause.

UFA regularly collaborates with Hamas officials. In 2014, envisioning the “right of return” for Palestinians, it organized a ceremony at which the guest of honor was Mustafa Sawwaf, a prominent Hamas minister. Sawwaf had argued in the Hamas newspaper Al-Risala that “Israel’s disappearance is a necessity [according to] the Koran — that is a truth that we have learned and that we have been teaching since the first intifada, which was the Palestinian people’s first step toward ending the usurpation of Palestine by the Jewish gangs.”

In 2015, UFA hosted a public meeting with Mohamed Abu-Shkian, a senior Hamas official and the mayor of Nuseirat. They discussed “joint cooperation to implement projects that serve the various categories of the Palestinian community.” Abu-Shkian, whom Hamas media has nicknamed “Mohammed the Conqueror,” is a vocal supporter of the “mujahedeen” against Israel, has spoken at the graduation ceremony of a Hamas terror-training program, and has addressed crowds at a ceremony commemorating Hamas terrorists.