From Henry

Paul Krugman on hot money flows and Turkey.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

– Henry Kissinger

"Qualitatively, this looks like a classic emerging-markets crisis: foreign funds came flooding in, there was a sharp rise in private-sector foreign-currency-denominated debt, and then foreign money turned on its heel and fled. Quantitatively, it shouldn’t be that bad: Turkish external debt is only 40 percent of GDP (or was before the lira plunged), and supposedly Turkish businesses aren’t that leveraged. On the other hand, there’s a political crisis as well as a currency crisis. 

Oh, and contagion among emerging markets.Lovely."  PK.

Amateur Sports...Got To Love Them

Alleged Heroin Kingpin Helped Russia Win Olympics for Sochi 

 Russia won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, beating out Austria and South Korea, with the help of a mysterious Russian businessman, Gafur Rakhimov, who U.S. authorities describe as a top organized crime boss and heroin kingpin currently under criminal indictment in Uzbekistan.
"He is one of the four or five most important people in the heroin trade in the world," Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, told ABC News for a report to be broadcast tonight on "World News With Diane Sawyer".
"He's absolutely a very major and dangerous gangster," Murray said. 

Uzbekistan delegate Gafur Rakhimov, left, during a sports congress in Ankara, Turley, November 1998.


Now that's what I call "Juice".  

h/t ABC News.

Everyone Needs A Good Reference

I just doesn't get any better than this:

Rob Ford sticks up for Justin Bieber: ‘He’s a young guy’ 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is sticking up for another headline-grabbing Canadian — Justin Bieber.
Ford was asked about the pop singer when he spoke by phone today to hosts on the Washington, D.C.-based Sports Junkies radio show.
Ford said Bieber is only 19 and asked the radio personalities, who called Bieber “Canada’s worst export,” to think back to when they were that age. On Wednesday, Bieber was charged in Toronto with assault.

    

Yup. I want to join their fan-club. Crack, booze, women and violence...just what the world needs more of.

Propane Shortages Across Virginia

How the Frack can this be?

WINCHESTER, Va. - In conjunction with the non stop cold, snow and ice, Virginia is experiencing a state-wide propane shortage.The U.S. Department of Energy reported that they've seen the largest draw of propane this season since the department was started 27 years ago.The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that propane is up to $3.75 per gallon in Virginia, versus the $2.89 per gallon at this time last year.  

I wonder what's up? Not the Bro's!

 

72 billion reasons to smile.

So 'long Pete

Pete Seeger has left us...much poorer.

So 'long buddy. You was the best.

So You Thought You Knew It All

Milk Doesn't Do a Body So Good After All

—By Kevin Drum

| Wed Jan. 29, 2014

 

A Yankee In the Statehouse

BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH

Former President Bill Clinton, left, smiles as Governor-elect Terry MCauliffe, right, and his wife, Dorothy, head down the steps of the State Capitol in Richmond, Va.. on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014, for McAuliffe's swearing-in as the 72nd governor of Virginia.

Duck Dynasty it aint.