PRIVACY

There's a saying about one good story deserves another.

Given all the uproar about DV surrounding an assistant football coach at Ohio State that seems to have also snared the head football coach there, Urban Meyer, here's another apparent DV case involving another college head coach.

There 's been no information whether the coach at Brown University reported the incident to the Title IX folks, but there was a clear DV charge filed.  From the response of her attorney and Brown University, privacy seemingly sways to a different toon in Rhode Island than in the state of Ohio.

BROWN UNIVERSITY'S HEAD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH, A FEMALE, CHARGED WITH DV... FIVE DAYS AGO.

+1 HS

by Kmp10

August 7, 2018 at 1:40pm

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Was anyone aware that Brown University's female head women's basketball coach, Sarah Behn, was charged with domestic violence against her husband about a week ago? I wasn't. That's kind of interesting... I guess outrage only works one way and double standards are alive and well, not only in the media, but also with the variety of different rights groups and movements permeating today's society. Apparently, DV is only newsworthy when it's a male assistant coach allegedly attacking his wife, but not when a female head coach has actually been charged with attacking her husband. The attorney and the university spokeswoman quotes are also interesting.

Jerome Sweeney, an attorney for Behn, said: “She denies the allegation. It’s a private matter.”

A spokeswoman for Brown University declined comment, saying “the university is not at liberty to discuss individual employees outside the context of their work activities, or any individual employee matters, which are not public.”

I realize that Brown is a private institution, but there seems to be contradictory standards at play here. Meyer, a guy who isn't even the focus of a domestic violence charge, is being skewered for mucking up a presser, and for something one of his assistants allegedly did, while a female head coach at one of the country's most prominent and exclusive universities was legally charged with DV and it's barely a blip on the media's radar. Different situations, yes, but enough overlap to show that the media's moral outrage is very selective.

Until They Aren't Anymore

"Everybody's talking about a new way of walking," go the lines of  a long forgotten popular tune.

And that seems to be the case with investors now and their growing concerns about rising volatility. Just how out of wack is current volatility? Not much by one criterion since after years of suffering a bad case of somnambulism, thanks mostly to the Fed, it has simply reverted to normal levels.

That new way of walking appears to be in the Treasury market as in bonds. Until recently bonds softened investor fears about falling equity prices and rising volatility. As investors in previous scary times flooded into bonds, bond prices escalated and bond yields declined. It was a safe no-brainer for many.  For others it became the average investor's version of the Federal Reserve under Fed Chair Yellen's put option. It was always there.

We've now had a 10 percent correction. But unlike the previous four 10 percent corrections, bond yields have not declined and bond prices have failed to rally, according to data on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note. Still another interesting indicator this time is the change in investor sentiment as they shy away from the long end of the bond parade and pile into shorter-term offerings.

So just walk right in and sit right down. Everybody's talking about a new way of walking. Daddy let your mind roll on. Like all of us, most things are there until they aren't any more. Some people refer to such as a paradigm change. Good or nay? As zen master said: "We shall see!"

For Now

As we noted yesterday the unseen gorilla in the room could be inflation--that is, it will surprise to the upside more than most economic gurus and market soothsayers expect. That would no doubt cause the Fed to hike rates even higher than many anticipate and Monday's decline could be the first of other signs to come. Hard hat time.

With Monday's drop the S&P 500 unofficially touched a 10% decline from its late January high. And with China rattling its economic sabers, saying it will respond proportionately to the U.S. imposed trade tariffs, investor jitters might be with us for awhile.

Bloomberg reported: China will respond to any tariffs imposed by the U.S. against alleged violations of intellectual property rights with the same proportion, scale and intensity, said its U.S. ambassador Cui Tiankai.

Cui’s comments, in an interview with state-run CGTN English news channel Tuesday, are the first to indicate that China will retaliate on a scale that matches U.S. plans for additional duties on Chinese imports. The U.S. is readying duties on $50 billion of Chinese products as punishment for what Washington sees as widespread violations of intellectual property rights. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has until Friday to propose a list of Chinese products to be targeted to compensate for what he said was harm caused to the U.S. economy by China’s policies.

How much is bluster and how much is real remains to be seen, but Cui warned of a tit-for-tat development that could prove interesting. “If they do, we will certainly take counter measures of the same proportion and of the same scale, same intensity,” Cui said in the television interview. He said China has made good progress strengthening protection of intellectual property rights and is ready to look at cases where violations have occurred.

After announcing that tariffs on 128 kinds of imported goods from the U.S. would take effect Monday, China urged trade talks with the U.S. to prevent greater damage to relations. The reciprocal tariffs, a response to U.S. tariffs on metals announced in March on national security grounds, are imposed on goods valued at about $3 billion, a tiny fraction of its U.S. imports.

China holds a lot of U.S. Treasuries. So stay tuned. Now might be as good of time as any to expect the unexpected. As for money, that's what we like for now--cash.

Looking Out

                       

If you look now it looks like a breath of divergence is wafting its way into the market as the usual safe-haven seeking suspects apparently aren't so usual this time around.

The Dow topped at it latest high in late-January and since then, a recent Wall Street Journal article noted, gold, U.S. Treasuries and the Swiss franc have broken ranks by not following the dollar and Japanese yen higher.

It's divergence that, some say, is confusing analysts and investors, pinpointing a sharp reversal from other recent turmoil in the market. To be blunt this has been a market on fire for some time and
change is scary in such environments. The big question is unchanging, however: Is this the prelude to the big correction nearly everyone thinks is more than a day and a whole lot of dollars late?

Unwinding the Federal Reserve's full throttle-ahead monetary spigot is one explanation for investor jitters, some offer. Rising interest rates bode ill for competitive investments like gold and outstanding bonds. And then there's the volatility issue, now perhaps moving from the back to the front burner.

Shadows hide many things and despite recent calm inflation could be one. A recent report noted Washington policy has crimped certain labor supplies, possibly giving existing labor more leverage at the wage bargaining table.

Then, too, trouble in FANG paradise hasn't helped as many investors search for another, new pony to safely ride. The carry trade--borrowing cheap to invest riskier in higher yields--seems to have dried up. See the yen's two percent-plus rise against the dollar since January. Another safe haven, utility shares, have also declined uncharacteristally given past performance.

New computer games come along almost daily. So far we've not heard of any called, Looking Out. However, that might be one investors become exceedingly more interested in if a real market sea-change washes ashore.

What You Witnessed

What you witnessed last night if you watched the Super Bowl was a healthy sign for the NFL--the beginning of the end of the B&B run of terror.

Brady and Bilichick, the Batman and Robbin tandem of do anything--including bending the rules to win--took a hit last night, one long overdue. To be sure, the League has it's problems, not the least of which are falling attendance and viewer numbers (According to reports we've seen today, viewership hit an eight year low for the lastest SB event.).

The concussion and kneeling down dilemmas are another problem, over exposure with NFL junk television on all year round. Moreover, the preliminary thrust to expand outside the U.S. is, in our view, another sign of over-saturation. But the game itself has problems. Bad or certainly confusing calls and interpretation of the rules is another thorn much bigger than many, including those in the front office, realize.

The so-called promise of video reviews and replays is the game's version of ying and yang, bringing with it many unintended consequences. In last night's game near the end, a pass was thrown by the Eagles into the end zone where the Patriot defender clearly with both hand pushed the intended receiver way before the already in flight ball got there. If that was not interference, Big Bill Belichick doesn't try to commandeer the sideline signals of other teams.

Those who argue such big games should not be decided by a penalty miss the point. It's about consistency. Change the rules then. Annouced the referees will enforce the rules for, say, three and a half quarters and then anything goes. Or why have any rules at all? This is not a problem isolated to the NFL. College football has similar problems. Missed calls, incorrect calls or none at all. A panoply of lousy decisions by a cadre of so-called experts. It's enough to make you want to not trust a Federal Reserve economist.

Another statistic we espied before the game, one apparent survey claimed only 16 percent of those fans asked wanted the Patriots to win. More powerful owners like Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones is hardly what the league needs, either. Strong arming taxpayer funds, from many of whom don't even know what a football is, to pay for elaborate stadiums remains another. Blame greedy politicians in part for this one.

One other point, SB advertisements. Many viewers from what we've heard tune in mostly for the ads not the game. That too--given this year's pathetic progressive PC crop--also seems in decline.  Perhaps the most ridiculous was Budweiser's "We're here when you need us."

SB 52 in the annals.

Something Rotten

Here's a shoutout to the real, legitimate 2017 College Football National Champions--the University of  Central Florida.

Though two teams next Monday night will play for the phoney College Football Playoff crown, the Knights beat Auburn New Year's Day 34-27 to end their season,13-0. The Tigers this past regular season whipped both Alabama and Georgia. Apologists for the Southeastern Conference claim Auburn didn't play up to their standard because they were still emotionally recovering from their disappointing loss to Georgia in the conference title game.

The SEC apologists also claim UCF didn't play anyone during the regular season. That's interesting. Neither did Alabama. More important, if Auburn went into the Peach Bowl knowing they weren't going to give ticket-purchasers and the television audience their best, honest effort, either the head coach should be fired for failing to get them fully prepared or the school should refund the money they pocketed from the game. And football fans across the country who just tune into the sport because they love the game might want to consider not viewing future Auburn games. Ever. Or until new coach comes around.

We say congratulations to UCF, the true, legitimate 2017 National Champions of college football. And just for the record, we have no ties, associations or whatever to any of the teams and universities mentioned in this article. What we know is this: The current CFP is clearly more pitiful and more biased than the system it replaced.  A shifty bunch, indeed, with six of the 13 committee members toting a heavy Southern bias.

We urge football fans across the nation to purchase UCF champion t-shirts and other paraphenalia and sport it around the country as a protest to the CFP. Speak with the only power tool you possess, your wallet. Forget Denmark.There's something really rotten in college football. And it needs to be corrected quickly. We don't want to spell it out, but we'll give you a hint--heavy regional bias.

Oh! And there's one more thing. All you sponsors who make Auburn games available on national television might want to perk your ears up. Football fans don't want to get hoodwinked into putting serious pocket money out to purchase either tickets or products for a game where one team is going to phone their game in.

Phoning things in can be contagious. Just ask the CFP committee.